Tag: Letting go

Falling leaves, Slippery leaves.

Ollie in the fall
Image from the BBB3 archives

 

Here in my little corner of New England the leaves are close to peak, and indeed it is beautiful to see. Fall is in full swing with all its transformations. I have been thinking about the change of seasons and all that entails, both externally in the natural world and internally to us as human beings. In the ancient Taoism/Daoism seasons, we are in the season of Gathering and these three months of autumn are about Containment and Balance. It’s the time to draw our energies inward. Now (not January 1st) is the time to start laying down the paths for a healthy and happy new/next year. “It is time to still our hearts and minds and to gather and collect the spirit and the qi 氣 (energy).” (further reading) … so, how does this fit into my mind, to our everyday lives?

Are you ready? Ready for change? Ready for a new season/year that is quickly approaching? Ready for an open mind? Ready for a new whatever it may that you might be seeking? Look around yourself NOW. Temps are falling. Light is dwindling. Flowers are fading. Trees are having one last glorious blast and then letting their grandeur drop to the ground. Nature is preparing to go dormant for a winters rest. It is a time of gathering nutrients and strength for a rejuvenation that pops in the spring. The ever so obvious natural message to us is:  We too need to let go, drop our leaves, let go of what ever we have been carrying/holding that is no longer of use, or beneficial, to ourselves. (So we are back to one of my recurring themes of letting go.) In the above referenced article it reminds me that “BREATHING is a very powerful way to let go of our tension, whether it is physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual. It is one of the primary cycles of yin and yang in the body. Having inhaled we must let go of it before we can take any more in.” I like that, it resonates with me. If your lungs, mind, bodies, heart, are filled with the “unneeded,”  maybe its old dusty air, or “bad”/ugly/painful/sad thoughts, or maybe it’s just plain old unhealthy air/thoughts/actions/patterns, how can that possible be good to hold inside? Mind you, I am not saying it is a piece of cake and all you have to do is breath deep and exhale all the “crap” we all collect right out of our cells. If only it were that easy!

However, all this does tie into another topic I often think about these days that is called “mindfulness.” To me mindfulness is much like awareness but with an extra dose of consciousness. It seems that with awareness you notice, and hopefully make a note of whatever “it” is. With mindfulness you have awareness combined with additional thinking, and hopefully acting upon the thoughts, from your awareness. Make sense?  The yin and yang of life….Let in (how about WELCOME IN) the good, breath out the unneeded, the painful parts that are holding you back. Gather yourself up, let go of the frenetic (although often full of fun) summer energies, unfortunately we lose that summer warmth as well (now we have to recreate that artificially.) Calm down those long list of “things I should do” that pop up so often in the fall. Start gathering that which nourishes you and strengthens you. Small moves in perceptions, actions, can make for enormous changes later. Do it now, while they are tiny, this keeps some of the drastic melodramatic changes away and so a smoother road ahead. And really, do you want those big rough bumps on your road?  Most of us do not. “Chart the difficult when it is easy, act on the great when it is tiny.”  … “Act when something has not yet come to be, regulate when it is not yet disordered.” (Laozi chapter 63 and Chapter 64.) Again, as I sit here writing, I think, if only all, or even part, of this all was easy!

You may be thinking, wondering why the title of this posting? Falling leaves—it’s about letting go. Slippery Leaves—that one makes me smile. It’s a phrase that came to be a gazillion moons ago with a group of very good friends. We were doing our usual hanging out. It was in the fall season with indeed slippery wet leaves all around us. Someone stating the obvious said, “Watch out for the slippery leaves” (I think we were walking?) The response was something like, “Hmm, think so? I think I had figured that out all by myself!” It was not snide, mean, or an unfriendly response. I think we all burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of stating the ever so clear fact. It has become a phrase in my personal lexicon that has transpired a bit and come to mean generically, watch out for the obvious. It can be physical, mental, intellectual, emotional, it doesn’t matter, we often do see, and know the obvious BUT, we also sometimes MISS the obvious—and occasionally our friends do have to help…mindfulness is key.

So, in this season of transformations, let go of what you don’t need and be mindful of all those slippery leaves!

Leaving the heavy load behind. Be Here Now.

