Letting Go
Oh soul, you worry too much. You have seen your own strength. You have seen your own beauty. You have seen your golden wings. Of anything less, why do you worry?
- Rumi
Dr. David Hawkins is a world-renowned spiritual teacher and author of Letting Go: The Pathway to Surrender, published just before his death in 2012. Praised by Mother Teresa for his efforts to raise the consciousness of humankind, Dr. Hawkins shows readers how to rise up from those lower levels of emotional experience, such as shame, fear, greed, anger and pride, into higher states of courage, acceptance, joy and everlasting peace by just “letting go.”
The average person is preoccupied with the body, its functioning, appearance, and survival. The average mind is beleaguered with worries, fears, and anxiety. With such inner tension, by the end of the day the average person frequently feels like a victim: drained, empty, and exhausted… Research has shown “letting go” to be more effective than many other approaches available in relieving the physiological response to stress. A feeling that is not resisted will disappear as the energy behind it dissipates. So as a person surrenders, it is accompanied by a feeling of relief and lightness, with happiness and freedom. There is a general reversal of pathological processes in the body and a return to optimal functioning. Physical and psychological disorders improve and frequently disappear altogether.
Letting go is incredibly difficult and not the same as giving up. Letting go does not mean you stop caring either. It just means we cease our attempts to own and control the environment we are living in. Reaching greater clarity comes “not by finding the answers, but by undoing the basis of the problem,” Dr. Hawkins writes. The basic idea is that when we are in a surrendered state, we are free of inner conflict and expectations. We let go of the attachment to our current experience of life and have no strong emotion about a thing: “It’s okay if it happens, and it’s okay if it doesn’t.” We develop an inner security, knowing that there will always be sufficient abundance. For me, that comes from my faith.
When we are free, there is a letting go of attachments. We can enjoy a thing, but we don’t need it for our happiness. Then, money becomes merely a tool to achieve our goals in the world… In the state of acceptance, there is the feeling that nothing needs to be changed. Everything is perfect and beautiful the way it is. There is a decreased preoccupation with “doing,” and a growing focus on “being,” which allows us to experience the basic nature of the universe, which, it will be discovered is to manifest the greatest good possible in a situation.
This is why “letting go” has frequently been called “getting present.” In the process of letting go, we are no longer emotionally/psychologically invested in a “thing” (an idea, a goal, a position). As we learn to examine the feelings and ask from where they come, we can then let go of them. We thus regain our freedom, which also means we can be more present. And perhaps we’ll then notice the trees in winter, how they’re experts at letting things go. To quote my friend Adam Robinson, “Each day presents us with 86,400 seconds, which means each day presents us with virtually countless opportunities to reset, recover our balance, and continue rehearsing our best selves.”
This is the reality of it. And as it struck me a few years ago, my life has never been the same again.
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. When I let go of what I have, I receive what I need.
- Lao Tzu
