Trusting that with loss, there is renewal
Since I’m having trouble posting regularly lately, I realized that I should occasionally share what I’m writing in my online class discussions. We recently discussed mourning as a spiritual process of “letting go” and this was my response:
Much of my concept of “letting go” and grieving comes from the health crisis which ended my life as I knew it. Not only did work and school come to an abrupt halt, but I lost my ability to function on a daily basis becoming dependent on my husband for things you take for granted. (Try to pay attention to how often you use your hands.) I became focused on finding meaning in the crisis in spiritual terms. I saw the losses as deaths, and an overall death of my identity. Everything that comprised my self-concept was gone.
I came to see losses as a natural part of the cycle of life that create space and opportunity for something new to grow. Everything I was became fertile ground for the growth or rebirth of my self. It was not ultimately truly lost, but transformed. Perhaps like the butterfly, we must be willing to let go of ourselves, trusting that is a necessary part of making way for the new life to come. I see life as a process of allowing parts of our lives to die, to make way for the new. I think that if we are stuck holding on to and maintaining what is, we become rigid and closed to the unknown miracles life has to offer. Even in our breathing, we must release the air with our out breath trusting that more will come in the next breath in.
Really beautiful post-inspiration and thought-inspiring. Trusting in the re-birth after loss takes faith, but it is an important part of life.
Thanks.
jen
Boda Weight Loss Blog
I hope that you are able to let go enough to be happy. I see letting go more as a relationship that you have with things. How much can you simply accept things as they are? The answer to that gives you an indication of how much to release. Also you have to be the judge of whether you are letting go or you are forming an attachment to a new state such as a disabled one. Perhaps it serves some purpose for you to identify with that state. In that case, it’s not really letting go. This is a distinction you can make for yourself.