We cling to what we think we know.
One of the things that makes us willing to explore is how we trust what we believe we have already learned. Many of us spend our lives looking for solutions and right answers. When we accumulate a piece of the truth, we are certain we can depend on it.
We treat physical possessions the same way. We spend our time working to make money so we can afford to buy things. We gather things, and places to put them, to ourselves and hold onto them. We analyze and compare, choosing what to acquire. We protect our possessions, resisting any attempts to separate them from us.
We come to know our things in the same way we know what we have learned. We draw our comfort and reassurance from what we have and what we know. We hold on for dear life.
Even our rituals and celebrations are about adding to our possessions. Birthday parties, holidays, graduations, wedding receptions and anniversaries, housewarmings; we organize our lives around opportunities to acquire more. Our culture does not have a way to recognize letting go.
So much of life in our culture is centered on holding and controlling. We say that whoever dies with the most toys wins, and we are only partly joking.
There are real benefits to acquiring, along with very real costs.
It is a challenge for many of us even to learn to let go. We do not have any experience, we do not really know how it feels. We are accustomed to holding on as hard as we can.
Many of us do not know the joy and relief that comes with letting go.
How would you celebrate letting go?
What do you need to learn to release today?
[Image by Juan Alberto Garcia Rivera]
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