I Just Let Go

My daughter Kari in Western Australia. She is currently traveling the world and has taught me a great deal about letting go. Photo by: Tom Kelley.

It was the worst time for me to leave for the weekend for my Unity Women's Retreat. It is the start of a new school year with all the complications of being part of a team of six teachers trying to steer a team of 120 thirteen-year-old students down a shiny path of enlightenment and academic achievement. (If you're not a teacher, think "herding cats.") In addition to this I am taking a graduate course online. Throw in all the fuss that comes with a big family wedding for me to help with on the following weekend and the conditions just aren't prime for a getaway. That also means it's the best time to leave. Just leave. Let go.

It was worth every moment! We were a group of 40 women of every age and background. We talked, we meditated, we held each other in tears and laughter, we swam in the ocean, released our fears into a campfire, ate together and healed. Much of what I released was residual fear from my SCAD.

My weekend Women's Retreat opened with a reading of this poem. My first thought was that I must share it with my SCAD sisters as well. With so little known about SCAD there comes a point where we just simply must let go.

So here is the poem. Read it slowly.

She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go.

She let go of the fear.

She let go of the judgments.

She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head.

She let go of the committee of indecision within her.

She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons.

Wholly and completely, without hesitation or worry, she just let go.

She didn’t ask anyone for advice.

She didn’t read a book on how to let go.

She didn’t search the scriptures.

She just let go.

She let go of all of the memories that held her back.

She let go of all of the anxiety that kept her from moving forward.

She let go of the planning and all of the calculations about how to do it just right.

She didn’t promise to let go.

She didn’t journal about it.

She didn’t write the projected date in her Day-Timer.

She made no public announcement and put no ad in the paper.

She didn’t check the weather report or read her daily horoscope.

She just let go.

She didn’t analyze whether she should let go.

She didn’t call her friends to discuss the matter.

She didn’t do a five-step Spiritual Mind Treatment.

She didn’t call the prayer line.

She didn’t utter one word.

She just let go.

No one was around when it happened.

There was no applause or congratulations.

No one thanked her or praised her.

No one noticed a thing.

Like a leaf falling from a tree, she just let go.

There was no effort.

There was no struggle.

It wasn’t good and it wasn’t bad.

It was what it was, and it is just that.

In the space of letting go, she let it all be.

A small smile came over her face.

A light breeze blew through her. And the sun and the moon shone forevermore…

~ Rev. Safire Rose