Each season the earth, the plants, the sky and all its parts have to LET GO of some parts, and make room for change and whatever is next. We are part of the “parts!” The season of spring is full of expression, full of things popping and regaining a foothold in the earth. It can be hard for us to slow down, change gears, and realize that maybe that flower appears to “popping” out of the ground but to remember that same flower has spent the winter regaining its nutrients and replenishing as needed. Remember when we “chatted” about doing your work in the winter? We often feel as though we have a million things to do today, so much to do to “be ready” for whatever is next. Slow down. Breath. Maybe even re-evaluate. Next will happen no matter how fast you may be running to catch up with it, or away from it!  The days will spin by whether you are watching or participating. Summer will be here before you know it-and that season always seems to zoom by (especially up here in NE.)  How about we all try to Be Here Now, be here TODAY, and enjoy what we have right now. Not what we may have tomorrow. Not what we lost yesterday. Sounds as though it should be a cake walk…we all know it’s more easily said then done. Let go of what is dragging you down, lighten up the load, and be strong and present for the day you are in now.  I just looked up the famous words of “Be Here Now” – (Wikipedia) – (Be Here Now (or Remember, Be Here Now) is a seminal 1971 book on spirituality, yoga, and meditation by the Western-born yogi and spiritual teacher Ram Dass.)  …I didn’t remember, maybe never even knew (?)  the book was divided into four sections. The first one is the journey (we all know it’s all about the journey) – the second one is the “Core Book” – the third one as called “Cookbook for a Sacred Life: A manual for Conscious Being” -and the fourth one is “Painted Cakes Do Not Satisfy Hunger.”  I think I will be ordering, and reading- a little refresher course would be a good thing for me. How about you?

This is Boubolicious (Boubo for short) cutting the strings of some of the things that are holding him down.  His role in the magical land of Botaniumas is a wise soul and knowing creature.  He is Ambassador of Wisdom. (Just because he is wise doesn’t mean he doesn’t have to work at it at times — that is WHY he is the Ambassador of Wisdom!) 

Cut the strings
Cut the strings that hold you down. Leaving the old parts you don’t need anymore behind.

Letting go…..

Letting go…..This seems to be thread that I am continuing. I have been writing about doing your personal in-body housework.  Suggesting we all should be doing our ‘work’ all the time, not to wait until Jan 1 to set up a bunch of resolutions, to think about things we want to/need to change about ourselves, our ways, our behaviors, our patterns, or even our lives. Could it be I can’t let go of the subject? Ha ha… The truth of the matter is that I think this is a never ending process as humans who are paying attention and continuing to grow as adults and “good” people. I am sure of two things. One is this is not the last time for the subject, and the second is that once you let go of one thing, the next one pops up almost instantly!

Full Rainbow
Heres to self process of discovery, the joy of hope, and the wonderful feeling if you find the end of a rainbow!

I read a quote recently that said, “You will find that it is necessary to let things go, simply for the for reason they are heavy.” Author unknown, it was a Facebook post, and I apologize for not being able to give credit where credit is due.  I was talking the other day with a dear friend about the very topic of letting go. She said/asked, “How do you do it? How do you let something go?” I translate that to: Part one – How does one come to terms that the “it” is just too heavy… and not serving any positive purpose to your day/life? Part two – How do you process the “it” and what do you do release it? I wish I knew! I think it’s a cluster of thinking, asking yourself questions, acceptance, self love/ respect, and a large learning curve of self discovery. In another words, a lot of hard personal work! We each have to figure out what we will do with these new thoughts and realizations? How are we going to store them in new positive compartments?  Or are we done with them and can truly throw them away? Baffling, for we all hang on to things, physical and mental, imaginary and real, that we no longer need but are afraid (?) to let go for some reason.

We will never be clear of all these “it’s” but if we can shorten the list, lighten the burden, and figure out what the core is, if we work really hard, and a little luck never hurts, even it’s just for the purpose of distraction, then we just maybe can let go of “it,” as well as the “shoulds” and ought to! Again, I remind you, as well as to myself, to what I refer to as open palm living. Embrace the new, the unknown, the adventures of the day, of our paths, of our personal journeys. Let go of the things that serve no positive intent and purpose. The earth does it with its equinox, the seasons and nature do it continually, and our calendar says here’s a new chance, a New Year. Welcome to 2014. Good luck to us all!