Maybe it’s time to let go.

Things build up. They get heavy. When we forget to let go, we feel heavy.

Even though you may not be carrying your stuff around in a backpack or a suitcase, you still carry it. You carry the weight of your stuff in your bones, your mind and your heart. Stuff like:

• clutter in your home
• just in case stuff in storage
• harsh words from a loved one
• regret
• guilt

The heaviness can look like exhaustion, frustration, sadness, anxiousness and illness and when you keep holding onto everything, it’s hard to figure out what’s weighing you down.

We each carry our own heavy things like worry, fear, pain, and bad habits, but we all share the burden. It’s not just you who suffers from the weight you carry through the world. It impacts your work, relationships, health and everyone around you.

Even though letting go can feel scary, and uncertain, it also feels light. You can feel the lightness immediately and other people will recognize it too. They will sense that there is something different about you. It’s hard to ignore when someone feels light.

1. When you let go of physical objects, your home feels light.
Start with the easy stuff like duplicates, things you don’t use or enjoy and the stuff that has no purpose in your life or your home. Box it up, set it aside, and notice the light in your home. This is the best place to start.

2. When you let go of what you don’t like about yourself, your body feels light.
Maybe you don’t like your weight, your wrinkles or something else about your body. Our negative self talk around appearance is heavy.

Look in the mirror and smile. Throw your scale away. Really see yourself and the body that has been through so much with you. Notice something you love about yourself and refuse to compare or measure it. Read about how one woman learned to live in her body for inspiration and figure out what works best for you. Let it go and feel the light in your body.

3. When you let go of anger or resentment from the past, your heart feels light.
Letting go doesn’t require fixing things, or setting the record straight. You can just decide that you are going to stop punishing yourself. If you need a ceremony, write it down and burn or tear it up. Forgive yourself. Forgive others even if they don’t think they need forgiveness. Say goodbye to the hurt you cannot resolve and notice the light in your heart.

4. When you let go of fear of the future, your soul feels light.
The path ahead is uncertain and that’s never going to change. Release your fear of how things will unfold by getting rooted in the present. Show up for your life today and you will be better equipped to handle your tomorrows with grace and ease.

Take a deep breath, let the fear about what might happen go, and notice the light in your soul.

5. When you let go of items on your to-do list, your mind feels light.
Maybe you can do it all, but you can’t do it all today. Let go of the long lists and focus on a short one with a handful of items that you can accomplish in one day. You have to choose between crossing things off your list, or living with clarity about what’s most important to you. At the end of the day, once you’ve let go of all the things that need to be done, notice the light in your mind.

6. When you let go of perfection, everything feels light.
The opposite of perfection is freedom, so when you let it go, your work, health, and relationships rise from that freedom and lightness. Let there be typos and failures in your work. Let there be disagreements with people you love. Let there be lazy afternoons of movie marathons and doing nothing. Give yourself permission to be a work in progress and feel the light in everything.

7. When you let go of the need to be right, your relationships feel light.
When did being right and fixing people replace true love in your relationship? Let go of being right and focus on what makes you smile. Give your friend/lover/partner a big hug, remember what you love about the two of you together and notice the light in your relationship.

When letting it go, start with one thing. Remember how long you’ve been holding on and give yourself some grace in the time it will take to let it go. You didn’t hold on with the intention of suffering but you can let go with the intention of feeling happy, free and light.

When you are overwhelmed, tired or stressed, the solution is almost always … less. Get rid of something. Lots of somethings. Let it go.

If you want to feel light, you have to let go.

Article by by Courtney Carver for bloglovin.

Stop. Wait a minute. It’s over, 1993.

The years you’ve slaved, whipped the crack of dawn,

they’re gone.

Go ahead. Take a break in the middle of the day, feel the sun.

Lay on your bed, feet in the air, gazing out your window…

watch as the breeze floats the curtains gently across your face

tickle-ing your nose

making you sneeze.

You deserve it, it’s time to just let go.

Pour that glass of wine, take a walk along the street – and don’t forget your camera.

Catch the shots as dusk rolls out and nighttime becomes amorous as the skyline awakens,

twinkling, dancing,

glamorous.

You have 10,000 hours, you’re the expert on your living,

on your loving, on your reason.

The world is your oyster, it’s finally your season.

You’ve paid your dues, kept some unpaid, you gave your time for the charade.

