Thursday, August 22, 2013

Letting Go As Self-Nurturing by Heather Lindsay

**Welcome to the She-Tribe Project's first round of six month guest bloggers, an opportunity for women's voices to inspire, share and create community through the written word. Please be sure to stop by our guest blogger's links to their websites/blogs etc. You won't be disappointed! Xo - Sarah**

Photo from Sarah McMurray's garden


 Hi everyone!  It’s so wonderful to be given a “new voice” to share with what promises to be a vibrant community connected through a beautiful form of creativity: the written word.  This surely is one of the most steadfast and true ways to connect to the World.  I am so happy to be here with each of you!  I have started writing this post several times and it never seemed to be the right moment or words.  Then I happened to have the most unusual experience.  YES!!!  Unusual experiences are the best rabbit holes to go down! 

After brutal heat here in Maryland over the last few weeks we are experiencing the most lovely, cooler weather as I write this.  Perfect garden weather!  I was outside with the veggies and flowers - very far away from my pen and paper (or so I thought!).  I went to flip over my underused, adorable snail garden stake when off fell a luminous but dead dragonfly.  I was enthralled with this little fellow or gal!  I felt the immense need to hold this beautiful, lithe, once flying gem.  I examined her (we’ll say her).  After all - I’ve never held a dragonfly before!  She was tiny...  I couldn’t help but wonder if this is what a fairy looks like!  “Am I holding a fairy?!”  Her thin body looked like a ribbed reed.  It was a spectacular iridescent green.  Her big, black eyes looked as clear as if she could still see.  Her wings were lacy, black as night, and shimmering.  They folded delicately back against her body.  In my hand she was weightless - like the wind must be. 

I thought, I will never forget this moment... this clear, pure, fine moment.  I could actually imagine how this dragonfly just let go.  She simply let go.  No whimper, no cry, no regret.  Her spirit, soul, whatever you want to name it - just one moment left! 

Completely let go. 

Wow...  if only we could all let go this easily of the daily irritants available to each of us.   Then everyone would be able to glimpse and ultimately experience what a grand World we inhabit together.  Let go of hurt, pain, judgment, sadness, distress, anger, grief, distrust, and onward.  On a near daily basis I see these stuck emotions in my clients.  I KNOW these emotions personally! 

Why do we let all our unhappiness get in the way of ourselves? 

This is only an answer each person can find within (and jeez it’s a constant practice!).  BUT if you even have the awareness that you CAN let go, this will begin to unravel all that has been pent up inside you.  Try this the next time a similar experience happens to you.  Smile, just smile!  Smile at that person who just blew their horn at you “for no reason” or someone who just had unkind words to utter.  INSTANT freedom when you chose that smile instead of reacting.  Instant letting go!  That distress is not yours and you hold the space for the other to let go too. 

It begins with giving yourself permission to experience any and all emotions, but then to know you have the freedom to let them go.  Here’s another powerful thought - letting go is the ultimate of self nurturing.  As you let go and this way of life opens up more and more to you, distress and sickness will loosen their grips on you and you can finally release.  Though this method is not all that should be used in the event of illness, it’s possible to greatly dislodge disease due to the fact that at its root disease is very stuck emotions.    Hummm...  Let me know how it goes.  Please share other ways you “let go” too.

In ending, I had a little funeral for the dragonfly.  I was planting a pink vinca vine so I buried her beside the flower in the pot.  I had a brief moment of sadness, and then I thought, “That is enough.  This lovely insect didn’t even know grief.  How beautiful to be free instead.”  A little while later I looked over at the porch plants near where the vinca was and saw a gorgeous, yellow butterfly!  A fine thought followed.  “Wow. That was fast!  Perhaps it’s her in her next movement of life.”  When we let go anything is possible.

Heather lives in a cozy bay side town in Maryland with her boyfriend, Ryan, and their three fur baby kitties - Tigger, Ophelia, & Willow.  Heather's private practice, Natures Of Light Acupuncture, is the fulfillment of her dream to create a healing place for all in need.  She lovingly practices Acupuncture, is an Integrated Energy Therapy® practitioner and teacher, and incorporates the power of flowers into her sessions through the use of Flower Essence Therapy.  You can also find her on Facebook.

1 comment:

  1. This blog really hit home for me! Letting go of all that does not serve me to the highest and best of my potential has been a profound experience in my soul cleansing journey of late. Your blog helped me realize that allowing myself to have emotions, which is a natural way to release any and all "stuck" energies, is completely appropriate. I found myself feeling almost guilty when I would have a not-so-positive thought or be a little grumpy. I know now that as long as I acknowledge the emotion or thought and then release it back to the Universe to recycle into a more productive energy it becomes a learning experience and is in no way unnatural. This was very helpful for me. I thank you for the beautiful insight. Namaste, ~Special K

    ReplyDelete