The Positives of Letting Go

I have found that when the Universe is trying to get a message to me - trying to get my attention - it hammers and hammers and hammers at me until it finally gets through my thick skull what it is trying to tell me. Sometimes it takes longer for me to get the message than others. Lately, I've really been trying to figure out why certain things have been happening in my life. I'm not saying this is the complete answer, but something happened today to make one thing perfectly clear - again: ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS I HAVE TO LEARN IN THIS LIFETIME IS TO LET THINGS GO - ACCEPT LOSS AND MOVE ON.

Loss has been a constant companion in my life. That's why I'm so convinced it is a primary lesson for me. Letting go of some things is easy - even for me! LOL I'm talking about the other, rather harder things. Stuff like my health, my father, the nice things I have worked hard to buy for myself - like my cars (count 'em, TWO!), all of my front teeth (at the same time I lost one of my cars!... Good times...), feelings and emotions, jobs and careers, dreams and ideas, sharing of myself with others... I have to learn to let things go, but LET THEM GO WITH LOVE instead of anger and bad feelings. That is the hard part. To that end, I like the theory of the onion. It goes like this: every time you go through the process of letting go with love it gets easier - like peeling an onion. Each layer gets you closer to the center, and it gets easier to peel. And, I guess, less tears. {I don't know... I haven't tested this theory in real life... but I digress} The point is it DOES get easier the more you practice it.

Some of my losses have been so big that they have sent me into complete tailspins. The loss of my step-father (relatively recently) truly brought so many of my old loss issues to the surface that it took me months to get over. The good news is that it didn't take as long to get over my step-father's death as it did to get over my Dad's death. So I think the onion theory works. At least it has with me.

I guess what I have learned through it all is that each loss must be followed up with a new dream, a new idea or vivid and cherished memories that lessen the sting of losing the one you loved. Find any way at all to make the loss into something positive and remember that loss is an opportunity for new beginnings.

My father used to tell me any problem that well-rounded people over 40 experience is usually spiritual in nature. Said another way: The solution to your problem, my friend, lies in your spirituality. Spending too much money on all the wrong things? Turn to your spirituality; what does your soul tell you is making you spend your money so unwisely? What hole are you trying to fill that cannot really be filled with "things"? Unhappy at your job? What is Spirit trying to tell you about how you feel about your job? (Just a hunch: I doubt Spirit is trying to tell you that you work with turkeys. Messages from the Universe and your soul are very seldom so trivial.) Try as I might I have never been able to disprove this theory that my Dad gave me. Whatever problems I have faced since being over 40 I have been able to boil down to difficult spiritual decisions waiting to be made. Whether it had to do with moving, losing weight, money, not hanging out with certain friends as much, loving more, hating less, accepting more, resisting less, doing what I want rather than what others think I should, telling the truth no matter how much it hurt - especially to myself... whatever.

There is always a positive waiting to be found. The more you look for them the easier it is to find them. Coming from a place of gratitude always helps. The first trick, however, is listening to the Universe and hearing what it is trying to tell you. Only then can we live in harmony with all that is around us and quit slamming our head into that proverbial brick wall. Sometimes that pounding in our head drowns out the clear voice of our soul and the Universe.