Letting Go Isn’t Giving Up

Ever feel like you’re drifting through life? As if you were on autopilot?

Do you catch yourself reacting to situations, other people, and your inner dialogue impulsively in ways that leave you unhappy, confused, or even depressed?

What’s going on?

Ninety-five percent of your thoughts and actions are habitual responses driven by your survival programming or a need to know where you fit in and what’s expected and conditioned by society.

What to do?

The first step is awakening. You’re playing the game of life the way you were programmed and conditioned to play it.

The second step is awareness. Acknowledge and accept that you’re a human thinking and acting like a human, and you can choose a different game, your game.

The third step is agency. Assume responsibility over how you see yourself, others, and your situation. and what you decide and do next. Play your game.

“It’s not things that upset us, but our judgments about things.”—Epictetus

Sh*t happens. Time and randomness ensure that life is filled with ups and downs.

You’re programmed and conditioned to react emotionally to life’s trials and travails. You feel like a victor when you’re winning and a victim when you’re losing.

Careening between exultation and exasperation is exhausting.

There is a better way.

Shift happens through surrender. Allow and sit with the emotions without attaching value judgments or assigning a narrative.

Surrender isn’t giving up or giving in. Surrender is letting go of what was not yours in the first place.

What if, just for today, you let go of your expectations for the future and embraced what’s going on right now with a little more curiosity?

What happens if, just for today, you hold your assumptions and agendas a little more loosely?

What if, just for today, you engaged with yourself and those around you with a little more compassion?

What if, just for today, you accept both your personal relevance and cosmic insignificance?

What if, just for today, you practiced empathy, trust, and worthiness from the inside out?

Surrender and non-attachment are the keys to equanimity—allowing life to happen through you instead of to you.

How might surrender help you reframe yourself, your situation, and what you decide to do next with and for those you’re with?

Scott Perry, Chief Difference-Maker at Creative on Purpose.

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