The Art of Letting Go

Life has a rhythm, it cycles, it turns, it wheels, it spins, and it never stays still. Yet, too often we want to change that rhythm, we want to rush it, or slow it, or stop it altogether.

We only seek to change the rhythm out of fear

The wise learns to dance with life's rhythm, to enjoy what life brings, and to let go when the time has come to move on. Most of what we learn in society is the opposite of this. We cling to what we are afraid we will lose. We run from that which scares us. But life ebbs and flows. Joseph Campbell spoke of this dance:

The warrior's approach is to say 'yes' to life. - yes to it all
To participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world

(A Joseph Campbell Companion, pg. 17)

As I sit here working on the next phrase, I find myself thinking about rhythm and fear and the circle of life, and I wonder what to share. What do I fear? I find that the challenge of writing a blog, to me, is having these airy, heady ideas, and then bumping into real life. Discovering that I feel out of rhythm with life myself, and wondering how to get back in step. That I have all these ideas in my head, ideas I have seen change my life, bring me peace, helped me weather some tough times - but they don't always help. And if I share the darkness, can those who read still see the light?

And it is exactly in writing that last line that what I really want to express comes ringing through, for me. The importance of fully embracing life, the good with the bad; the bliss with the terrifying; the beauty with the mundane with the disfigured (yes, even reaching only for the extremes still misses the point of embracing everything).