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Hu Pryor

Letting Go and the Other Half:
Happiness probably is a case of both a
minus AND a plus

by Hubert Pryor


I seem to remember being admonished as a child not to do things by halves. But I've found in life that we can look at the admonition two ways. Sure, don't undertake a venture with half measures. But I can think of at least one case where the opposite produces huge benefits.

In life, I'm for letting go any and all things that hinder and trap us in a variety of ways. In possessions, habits, fears, personal relations and on and on, we're often struggling to be free. They're parts of our lives, sometimes huge parts, that we want to get rid of, BUT DO NOT DARE.

We do not dare to help ourselves? That doesn't seem to make sense. But we can understand the difficulty in letting go when we confront the need to do so and find...well, find we have no alternative. The thing we want to unload is a prop in our lives. Take it away, let it go and what's left?

Plop!

What we've done is create a vacuum. We've confronted a situation in our lives but worked at nothing to replace it. The prospect of that is enough to leave us stuck in our ways.

Letting go, then, can't help us unless we also do some letting in.

Modern teachers of mental and spiritual health see the process as one of denial AND affirmation. We let go "the bad" in us and let in "the good." And we can do that effectively when we reason that it's just common sense. Here's how they reason:

Our Creator creates, does not destroy. So all of us is truly and intrinsically good. If we see something "bad" in us, it's a delusion. Sure it's there to our senses, in the human scale of things. But the spiritual truth of us transcends that. And with the Creator to back us up, we can let it go. At the same time, the opposite of the discarded "bad" thing takes its place because only the good of the Creator's way is so.

So here we go--with true effect--doing things by halves with reassuring success. 

One half of our process, letting go, goes smoothly and effectively empowered by the other half, letting in.

If all that seems too altruistic, our daily life offers countless examples of how "letting in" complements the process of "letting go."

When we take a shower, what we're letting go down the drain is possible only because we're letting in the cleansing water pouring down on us. All our bodily functions, too, are a process of letting go and letting in.

Yes, it is a repetitive process. All life proceeds in cycles. So letting go is not a "done thing" with letting in. Human history reminds us that we are always in a cyclical process. We are born, we live, we procreate, we pass on. And just in our daily lives, we need sleep, movement, inspiration, yes and love--a constant replenishment beyond mere material nourishment.

So happy letting go and letting in--not just today but daily from now on!

©Copyright 2004 Hubert Pryor. All Rights Reserved.



Hubert Pryor
Hubert Pryor
is a retired editor of national magazines--Modern Maturity and Science Digest among others--Hubert Pryor is the author of SOUL TALK: Positive Mind Treatments to Turn Your Life Around (available through DeVorss & Co., 553 Constitution Ave., Camarillo, CA 93012, 800-843-5743, www.devorss.com) and a forthcoming book, SERENITY 101: Spiritual Wisdom, Ancient and Modern, for Peace of Mind Today.


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