Let it go….Remember who you are.

All you parents are bursting into song, aren’t you!? I’m the only one who hasn’t seen Frozen. Ha!

I was just looking at Holy Shift! 365 Daily Meditations from A Course In Miracles and I thought today’s was really good. It’s all about letting go.

It is as sure that those who hold grievances
will redefine God in their own image, as it is
certain that God created them like Himself,
and defined them as part of him.

It is as sure that those who hold grievances
will suffer guilt, as it is that those
who forgive will find peace.

It is as sure that those who hold grievances
will forget who they are, as it is certain
that those who forgive will remember.

Workbook p. I. Lesson 68 3:1-3

When we hold a grudge or guilt ( a “grievance”), we let that grievance become who we are. Say you get in a fight with someone and you stop hanging out with your group of friends in the fear that you might see the person you fell out with, or you dwell so heavily on the grievance it begins to run your life by becoming all you think about. We have to let our grievances go.

I think what we all need to acknowledge is that forgiveness really is a gift that we give to ourselves. We have to assume that everyone is doing the best they can based on their current level of consciousness, and rather than looking upon these people with blame, or through the lens that they have “wronged” us, we should look upon them instead with compassion. They have made the choices they have made and we have made the choices we have made based on their own perception, and no two people see the world through the exact same lens. Each person adds a different flavour to situations. You can have 5 people in the same room and something can happen where all 5 would perceive it differently.

So much can be gained from letting go. I read an interesting little story about two monks crossing a river. They are walking along doing their Monk stuff (for some reason I have just started singing hey, hey we’re the Monkees, but that’s not part of the story), and they come to a river. There is a woman at the river and she needs help crossing. One of the monks carries the woman across the river, then puts her down on the other side. The monks and the woman carry on in different directions on their merry way. Finally the monk who didn’t carry the lady across the river says, “I can’t believe you broke your vow never to touch a woman.” The monk who carried the lady responded, “Yes, but it is you who are still carrying her.”

I thought that was powerful and tied in well with today’s meditation from Holy Shift. Who or what are you carrying? What can you let go? How can you empower yourself by forgiving and releasing that energy?

Remember your divinity and let it go. Don’t drink poison and expect your enemy to die. Forgiveness is for the greater good of all involved.

When we forgive and let go, we find peace. We forget who we really are as divine beings. Through forgiveness we remember our divinity.

Judge less, love more.

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People will tell you that life is about choices. While I’d agree with that, I’d like to take it a step further. Our choices are based on judgements. Constant judgements.

Our whole human experience is based on judging events and occurrences as good or bad.

My car broke down… bad.
I screwed up a project at work… bad.
I found $5 in my coat pocket… good!

Not only do we judge experiences, but we judge other people. How many times have you noticed yourself assuming something about someone strictly from outside appearances. I know I do it. I’m more conscious of it now, so I try to stop it when it does happen. Most often I prove my snap judgements wrong.

How freeing would it be not to judge?

I’m trying to make an effort not to judge anything with the label good or bad. It’s good to be able to say to myself, “well, that happened. What’s next?!”, rather than dwelling and stewing on things. It is quite liberating for me. And, it allows me to live my life in a state of anxious anticipation of what is to come, so that’s getting me on the right vibrational frequency to draw wonderful things into my life!

It makes me think of what I’ve heard Wayne Dyer and Thich Nhat Hanh say. Are you coming from a place of love, or a place of fear? This will colour your judgements even further. When we fear things, we like to put labels on them. I’m no different than anyone else, because understanding is the gateway to relieving fear about things.

The Dalai Lama said “Love is the absence of judgement.” (or judgment if you are American).

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Try to judge less and love more. Do not approach your life from a position of fear in life. Try it for a day or two and see how your perspective and outlook change.

It’s a work in progress for me, but I’m enjoying my life more as a result of this conscious effort and intention.

Breathe in and let go…

We all have one: the person in our life who we perceive as causing us a lot of pain and emotional strife. Too many of us hold on to this as a crutch, repeating the same story again and again. Today I’d like to help you by telling you not to waste your energy on this anymore.

“But,” you say, “I can’t forgive this person and forget what happened! It was too painful for me.”

For me, forgiving and forgetting are two different things. I can acknowledge what occurred, view it from a perspective outside myself, remind myself that this experience is over, and let it go.

There’s a famous saying about this. I can’t remember the exact quote at the moment, but it’s about you drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

If we believe that we are co-creators in this life and that what we give our attention to is what manifests in our reality, what are we drawing in when we dwell on the pain that we believe others have inflicted upon us?

Deborah King has a great exercise in Be Your Own Shaman, where you picture the person who has caused you pain in as much detail as you can muster and you release them with love. Not the visualizing type? How about writing?

Write your story down with as much detail as possible. Put all your feelings out there on the paper. When you are done, and you feel ready, destroy the paper. Burn it, tear it up into tiny pieces, stomp on it, whatever. Let it go.

Breathe in until you can’t inhale anymore, breathe out and let it go. I usually say something to myself at the same time. Words have a lot of power. Usually I say something like, “this has happened, I am thankful for the lessons it taught me, and I am letting this situation go now.”

You will feel better. Remember: there is nothing in the universe as powerful as you, and you make the choices that shape your future. Your energy is amazing. Don’t waste it on things that don’t deserve your attention. Acknowledge and release.

Be joyful and attract joy and all the blessings life has to offer you!