The Power of Letting Go

Julia Butterfly Hill, “Trees in a storm don't try to stand up straight and tall and erect. They allow themselves to bend and be blown with the wind. They understand the power of letting go. The trees and branches that try too hard to stand up strong and straight are the ones that break.”  

A storm can symbolize our anger, fierce and uncompromising, and then clear skies when we have given the emotion an expression. Anger is neither a good or bad emotion, it exists when particular conditions are not met as we hoped. Anger, like a storm can be a prompter of action. However, when no action is taken then anger turns inward negatively affecting all our experiences and all our interactions. As an absolutely fabulous woman how do you deal with your anger? Do you befriend it as part of the kaleidoscope of you? Or are you attached to only showing a pretty face, something more acceptable to society?

Most of us women were not taught to freely express our anger. Society expects women to be the nurturers, and caregivers. Somehow being nurturing has come to mean that we cannot express a full range of emotion that includes anger. It’s okay to stand up for ourselves when someone steps on our toes, and we can be the tree in the wind both strong and flexible. When we befriend all our emotions we learn from them and walk in the world in healthy concert with them. Like a kaleidoscope all our emotions deserve acceptance and reveal the many faces of our soul. When we suppress emotions and storms come we are brittle with the desire to be so strong and straight that we often break. When we deny anger it sits in the shadows waiting to erupt inappropriately complicating our lives. When we follow our inner guidance to act as the strong women we are, we can cherish the expanded selves that emerge as a result of taking positive action. Imagine celebrating your anger as a guide to positive action in our lives.

I am learning that when I am stymied or blocked as a writer often is, it’s because I think what I want to write about is unacceptable. Also as someone who works with the “Law of Attraction”, I can get caught thinking I have to remain in a “positive” frame of mind in order to attract the work I want and get the results I need for my clients. For months I have had the inner guidance to write about dealing with anger, and I kept denying that guidance. The well didn’t dry up, it was blocked by my thought that said “anger doesn’t help women to Write Up their dreams”. Now, how crazy is that? Rationally I know that my anger prompts me to action that will not only draw more good to my life it will allow me to grow and become more myself. Truly when I let go of my thoughts I discover the power of letting go.

This week’s exercise is to work with the following statements: “It’s okay for me to be angry today. Anger is growthful if I use if for good.” Where in your life do you feel that someone is stepping on your toes? Take action for the good of all concerned. Or is a storm about to break that requires you to be both flexible and strong? Imagine that your anger in any form is a guide to take positive action and become more yourself. Write down what happens and how you feel both expressing the anger and taking the action.

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