Sometimes You Just Have to Let Go

People come into our lives in all sorts of ways. Some are born into our lives. We are born into the lives of others, thus they become part of our lives. And some walk into our lives due to the places we go and and the experiences we have. In all cases, we have to learn not only to hold on to those people we love tightly but to loosen our grip and to let go…to let them go, if necessary.

I learned this lesson just this week as I let my son go off to New York City. It was not his time to leave home in the traditional sense. He was entering his senior year of high school. He should have been home with me for another year. Yet, it was his time to go…He received a wonderful opportunity to pursue his dance education that he could not pass up, not would I want him to pass it up.

And so, even though it was hard, I just had to let go. I had to let him go.

Was it easy? No. In fact, I spent the last two days at home alone crying on and off. I will miss him…and his senior year. But I’ll survive and he will likely thrive. Maybe I’ll thrive, too.

Often we have relationships that aren’t good for us, yet we cling to them. Or we have relationships that aren’t growing and we know we should allow the other person (or ourselves) to grow. We just have to let go.

When our children go off to college, we have to just let go. That’s hard, too. I’ve done it. (I cried then also.)

Sometimes are jobs don’t fit or make us unhappy. Or we don’t like where we live. Just let go!

Move on. Move forward. Or just let go and see what happens. See how the energy changes, the situation changes on its own when you stop clinging to it, stop hanging on to it and trying to make it work, trying to keep it the same, trying to stop someone from leaving.

How do you do this? With a great deal of faith. Have faith that if you let go it will all work out.

I have to have faith that my son will be all right in New York without me, and that I will adjust to not having him home–that I will find ways to share in his last year of high school despite the fact that we live on different coasts.

Rebbe Nachman says, “Faith depends on a person’s mouth. We must say we believe  — say it aloud! As it is written in Psalm (89:1) ‘I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.’ When a person has a crisis of faith, or even passing doubts, it is very good if he says out loud: ‘I believe.” Just expressing your faith in words is itself one kind of faith. thorugh doing this you can come to genuine faith.”

This is not much different than the belief that our thoughts and words have a creative energy. What we think and say, we create. So, say, “If I let go, all will be well. I have faith that all will work out for the highest good of those concerned.”

Where in your life do you need to just let go? Try doing so now. Let me know how it goes.