How Letting Go Will Help You Find Focus, Purpose, and Peace
“If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace. If you let go completely, you will have complete peace.”
I came across this quote recently while using the Calm app to meditate. In that moment, letting go was aimed at reducing stress, anxiety, and getting a full night’s sleep. The quote reminded me of a dream I had a few years back and of a partially written blog post about how letting go could be a superpower that not only gives you peace and calm, but also greater focus, productivity, and sense of purpose.
So let’s rewind the tape (and dust off the old blog post) to that moment…
I had thought in the night. What if I could truly only focus on what I can control and let go of the rest. Not just some of it. ALL of it! What would that do for me? For my focus. For my productivity. For my stress. For my happiness!
In that lucid dream state, I was able to laser focus on what I could control and what mattered most while shedding the rest. I thought about being a loving and present father to my two sons. I thought about being a patient, caring, and loyal husband to my wife Melissa. I also centered on my personal “Why” – to help unleash the greatness within leaders. It was immensely powerful. It gave me clarity. It gave me focus. It gave me confidence. And it gave me calm.
Given the likely fleeting nature of my thoughts, I took a moment to sit there with it. Sit with it so I would remember it and recall how clear and focused I was in that moment. And happy!
Unfortunately, when I woke up in the morning, that feeling of control had slipped out my mental grasp. The old tapes started playing in my head – the frustration of not moving as fast as I wanted, the pressure to succeed, the worries about other peoples’ perception of me, and the wants and needs of others.
I had lost the clarity, focus, confidence, and sense of calm resulting from letting go of those things that don’t matter and that I can’t control. But I yearned to get back to that place. To a place where I focused on those things I could control (and really matter) and where I could let of those things that I can’t control. What if I could do that all the time, I thought. What would that do for my life, my success, and ultimately to my happiness?
What About You?
What about you? What are you holding onto that gets in your way? Concerns about your current level of success, trying to live up to someone else’s vision of success, or deep-seeded self-limiting beliefs that paralyze you from moving forward?
Now, imagine what would be possible and how you would feel if you could let that all go. Visualize a life anchored to your own enduring values, being true to who you are at your core, and focusing on your towering strengths while dumping the negative thoughts that used to play in your head. Ah, now that’s freedom!
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