quotations and passages on letting go

There are things that we never want to let go of, people we never want to leave behind. But keep in mind that letting go isn’t the end of the world; it’s the beginning of a new life.

unattributed

Today I am amazed at the things our children have done and their
wide range of interests. They are all living their lives and not the
ones I would have planned for them. But I have learned that their
lives are theirs, not mine, and in living their own lives they have
given me experiences and an education I would never have had if
I’d been fool enough to make them do what I thought they should do.

Bernie Siegel

We find by losing. We hold fast
by letting go. We become something
new by ceasing to be something old.
This seems to be close to the heart
of that mystery. I know no more now
than I ever did about the far side of
death as the last letting-go of all,
but now I know that I do not need
to know, and that I do not need
to be afraid of not knowing.
God knows. That is all that matters.

Frederick Buechner

Let go. Why do you cling to pain? There is nothing
you can do about the wrongs of yesterday. It is
not yours to judge. Why hold on to the very thing
which keeps you from hope and love?

Leo Buscaglia

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned,
so as to accept the life that is waiting for us.

Joseph Campbell

Letting go doesn't mean we don't care. Letting go doesn't mean we shut down.
Letting go means we stop trying to force outcomes and make people behave.
It means we give up resistance to the way things are, for the moment.
It means we stop trying to do the impossible--controlling that which
we cannot--and instead, focus on what is possible--which usually means
taking care of ourselves. And we do this in gentleness, kindness,
and love, as much as possible.

Melody Beattie

My father once told me of a trick question he used in a college class
on forest fire control. If there was a fire coming from a certain
direction and wind was coming from another, what was the best
thing to do? The right answer was, "Run like hell and pray
for rain," but few students ever got it. So allow yourself the
freedom of knowing there are times to bail out, quit, run,
leave the struggle, and have more time for joy.

Charlotte Davis Kasl

The Tao Te Ching says, When I let go of what I am,
I become what I might be. When I let go of what I have,
I receive what I need. Have you ever struggled to find
work or love, only to find them after you have given up?
This is the paradox of letting go. Let go, in order
to achieve. Letting go is God's law.

Mary Manin Morrissey

Trying creates impossibilities,
letting go creates what is desired.

Stalking Wolf, Apache elder

We must learn to let go, to give up, to make room for the things we have prayed for and desired.

Charles Fillmore

As I started to picture the trees in the storm,
the answer began to dawn on me. The trees in the
storm don't try to stand up straight and tall and
erect. They allow themselves to bend and be blown
with the wind. They understand the power of
letting go. Those trees and those branches that
try too hard to stand up strong and straight are
the ones that break. Now is not the time for you
to be strong, Julia, or you, too, will break.

Julia Butterfly Hill

There's an important difference between giving up and letting go.

Jessica Hatchigan

People have a hard time letting go of their suffering.
Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.

Thich Nhat Hanh

The harder you fight to hold on to specific assumptions,
the more likely there's gold in letting go of them.

John Seely Brown

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To let go isn't to forget, not to think about, or ignore. It doesn't
leave feelings of anger, jealousy, or regret. Letting go isn't about
winning or losing. It's not about pride and it's not about how you
appear, and it's not obsessing or dwelling on the past. Letting go
isn't blocking memories or thinking sad thoughts, and it doesn't leave
emptiness, hurt, or sadness. It's not about giving in or giving up.
Letting go isn't about loss and it's not about defeat. To let go is
to cherish the memories, but to overcome and move on. It is having
an open mind and confidence in the future. Letting go is learning
and experiencing and growing. To let go is to be thankful for the
experiences that made you laugh, made you cry, and made you grow.
It's about all that you have, all that you had, and all that you will
soon gain. Letting go is having the courage to accept change,
and the strength to keep moving. Letting go is growing up. It is
realizing that the heart can sometimes be the most potent remedy.
To let go is to open a door, and to clear a path and set yourself free.

unattributed

Our fear is even stronger when
we think we are responsible
for others--our children,
for example. We want
to spare them pain, and
so we forget to listen to
the Sound of Creation.
No one learns from
someone else's mistake.
If we respect others, we
must recognize that they
have a right to their own
dance. Their own spirits
will guide them.

unattributed

"We hold fast by letting go." Letting go of our attempts
to control things, our attempts to maintain control over
every aspect of our life. We've all heard the saying
about if we love something, we should let it go, and then
we'll know whether it "belongs" to us when we see
whether it comes back to us. So much of our discontent
and our dissatisfaction comes from our unwillingness
to let go of trying to control things and trying to
cause just the results that we think should occur.

tom walsh

Healthy mysticism praises acts of letting go, of being emptied, of getting
in touch with the space inside and expanding this until it merges with the
space outside. Space meeting space; empty pouring into empty. Births
happen from that encounter with emptiness, nothingness. . . . Let us not
fight emptiness and nothingness, but allow it to penetrate us even as we penetrate it.

Matthew Fox

You hang on to the past hoping for what
should have been but still isn't and
never will be until you let go!

Stephen C. Paul

Every time you let go of something limiting,
you create space for something better.

One wears one's mind out in study, and yet has more mind
with which to study. One gives away one's heart in love
and yet has more heart to give away. One perishes out of pity
for a suffering world, and is stronger therefore. So, too, it is possible
at one and the same time to hold on to life and let go.

Milton Steinberg

In the end these things matter most:
How well did you love?
How fully did you love?
How deeply did you learn to let go?

the Buddha

We need in love to practice only this: letting each other go.
For holding on comes easily--we do not need to learn it.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Consider the trees which allow the birds to perch and fly away without either
inviting them to stay or desiring them never to depart. If your heart can be
like this, you will be near to the way.

Zen Buddhist teaching

The clouds above us come together and disperse;
The breeze in the courtyard departs and returns.
Life is like that, so why not relax?
Who can keep us from celebrating?

Lu-Yu

The greatest thing is, at any moment, to be willing
to give up who we are in order to become all that we can be.

Max De Pree

I surrender my anxiety and my sense of urgency. I allow God to guide me
in the pacing of my life. I open my heart to God's timing. I release my deadlines,
agendas, and stridency to the gentle yet often swift pacing of God. As I open
my heart to God's unfoldings, my heart attains peace. As I relax into God's timing,
my heart contains comfort. As I allow God to set the tone and schedule of my days,
I find myself in the right time and place, open and available to God's opportunities.

Julia Cameron