You gave your years

to busy-ness,

the hustle and the stress,

the extra nights…

STOP

It’s time to rest.

Get a seat on the subway, ride a train or catch a jet,

see this world and learn to soar.

Get a sweet treat. Drink a coffee. Look at people. Find amore.

It’s okay, you have permission, no one’s watching,

no one’s listening.

Expect your best, demand your freedom.

Looking back 10 years from now, you’ll finally see what it is I see –

Hold close this moment only, let all else go

and just BE.

© Sandy Hibbard

I love the feeling of taking off

Kinda helpless you just let go of all control

Feel the speed in your muscles and the roar of the engine in your head

All that force gently tacks you to the back of your seat

You simply have to submit to the gravity on your body

So refreshing to not worry about doing anything – just letting go to another’s control

Trusting

Feeling everything in your body

And knowing there is nothing you can do but just be.

© Sandy Hibbard Flying to Chicago 

I can’t run far enough away from myself

Wherever I go you are there in my memory

Despising the distance or

Painfully too close

Every map leads me back to you

Where is this journey ending?

It’s hard to keep pretending

Like the music on my playlist that I stole

That we shared

It wasn’t really mine to hold

But for a moment to enjoy

And I did

Every song, every rhyme, every story

You played right into my history

I’m so emotional, I thought that you were lost

But I still feel near to your heart

No matter how far apart

Let the records play

Of our love of those days

To remember the time and ease the pain

And bridge the distance of our love exchanged

© Sandy Hibbard 2019 March 29

‘Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons
of reason which today arm you against the present.’
~ Marcus Aurelius

Let it Go

Let it go. It’s impossible not to ever hold onto certain ideals … but if you see that the ideal is causing you pain, you can be compassionate with yourself and let go of the ideal. Sure, people should treat you nicely, but that’s an ideal that’s not always going to be true. Letting go of the ideal means embracing the reality that there’s a wide range of behaviors that people will have, and that’s a part of life. Humans don’t always act ideally. We need to accept that, and not force an ideal on reality.

Excerpt from The Survival Kit at ZenHabits.net

The Paris Review

MAILER:  Every wife is a culture, and you enter deep into another culture, one that’s not your own, and you learn an awful lot from it.  And give  the fact that marriage is not always a comfortable institution, you chafe in that culture. For example, suppose you spend ten years of your life in France.  And you finally decide to leave.  You wouldn’t for the rest of your life say, I hate France. You’d say, France has an awful lot to offer.  I have my differences with it, but I’m happy I spent ten years in France. . . .
ARTIST REPLY: People are sent to us for the most amazing reasons…sometimes for just a second. Good…every relationship, every man has a beautiful meaning in your life…for no matter now short or long the love affair lasted…love stays…people travel on.
 
 

Love is Calling

I write for him, not you
What is this?
How could my love be stolen so quickly?
Didn’t you know I was in danger?
You could have listened.
Then you would have realized
…Believed
That I dream of someone else.
Would you have guessed that my affections would turn to another?
Just one word from you and I would have stayed.
I think I’m going now.
Love is calling.
I can’t let it get away.
© Sandy Hibbard
“Love is Calling” Photo by Elizzzard

“Stay involved and when life’s disappointments come your way, don’t despair. Just start looking for the next train.”

“A Western student of Eastern Philosophy was preparing to return to the hectic pace of life in New York City and asked his teacher for some advice about to how to adapt to the change. He was told, “Remember, when you are running for the subway train and see it leaving without you, don’t panic. There’s always another train.”

This is good advice not only for subways but also for life in general. One lost opportunity is most often followed by another chance. When you don’t get something you desire such a promotion, that big sale you were seeking, or the house you’d hoped to buy, remind yourself, “There’s always another train.”

This is a perspective shifting statement, and it doesn’t mean that you will not be disappointed, but rather, it’s encouragement not to get stuck in the disappointment. If you become overly focused on what you missed, you may lose motivation to keep trying. Or, you could panic into the frantic activity of fruitless wheel spinning and risk settling for less than the best.

Knowing that there is always another train helps us to practice patience so as to be available when the next opportunity comes.

Implicit in this notion is that to catch another train; you must stay in the station, which means stay open to possibility and in the field of play. Keep applying for promotions, making sales calls, stay involved in life, look for opportunities to live and love, and always keep seeking your goal.”

Love & Peace!
Sandy
Article Source: Lessons for Living