Letting go…of trying to let go

Does the above title make the entire letting go experiment thusfar a hogwash? I hope not. This one is to remind myself to keep it a gentle experiment and not turn stringent about this business of letting go.

For much as we may try, some things cannot be let go of completely. Memories are such and painful ones stick really well. As do our emotions associated with them.

I am very inspired by this interview with the Dalai Lama. The interviewer asked the Dalai Lama if he ever felt guilt and remorse. He said he did and narrated this story.

An elderly monk once asked the Dalai Lama if he should try a yoga regimen. Thinking the monk was too old for yoga, he advised him not to. Dejected, the elderly monk took his life so that he would be able to do yoga in his next birth.

The interviewer was aghast (just as I and now you). He asked the Dalai Lama how he could ever get over something like that. And the Dalai Lama simply said, “I won’t ever. It will always be with me” (paraphrased). He admitted that although it continued to live inside him, he did not allow it to get so overbearing that it overshadowed everything else. He accepted his emotion and kept a check on it with compassion.

I am no Dalai Lama and doubt I ever will be. But this story is so very inspiring. Most of us live with some form of pain – be it guilt, remorse, or something else that we find to fret over.

So if we can find a way to accept it, live with it but not let it overshadow our existence, I think there is hope for us.

For it is not possible to let go of certain things. We just have to make our peace and find a comfortable way to live with them. And perhaps that is another way of viewing the letting go experience.