Preparing to Let Go

Have you ever struggled to know when it’s okay (and maybe best) to ‘just let go?’ Lately, I’ve really been noticing the dynamics of the relationship between taking wise action to prepare, and wisely surrendering. With the storm season upon us in the coastal south, I’ve had obvious opportunities to nurture a conscious relationship between preparing and letting go. I’ll use this situation as an example, and I hope it might inspire you to notice where in your own life you can see the dynamic in play.

I have a perfectionistic streak in me which affects the preparation side of the relationship equation. Perfectionism can cause me to stress about making extra sure that I am prepared - stress which can be exacerbated by the fact that I currently have to be financially creative and resourceful with the types of preparation that require an outlay of money. Surrendering can bring relief, but for me that’s only true when I know that I have first done my best to prepare.

Sometimes in life, we don’t get a chance to prepare for what happens, but for those kinds of events or traumas I like to consider the choices and habits of my daily life to be my best preparation. If I am making wise decisions consistently in my daily life, and cultivating a trusting relationship with my intuition, then whatever happens that is beyond my control, I will have accumulated the strength and poise to help me through it. A clean raw vegan diet, and paying consistent attention to the other spokes on my whole ‘wheel of health,’ is a good example of that kind of ongoing preparation.

Often, we do have plenty of lead-time in which to prepare ourselves ahead of a known or mostly-known event or change that’s coming. Hurricanes, as rough as they are, at least usually give a few days of warning - and anyone choosing to live in a hurricane-prone area is always aware of the likely possibility. (However, Hurricane Ian two years ago was a real game-changer where I live, since no previous hurricane had ever been as fiercely destructive, and most people are now taking their preparations more seriously!)

So, let’s work with the type of life event that does give us at least some forewarning, and we’ll look at the relationship between preparation and surrender in this context. For me, when I am aware of a new challenge on the horizon, it helps allay my worry and anxiety if I get into action on a preparation plan. Sometimes that means physical preparations (such as, in the case of a big storm, clearing the yard of loose objects, boarding up the windows, filling the gas tank, getting out the back-up power, doing a last grocery-store run, etc.), and sometimes the best preparations may be more about mental and emotional readiness. For a hurricane, all are important!

The way life works, even our best efforts may not protect us sufficiently for what comes. We cannot possibly account specifically for all the potential variables and outcomes. I find it very helpful to check in with myself, and be honest about my current capacity to prepare. In the case of an approaching hurricane, I will be looking at my physical, emotional, time and perhaps financial resources, in the moment. I need to be able to trust myself to know what ‘doing my best’ looks like at this time. And I need to assess what I can live with - what risks am I willing to take, all things considered in the situation at hand? These are very personal assessments - after all, I am responsible for my own choices around how to prepare, and what to let go of, and I will have to answer to myself at the end of the day.

Once I have made my decisions around when to let go and consider my preparations complete, it’s time to surrender. Sometimes we have control of when we decide on the timing of our conscious surrender, and sometimes surrender becomes our only choice because the event we have been preparing for is now upon us. Either way, prayer is always the final stage of my preparations. It’s an important part of my surrender. Prayer calls up my faith in a higher power that will protect me in whatever way this intelligence knows is for my highest evolvement. Because I have cultivated a strong faith in a benevolent universe, guided ultimately by a loving vibration, prayer is very comforting to me. A daily practice of prayer is part of my consistent preparation for whatever life may bring my way each and every day, and it is also at least as important to me when preparing for a known event as all of my other preparation actions.

Actively preparing ourselves for life’s inevitable challenges is an important part of conscious living. Without it, we may feel like a victim of our circumstances. Here are a few questions that might be helpful:

• How do you keep yourself in a steady state of healthy preparedness, for life?

• How do you generally navigate physical, mental, emotional and spiritual preparations for a specific event or situation that you can see on the horizon?

• How much confidence do you have in your ability to claim responsibility for your preparedness choices?

• Are you able to call on self-compassion and faith, in the act of consciously surrendering when it is time?

Learning to gracefully navigate the dynamics of this powerful relationship, between preparedness and surrender, has been a strong thread in my own self-development journey. The universe has offered me many large challenges to help me work toward mastery and conscious relationship, and I am Grateful!