The Elegance of Letting Go
A while back, I heard someone talk about trees as models for letting go. “Have you ever watched a tree lose its leaves? It doesn’t throw them off. It lets go elegantly, and the leaf floats to the ground.” I was stunned by this image.
Yet, when we are in the midst of a big campaign, severely understaffed, and overwhelmed, how can we even think about letting anything go? And if you think about it, how can you let go elegantly?
Here are a few ways you can try.
Inelegant: Just add more stuff to your to-do list. Copy the same undone items for days, weeks, years.
Elegant: Cross one thing off your list that you know you won’t do or ever get to.
Inelegant: Constantly worry about how to let something go. Stress about reactions or consequences.
Elegant: Reduce the amount of attention and energy you devote to it. Actively make time to not think about it.
Inelegant: Actively push it away or cut it off.
Elegant: Allow it to drift further behind and away from you. Or, allow yourself to gracefully move beyond/past it.
Inelegant: Attempt to cushion the blow or soften the landing of whatever it is you’re letting go of.
Elegant: Reach your branches to the sky as you watch whatever it is slowly drift to the ground.
Finally, if you find yourself caught in old patterns of stress and worry, bogged down in what should really be let go of, and held back by ties that should no longer bind, look up. Watch a tree let go of its leaves. Your letting go can be just as elegant.
Share your thoughts in the comments, below.
