Once upon a time…
there was a free bird.
She soared through the sky, delighting in the feel of the wind beneath her wings, the sensation of the rain as it dashed through her tail feathers, and the views of the rising and setting Sun.
Unfortunately, as free as she was, whenever something happened that made the bird sad, she would pick up a stone and keep it with her. At the end of each day, she sorted through her stones, laughing at memories of joyful events, and crying over the sad ones.
She always took the stones with her, whether she was flying through the sky or walking about on the earth looking for big juicy worms.
As the years passed, the free bird accumulated many stones. Still, she kept soaring by day and sorting by night. Until one day, the weight of the stones became so heavy that flying was now impossible.
The free bird, Queen of the skies, could no longer match the speed of the wind. She could not even manage to walk on the earth. All she could do was sit completely still, endlessly poring over her heavy load of stones.
“Letting go means to come to the realisation that some people are a part of your history, but not a part of your destiny.”
― Steve Maraboli
Moral of the Story:
If you want to fly, you have to give up what weighs you down. Let things go. Release them. Detach yourself from them. Stop turning on your emotional television to watch the same program over and over again; the one that shows how much you suffered from a certain loss: it is only poisoning you, nothing else. Cry. Forgive. Learn. Move on. The beautiful journey of today can only begin when we learn to let go of yesterday. Let your tears water the seeds of your future happiness. Once you realise you deserve a bright future, letting go of your dark past is the best choice you will ever make.
The greatest step towards a life of simplicity is to learn to let go. Release the stress. You were never in control anyway. Renew, release, let go. Yesterday’s gone. There’s nothing you can do to bring it back. You can’t “should’ve” done something. You can only DO something. Renew yourself. Release that attachment. Life is made up of a collection of moments that are not ours to keep. The pain we encounter throughout our days spent on this earth comes from the illusion that some moments can be held onto. Clinging to people and experiences that were never ours in the first place is what causes us to miss out on the beauty of the miracle that is the NOW. To love and let go, love and let go, love and let go…it’s the single most important thing we can learn in this lifetime.
“You don’t have to let that one thing be the thing that defines you.”
― Jojo Moyes
Affirmation: I let go of the past with ease and I trust in the process of life.
I close the door on old, painful memories. I close the door on old hurts and self-righteous unforgiveness. I am willing to drop old concepts that no longer serve me. I take a deep breath and release all stress with my exhales. I let go of everything that has happened to me and open myself up for new things. The things that I went through did not define who I am. I release any thoughts related to my past and focus completely on the present. I relinquish control and choose to completely surrender to whatever life will unfold for me. I release all fear-related thoughts and feelings and replace them with confidence and courage. I choose to let go of fear because it only keeps me stuck in one place. I am ready to move forward with my life. I am grateful for all past relationships. It is time for a new chapter in my life now.
“The more you talk about it, rehash it, rethink it, cross analyse it, debate it, respond to it, get paranoid about it, compete with it, complain about it, immortalise it, cry over it, kick it, defame it, stalk it, gossip about it, pray over it, put it down or dissect its motives it continues to rot in your brain. It is dead. It is over. It is gone. It is done. It is time to bury it because it is smelling up your life and no one wants to be near your rotted corpse of memories and decaying attitude. Be the funeral director of your life and bury that thing!”
― Shannon L. Alder