Let Go.

Today we ask you to trust, and let go.

Trust, and let go.

What does this mean?

Most people walk through life with a very tight grip on everything.  People are very tight and tense about things.  

They are tight about their jobs.  They are tight in their relationships.  They are tight with money.  Everything is a source of tightness and tension.  People walk around with clenched jaws and knotted shoulders, and no one gets good sleep.

It is an unpleasant way to live.

People believe that they are supposed to be tight about everything.  They must hold on tightly to their jobs, or they will lose them.  They must hold on tightly to the people they care about, or they will lose them.  They must hold on tightly to their money, or they will lose it.  They must hold on tightly to their diets, or they will get fat.

But really none of this is true.

In truth, no matter how tightly you cling to anything in this life, it will eventually slip through your fingers.  Everyone gets old, if they live long enough.  Everyone dies.  Spend time with the elderly, and you will see the futility of trying to hold on tightly to things.

If you are destined to lose everything, no matter how tightly you hold on to it, why not try letting go right now?

Just let go, and see what happens.

Let go.  Let go.

Look at the places in your life where you feel tight, where you are holding on very tightly.

And just consider what it would feel like to let go in those places.

How can you loosen your grip?  How can you relax out of that tight, tense feeling?

Usually a voice will protest that you have to be tight around these things.  For example, many people believe that if they were not tight and tense about work, they would be lazy and unproductive.

This is actually a completely false belief.  Tension blocks the flow of good energy.  Think about a pipe that is closed and constricted.  Such a pipe allows much less flow than a pipe that is open and loose.

So tense, tight people are in truth far less productive than people who are relaxed and at ease.

When people believe that if they relax, they will be lazy, usually this is because their bodies and nervous systems are utterly exhausted by their tension-filled lifestyle and in desperate need of rest.  So yes, in that case, relaxation would produce a kind of torpor — one that is necessary for the restoration of health to an exhausted body.  After resting, such a person would actually find that they had much more energy to do things.

Most modern people are in absolutely no danger of “relaxing too much.”

It is the same with relationships.  People think they need to hold on tightly to partners.  Parents think they need a tight grip on children.  In truth, the more you cling to any person, they more they will inevitably be driven away.  

If a tight grip is required to maintain a relationship, this is not a healthy relationship.  It is better to relax and let go.

No one likes to feel controlled and manipulated.  No one wants to be around someone who is tense all the time.

Let go.  Let go.

It is true that sometimes things collapse when you release your tight grip.  If this is the case, it means that structure wasn’t sound.

It is like trying to hold together a dam with many holes in it.  You use all this energy desperately trying to plug the holes, and water keeps pouring through anyway.  Sometimes it is better to allow the old rickety dam to collapse so that you can expend your energy building a new, sturdy dam.

That is why it is good to let go, even if at first it seems to create a bigger mess.  The mess was already there, it was already happening despite all your tense efforts to hold it in.  Once the mess it out in the open, you can actually do something about it.  You won’t be wasting all that energy trying to hold it in.

Let go.  Let go.  Trust that the world will not fall apart if you do.

Imagine the deep relief you would feel if you let go.  Whatever you are tight about is a burden.

So just observe the areas of tightness in your life.  Don’t judge yourself about it.  Just observe the things you feel tense and tight about.

Now imagine what it might feel like if you let go.  You don’t have to figure out how to let go, or what would specifically be involved.  Just imagine relaxing, and letting go.

Notice any resistance that arises, the voice that protests “But I can’t let go!”

Don’t push or force it.  There is no immediate action to take.

Just make a practice of observing tightness.  Where do you feel tight?  What makes you feel tight?

As you observe, ask the question: “How can I let go?”

Don’t try to answer the question or reason it through with your thinking mind.  Just open yourself to the idea that it might be possible to let go.  Feel a sense of trust around it.  Be open to seeing what happens.

From an outside perspective, most people look like they are clinging tightly to ropes, without realizing that the ground is not all that far below them.  They grasp and cling to the rope, hurting their bodies, fighting, struggling, and exhausting themselves.  But if they just let go, the ground would catch them.  Yes, they might fall and bruise themselves at first.  But far better to do that, than to cling in pain and misery to that horrible rope.

Let go.  Let go.  You will be okay.