Two Buddhist monks are returning to their monastery after the rains. They reach a swollen river and in front of them is an extremely beautiful lady in a delicate silk kimono, distressed because she is unable to cross the river by herself. 

So, the older monk scoops her up, carries her safely to the other side and the two monks continue on their way in silence. 

Five hours later, as the two monks reach their destination, the younger monk, literally fuming, bursts out, “How could you do it? You touched a woman; you know we’re not allowed to do that!” 

The older monk replies, “I put her down 5 hours ago, but you are still carrying her with you.”

Ahh. “Baggage” comes in so many forms eh? 😀 

Another example: the things we hold onto, bear grudges or perhaps feel angry and hurt about cloud our mind. All this baggage prevents us from stepping into our leadership powerfully. So let’s explore the power of letting go today:

Letting go usually involves some form of forgiveness or acceptance – whether it’s our own self, someone else, a situation or even an unknown third party. The irony is that whatever we’re holding onto, it’s probably hurting or bothering us much more than it does anyone else.

Letting go doesn’t mean we condone a situation or behavior, it’s about lightening OUR load. Because when we let go of whatever is bothering us we set ourselves free and get to reclaim that energy for ourselves.

We don’t need to know HOW to let go, we just need to be WILLING. We can’t change the past, but we can learn from it and change how we feel going forwards. 

And perhaps most importantly – whatever we find it hardest to let go of is probably what we need to let go of the most… 

Today I invite you to:

Pull out your journal. While you may not wish to do anything about these right now, just listing what you need to let go of here will raise your level of awareness and you’ll naturally begin to loosen your grip.  So, simply list down:

what you’re holding onto

what slows you down, 

what riles you up 

and anything that gets in the way of you being the best you can be…

Then, for a few moments, imagine letting go of everything on this list. 

How does it feel?

What have you learned about yourself from doing this exercise? 

You can write these insights in your journal or share in the private FB group