Letting Go

Letting go can make you unstoppable, Letting go can create the best of change for each and every one of us.

“Mastery of the world is achieved by letting things take their natural course. You can not master the world by changing the natural way.”
– TAO

Taoism revolves around letting go and going with the flow,
at the first instant, the act of letting go may seem a form of weakness.
but the Taoists having the correct understanding of how the universe works,

we can approach life more smartly, more efficiently and go with the flow.

Because letting things go, is key to let nature do the work, which applies to any level.

The Taoist concept of Wu Wei can be explained as effortless action, or flow state.

In some cases when to act and when not to. When we think too seriously about ourselves.

we look to control every situation in our life.
mostly our future. too much of control doesn’t get us anywhere.

We can’t control everything, and many things happen when we stop controlling them.

We can plant a seed, we can water it, add some fertilizer and make sure it gets enough sunlight.

Any more intervention may damage the processes, otherwise, we will interrupt nature from doing its job.

That’s why letting go is vital in relationships. because by letting go, we give space to the forces of the universe to unfold.

so letting go makes the difference between controlling and allowing.

The flow of life and its transformations are inevitable.
yet, we see so many people cling to their circumstances.

There are also those who swim against the stream.

They will simply waste energy. maybe they seek virtue in that.
but exercising a constant resistance to how the universe unfolds,
isn’t a very efficient way to live, and makes one exhausted and miserable.

because of certain societal expectations, people engage in a battle against their inherent nature.

Instead of flowing along with the attributes that nature has given them.

Focusing too much on the future makes us anxious.
Our present endeavours become fueled by a desire for an
the uncontrollable result, and the more we crave that,
the less we value the only thing we have, which is the present moment.

Zhuangzi goes one step further, by telling us that the more we value something external, the worse we perform in the present.

Now, this doesn’t mean that people that want external things are stupid.

It means that when our minds are in the future, we paralyze ourselves in the present.

When we experience this flow state, we’re so immersed in the task at hand, that we completely forget about the future.

Zhuangzi observed that a bird that nests in the forest,
wants no more than one branch and that a mouse that drinks from the pond, drinks no more than a bellyful.

So, if we aim for what we need, and let go of excess, we prevent possessions from becoming our prison cell, which allows us to travel light.

When we stop striving, we give nature space to unfold.
The power of letting go means that we float along the stream,
without grasping for rocks and branches, and that we cut the loose dead weight, so we can navigate through life with minimal effort.

From: Tao Te Ching,

Laozi, Taoism

3 Comments