Letting Go--Some Definitions

I have been mulling over the comments on "Letting Go--More" which has really helped me to clarify my own thinking and processes.

But I needed to come up with some definitions in order to make sense of it.

Jen and Aaron used the term "letting go" in a little different way than I am used to. They described (i believe) what I am now going to call a "letting-go-of-it-all blow-out." This is a very helpful concept. In fact, I would say that yesterday I had the opportunity to experience a bit of my own emotional letting-go-of-it-all blow-out (which is why it was so helpful to think through all of this).

But, back to definitions.

The classical sense of "letting go" has to do with the way that I carry my life on a regular basis. In other words, when I am "letting go", than I am doing life from a relative place of rest and peace... I'm not letting things get to me... I am actively doing things but have a healthy detachment. I am not getting worked up. I am not clutching, striving, forcing, driving, and otherwise feeling attached to the outcome of things. My heart is at rest. I may be very busy, but I'm not overwhelmed because I am operating out of an emotional/spiritual center that is working.

For me, the reminder to "let go" has to do with reminding myself that God carries the world on his shoulders, I don't need to. I can rest in Him even while I'm active. The classical disciplines of time with God, worship, practicing His presence, etc., etc., help me to remain focused on Him, and my heart at peace, even while I'm active in life. This is what I'm calling "letting go."

Hey, sounds good. Now... what about real life.

In real life, I am able to do life from a place of healthy "letting go" for a period of time. Then, for whatever reason, I start to become more and more compulsive in the way I am doing life and carrying my life. Things become bigger and bigger deals. I begin to spin emotionally more and more. I'm feeling, perhaps, more and more out of control. Before you know it, if this continues, I experience what I am here calling a let-it-all-go blow-out. This may involve a binge of some kind, or simply an all-out withdrawal from life. For me, this is actually the result of not letting go in the way that I have been doing my life. When I am doing life from a place of "letting go," then I actually don't get to the "let-it-all-go blow-out" place.

Are these definitions helpful and making sense?

Fortunately, a let-it-all-go blow-out is one more opportunity to explore the wonder and goodness of God's grace. Apparently, I need to explore His grace a lot! And maybe, just maybe, at least I hope... that everytime I go through a let-it-all-go blow-out, I've learned just a little more about how to rest and "let go" while doing life. Maybe? God Help Us.

By the way, I want to continue to encourage all to try the Sacred Space (see yesterday's post).

Comments

[Aaron]

I think yo nailed it Roger.
For me what I call letting go and what you term "letting-go-of-it-all-blow-out" is not a positive thing. It is a way for me to hide. It is always accompanied by an escape to my "happy place", the non-reality-based place I go in my mind where I don't have to deal with life and responsibilty.
I have never been able to master the balanced approach to letting go.
This approach to life lends itself to emotional detachment and distance from people, and as I have found in the past distance from God.
As God reveals His love to me and shows me that he doesn't require "things" of me and that there is nothing I can "do" to increase or decrease His love for me I can relax in Him. I Find myself letting go and letting God work in and around me as He pleases.
Now if the rest of the world didn't require things of me......