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Letting
Go and the Other Half:
Happiness probably is a case of both a
minus AND a plus
by Hubert
Pryor |
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I seem to remember being admonished as a child not to
do things by halves. But I've found in life that we can
look at the admonition two ways. Sure, don't undertake a
venture with half measures. But I can think of at least
one case where the opposite produces huge benefits.
In life, I'm for letting go any and all things that
hinder and trap us in a variety of ways. In possessions,
habits, fears, personal relations and on and on, we're
often struggling to be free. They're parts of our lives,
sometimes huge parts, that we want to get rid of, BUT DO
NOT DARE.
We do not dare to help ourselves? That doesn't seem
to make sense. But we can understand the difficulty in
letting go when we confront the need to do so and
find...well, find we have no alternative. The thing we
want to unload is a prop in our lives. Take it away, let
it go and what's left?
Plop!
What we've done is create a vacuum. We've confronted
a situation in our lives but worked at nothing to
replace it. The prospect of that is enough to leave us
stuck in our ways.
Letting go, then, can't help us unless we also do
some letting in.
Modern teachers of mental and spiritual health see
the process as one of denial AND affirmation. We let go
"the bad" in us and let in "the
good." And we can do that effectively when we
reason that it's just common sense. Here's how they
reason:
Our Creator creates, does not destroy. So all of us
is truly and intrinsically good. If we see something
"bad" in us, it's a delusion. Sure it's there
to our senses, in the human scale of things. But the
spiritual truth of us transcends that. And with the
Creator to back us up, we can let it go. At the same
time, the opposite of the discarded "bad"
thing takes its place because only the good of the
Creator's way is so.
So here we go--with true effect--doing things by
halves with reassuring success.
One half of our process, letting go, goes smoothly
and effectively empowered by the other half, letting in.
If all that seems too altruistic, our daily life
offers countless examples of how "letting in"
complements the process of "letting go."
When we take a shower, what we're letting go down the
drain is possible only because we're letting in the
cleansing water pouring down on us. All our bodily
functions, too, are a process of letting go and letting
in.
Yes, it is a repetitive process. All life proceeds in
cycles. So letting go is not a "done thing"
with letting in. Human history reminds us that we are
always in a cyclical process. We are born, we live, we
procreate, we pass on. And just in our daily lives, we
need sleep, movement, inspiration, yes and love--a
constant replenishment beyond mere material nourishment.
So happy letting go and letting in--not just today
but daily from now on!
©Copyright 2004 Hubert
Pryor. All Rights Reserved.
Hubert Pryor is a retired editor of national
magazines--Modern Maturity and Science Digest among
others--Hubert Pryor is the author of SOUL TALK:
Positive Mind Treatments to Turn Your Life Around
(available through DeVorss & Co., 553 Constitution
Ave., Camarillo, CA 93012, 800-843-5743, www.devorss.com)
and a forthcoming book, SERENITY 101: Spiritual
Wisdom, Ancient and Modern, for Peace of Mind Today.
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