“Let it go”….yes, but what… and how?
Since the Disney film success of FROZEN, everybody loves to use the words, “let it go”. Small children are singing and sing along events are full of little kids. Actually, the message behind the film was beyond the conceptual understanding of children and even teenagers. Unless you have a life experience, there is nothing to “ let go”. By trying to live up to the expectation of others and society in general, it is easy to alienate yourself from who you really are, as well as your desires in life. This may result in the accumulation of frustration and emotions of all sorts. And in some ways, a manifestation of dis-ease.
It is not easy to reclaim who you are, or would like to be, and with this most of us have to cope with making a living. It is a balancing act on how to release this pressure, at the same time staying in tune to oneself, yet needing to cope with the given situation. Wind blowing through willow branches, look rather weak whilst giving in to the pressure, but actually instead of resisting the violent energy, it plays with it with sovereignty. On the contrary, rigid trees lose branches or are uprooted in severe storms; power against power, like a person putting up with the pressure until he/she weakens and eventually collapses.
The lotus leaf never gets wet nor dirty as it has countless fine hairs acting as protrusions on the surface which repel water drops, and these droplets pick up the dirt on the surface which falls off, therefore naturally self cleansing. What can we learn from these examples?
“Let it go”? Or how not to get influenced by the surroundings ? If you are resilient to outside influences, either by being flexible or by repelling or shrugging off, you can stay fit and healthy. Theoretically, we may all be aware of this – but it is not easy to put into practice, we are not yogis! Now comes “letting go”. It is unavoidable that we store negativity in the body and mind, so we have to learn how to release it…”let it go”.
What I see as a phenomena in the West, these words are being used so casually and cheaply, like a fast food for dissolving all of our personal problems. “Let go” does not mean forget about it or look away. You have to face what you want to release and understand where it originated, and study how you are connected with this issue. Only when you ‘really’ know what you wish to discard, can you “ let it go”.
It is good that our society is gradually understanding the need for emotional freedom, but it looks like the present trend is a fad and purely commercially produced. People are obsessed by “letting go” and are stuck in the process (literally), not noticing their “letting go” effort is creating a new stress again – by not being able to “let go”!
Forget about fast food “letting go”. It has to be organic; it’s not a trend nor life style. Benatural to ‘you’, embrace yourself ! The Japanese version of the song,” Let it go”(Frozen), is “ Be as you are”.
Very symbolic isn’t it?
