Onward

The trees are showing us how lovely it is to let dead things go. ~Unknown

The practice of letting go is a challenging one for me and yet the cost of hanging on is undeniable, particularly when I consider the vast amounts of energy and attention that holding on usurps–resources snatched from the coffers of vitality, creativity, and contribution.

Onwardness is a birthright and yet there are attachments that make forward movement difficult if not impossible. Some of these attachments are small. My phone, for example. If I bring my phone into the studio (or anywhere, really), my ability to harness fuller attention is compromised, even when the phone is turned face-down and with all audible signals turned off or even when it’s moved out-of-sight altogether. The mere presence of the device, it turns out, puts me in continuous-partial-attention mode, the opposite of embodied wakefulness and presence and all the concentrated benefits that state can bring.

Other attachments feel much bigger. My loved ones’ health and well-being. The future of our planet. Tomorrow’s election results. Yet the sane, sober refuge is always the same–do what I can, all I can, and then let go, orienting myself, my energy, my fullest attention along with my hope in the direction of what’s ahead.