Sometimes the hardest thing to do in our spiritual lives is to let go.
There are so many chains that we drag around with us. Chains that
might be attached to the heaviest, most cumbersome loads but we struggle
on, fighting against our own very nature most of the time, because we
simply do not know how to, or fear, letting go.
Anger is just a cowardly extension of sadness. It's a
lot easier to be angry at someone than it is to tell them you're hurt -Alanis
Morisette
Sometimes we recognise our loads and can you believe it? We actually
cherish them, hoping that others will feel pity for the great weight we
carry, or in some way, will respect us more. And sometimes we just don't
know any better.
Can you imagine anything sillier?
For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds
of happiness. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
We are trying to travel the fastest in our spiritual lives but we
drag these huge weights. Do you know what these chains are?
Is there someone that you dislike? Perhaps even someone that you
hate? Is there someone that you have not forgiven? Someone that you
cannot forgive?
These are huge weights that we drag across our very
hearts, scarring them. They are impurities to the perfect love we each
have within us. Impurities that drag our love down. Dragging our love
into silly, conditional expressions.
We will not be the first to
apologise or the first to extend a hand, because it is 'their fault' or
'they started it'.
We will not be the first to forgive, because 'they do
not deserve it'. 'I will not love her until she loves me, and if she
stops loving me then I cannot love her'. What a weight we carry!
Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with
the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets
burned. - Buddha
Are there things in your past you wish
you had done better? Or others you had not done at all? Do you wonder if
only you had been somewhere else that night, or if only you had invested
that money at that time?
Do you have a cupboard full of 'if-onlys' that
haunt you. Do you think about your past or your present and have
regrets? These are great, big anchors
that we drag around with us. They stop us from gaining any speed in our
spiritual life, they diminish our ability to grow and develop.
Let go of your
ounce of power. Benevolence works better - Jeffrey Gitomer
Do you own a flashy car and love it
perhaps a little too much? You clean it and polish it and worry about it
incessantly. Maybe its parked on the street or the fuel is low.
Do you
think about that car at night, what improvements you can make, how fast
it might go? Do you worry about the insurance for it? Whether someone
might scratch it?
Or perhaps it is your house? Do you desire a bigger
one? Or a television with a larger flat screen? Do you crave a little too much
for material possessions? Work too hard, too late, too much - just so
you can have more things, more and more things to worry about?
And speaking of worry... Do you worry too
much? Do you lay in bed worrying? Thinking about whether you have fed
the dog, or paid your bills, or what you will do tomorrow and 'if only'
this or that.
All these are chains.
Fill me with spiritual longing,
detachment from the world, and a loving heart.
Grant me quiet contentment and self-control, and keep my heart firmly
directed toward Thee.
O Ever-Present, awaken me to the sense of Thy constant presence.
O Mohan, grant me knowledge, and the power of meditation, that my mind
may continually turn to Thee.
O Lord of the humble, grant that the Light of lights may illumine Dadu's
heart. - Dadu (1544-1603), saint from Rajasthan
Anchors.
Let them go.
Forgive those that have wronged you. Not for
them. For you. The hate or the grudge that you carry around is a noose
around your neck not theirs. It is contributing to your tension, making
you angry - let it go!
Open
yourself to the highest love, the love that is without condition and
without expectation of love in return and love them for your sake, not
theirs.
Practise it a little and you will realise that higher still is
love for their sake, not yours and you will be free and happy.
The hardest
part about growing up is letting go with what you have been accustomed
to and moving on with something that you haven't experienced yet.
Forget your 'if-onlys' - let them go. Regret
helps no one. Just determine yourself to let go of the things you cant
control and take control of the things you can.
You cannot control all
the events of your life, but you can control your state of mind during
them. Your state of mind is what determines your happiness not the
events. You are the master of your own happiness, because
you are the master of your state of mind - take
control
Simplify your life. You do
not need so many things. Let them go. Money is a tool of yours - you are
not a tool of money. Whilst material desires run our market world economy, it does not mean they have to run yours.
Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only
one you know you have for sure.- Oprah Winfrey
Finally. Don't worry, be happy! (do you feel
a little reggae coming on?)
Worry is a mental disease that only you can
heal. It is a looping program, a virus for your spiritual life - let it
go - let them all go.
Do all you can to deal with your worries now. No
procrastination. Just deal with them and then LET THEM GO!
Our time is now in this
moment. Our power is the infinite heaven with us. Our future is in the
realisation of our highest, all else are anchors. This is the real
definition of purity. This stark simplicity.
In detachment
lies the wisdom of uncertainty...in the wisdom of uncertainty lies the
freedom from our past, from the known, which is the prison of past
conditioning.