As I sat on my meditation cushion this morning, I scrolled through guided practice options on my Insight Timer app. I didn’t have a lot of time, so I searched through five-minute meditations, figuring a short time on my bolster was better than nothing. Perusing through the choices, one immediately caught my attention with a bit of an urgency about it. When something like this happens, I sense it’s because I am meant to listen—perhaps I’ll receive some sort of message today. So, I clicked on “Poem: She Let It Go” read by John Siddique, settled onto my cushion, shut my eyes, and began.
While John Siddique’s voice is quite soothing, there was so much more to the experience. The essence of this guided meditation truly resonated with me, and I immediately felt myself completely engulfed. Words like “fear,” “judgment,” and “indecision” amplified in my head, no doubt because these are issues I continue to confront. And when the author of the poem, Safire Rose, explains the process the woman goes through, it was as though she spoke directly to me, describing behaviors I so often resort to.
For the past several months I’ve been exploring the concept of surrender, curious about what might happen if I released the tight grasp I hold on life. Of course, I know it’s my hesitancy to surrender that keeps me small and prevents me from showing up as my true self. However, perhaps now is my time. After all, I’m sure it was no coincidence I chose to listen to this meditation this morning.
Still, I can’t help but wonder why it is so damn hard to release those things that hold me back … as well as what I fear. Why am I hesitant to surrender? But what if letting go of something—no matter what or how small—allowed my light to become a bit brighter? Would I? Could I?
To say this poem impacted me is an understatement. When it was over, I quickly tagged this guided mediation as a favorite, knowing I’d want to replay it the next day, and most likely the following. But there was more. I felt compelled to share it with you, wondering if you, too, might connect to the words.
She Let Go
by Safire Rose
She let go.
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…
Just for today, I will consider letting go of one small thing. I’ll test the waters and see how it feels. Then, if I’m OK with how things turn out, maybe tomorrow I’ll think about letting go of something else.
There’s an unexplained freedom that comes with release—it’s as though I’m lighter, less incumbered, no longer responsible for things that are not mine. And when I am brave enough to let go, trusting myself because easier. Not only that all will be well, but also that I can choose differently, in a higher vibration, one connected to love.
Taking a moment to pause, I can now see how tightly I’d been clinging because I was afraid. How human of me to do this.
