Letting Go

“We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned so as to accept the life that is waiting for us.”  ~Joseph Campbell

This post, I realize, is very similar to the one I wrote about a week ago (It Will Be)... But I have been continually working on this concept: letting go of attachment and fear and control. It's just a little hard. It's usually really helpful for me to read what others say about a subject. So this post is dedicated to other writers who can write about letting go more knowledgeably and artfully than I can :)

I really love this article on letting go. It's really fantastic. Here are some different excerpts I really like:
"Accept the moment for what it is. Don’t try to turn it into yesterday; that moment’s gone. Don’t plot about how you can make the moment last forever. Just seep into the moment and enjoy it because it will eventually pass. Nothing is permanent. Fighting that reality will only cause you pain.
Hold lightly. This one isn’t just about releasing attachments—it’s also about maintaining healthy relationships. Contrary to romantic notions, you are not someone’s other half. You’re separate and whole. You can still hold someone to close to your heart; just remember, if you squeeze too tightly, you’ll both be suffocated.
Love instead of fearing. When you hold onto the past, it often has to do with fear: fear you messed up your chance at happiness, or fear you’ll never know such happiness again. Focus on what you love and you’ll create happiness instead of worrying about it.    
Release the need to know. Life entails uncertainty, no matter how strong your intention. Obsessing about tomorrow wastes your life because there will always be a tomorrow on the horizon. There are no guarantees about how it will play out. Just know it hinges on how well you live today.
Understand that pain is unavoidable. No matter how well you do everything on this list, or on your own short list for peace, you will lose things that matter and feel some level of pain. But it doesn’t have to be as bad as you think. As the saying goes, pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.
Yield to peace. The ultimate desire is to feel happy and peaceful. Even if you think you want to stay angry, what you really want is to be at peace with what happened or will happen. It takes a conscious choice. Make it."

I also really enjoy this brief post on non-clinging/non-attachment. Here is the one piece that really resonated with me:
"We take anger as me, as my anger, rather than simply a feeling that will pass, that I can let go of. We take the desire for more as my desire, to be acted upon, rather than as simply a thought or feeling that will pass. We take all our thoughts and feeling reactions far too seriously, as if we were just thoughts and reactions. When we cling to a thought, we become that thought."

Also, this post on seven ways to let go has some useful tidbits packed pretty succinctly :) I really liked it.