Mary McDonald

44 Quotes About The Power Of Letting Go, For When You Feel Lost And Stuck

Letting go is the slow process of realizing you were given space to re-structure the life you have always wanted and needed to live. The pain of letting go is realizing there is nothing left to distract you from this work. There is a reason people say the
Brianna Wiest
June 1, 2016
“It is not the actions of others which trouble us (for those actions are controlled by their governing part), but rather it is our own judgments. Therefore remove those judgments and resolve to let go of your anger, and it will already be gone. How do you let go? By realizing that such actions are not shameful to you.”
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Tagged: How To Think, The Art of Awareness, Psychology, Philosophy
“Everything started as nothing. ”
— Auliq Ice, The Secret of Greatness
Tagged: How To Think, The Art of Awareness
“Not forever does the bulbul sing
In balmy shades of bowers,
Not forever lasts the spring
Nor ever blossom the flowers.
Not forever reigneth joy,
Sets the sun on days of bliss,
Friendships not forever last,
They know not life, who know not this.”
— Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan
Tagged: How To Think, The Art of Awareness
“It is not until you find yourself lost in the silence that you will learn to let go because everyone has let go of you.”
— Shannon Alder, 300 Questions To Ask Your Parents Before It's Too Late
Tagged: How To Think, The Art of Awareness
“You aren't letting go of a person, or a place, or even a thing – you're letting go of your thoughts about it, or what it would be. And learning how to let go of your thoughts is the most powerful thing there is. It's how you get over fear, loss, panic, pain, judgment, and all the rest. 

Everything exists in a constant cycle of gain and release. Find and lose. Use then purge. Everything. You aren't just letting go of one thing, and leaving your life an empty, bottomless abyss. You're just moving from one thing to the next, and if you quiet yourself enough, you'll be able to hear why. ”
— Brianna Wiest, Gain & Release
Tagged: The Art of Awareness, How To Think
“To ‘let go’ sometimes makes us feel like losers because it means giving up what truly we felt we had a right to. But true strength lies in resisting the urge to hold onto things and people that bring us down.”
— Chinonye J. Chidolue, Peregrine Reads
Tagged: How To Think, The Art of Awareness, Psychology, Philosophy
“Take a shower. Wash away every trace of yesterday. Of smells. Of weary skin. Get dressed. Make coffee, windows open, the sun shining through. Hold the cup with two hands and notice that you feel the feeling of warmth. 
 You still feel warmth.
Now sit down and get to work. Keep your mind sharp, head on, eyes on the page and if small thoughts of worries fight their ways into your consciousness: throw them off like fires in the night and keep your eyes on the track. Nothing but the task in front of you. 

Get off your chair in the middle of the day. Put on your shoes and take a long walk on open streets around people. Notice how they’re all walking, in a hurry, or slowly. Smiling, laughing, or eyes straight forward, hurried to get to wherever they’re going. And notice how you’re just one of them. Not more, not less. Find comfort in the way you’re just one in the crowd. Your worries: no more, no less.

Go back home. Take the long way just to not pass the liquor store. Don’t buy the cigarettes. Go straight home. Take off your shoes. Wash your hands. Your face. Notice the silence. Notice your heart. It’s still beating. Still fighting. Now get back to work.
 Work with your mind sharp and eyes focused and if any thoughts of worries or hate or sadness creep their ways around, shake them off like a runner in the night for you own your mind, and you need to tame it. Focus. Keep it sharp on track, nothing but the task in front of you.

Work until your eyes are tired and head is heavy, and keep working even after that.

Then take a shower, wash off the day. Drink a glass of water. Make the room dark. Lie down and close your eyes.
 Notice the silence. Notice your heart. Still beating. Still fighting. You made it, after all. You made it, another day. And you can make it one more. 
You’re doing just fine.
 You’re doing fine.

I’m doing just fine.”
— Charlotte Eriksson, You're Doing Just Fine
Tagged: How To Think, The Art of Awareness, Psychology, Philosophy
“When you hold onto a script that doesn't serve you, you leave no space to write a new one that does.”
— Jennifer Ho-Dougatz, Unknown
Tagged: Psychology, Philosophy, How To Think, The Art of Awareness
“Success is less about getting good, and more about letting good.”
— Alan Cohen, A Deep Breath of Life
Tagged: How To Think, The Art of Awareness, Psychology, The Person You'll Become
“Chuang-tzu once told a story about two persons who both lost a sheep. One person got very depressed and lost himself in drinking, sex, and gambling to try to forget this misfortune. The other person decided that this would be an excellent chance for him to study the classics and quietly observe the subtleties of nature. Both men experience the same misfortune, but one man lost himself because he was too attached to the experience of loss, while the other found himself because he was able to let go of gain and loss.”
— Liezi, Lieh-tzu: A Taoist Guide to Practical Living
Tagged: How To Think, The Art of Awareness
“Once you realize that life and love are not things you can possess but forces that emanate through us and through all creation, then you can begin to appreciate the miracle you are a part of. You can release the burden and appreciate what you have had, have now and will have. Only trying to hold on to what you do not have causes pain. Letting go permits you to experience the incredible joy that comes to you at each and every moment.”
— James Rozoff, Seven Stones
Tagged: How To Think, The Art of Awareness, Psychology, Philosophy
“A leaf does not resist the breeze. A goose does not resist the urge to fly down south. Is this not happiness? Is this not freedom? To access this incredible state, we need only one thing: Trust. Trust that, when you are not holding yourself together so tightly, you will not fall apart. Trust that it is more important to fulfill your authentic desires than listen to your fears. Trust that your intuition is leading you somewhere. Trust that the flow of life contains you, is bigger than you, and will take care of you - if you let it.”
— Vironika Tugaleva, The Love Mindset
Tagged: How To Think, The Art of Awareness, Psychology, Philosophy
“Try not to resist the changes that come your way. Instead let life live through you. And do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?”
— Elif Shafak, The Forty Rules of Love: A Novel of Rumi
Tagged: Love, Life, Challenges, Obstacles, Optimism, Faith, The Forty Rules Of Love, Rumi, Elif Shafak
“Perhaps our dreams are there to be broken, and our plans are there to crumble, and our tomorrows are there to dissolve into todays, and perhaps all of this is all a giant invitation to wake up from the dream of separation, to awaken from the mirage of control, and embrace whole-heartedly what is present. Perhaps it is all a call to compassion, to a deep embrace of this universe in all its bliss and pain and bitter-sweet glory. Perhaps we were never really in control of our lives, and perhaps we are constantly invited to remember this, since we constantly forget it. Perhaps suffering is not the enemy at all, and at its core, there is a first-hand, real-time lesson we must all learn, if we are to be truly human, and truly divine. Perhaps breakdown always contains breakthrough. Perhaps suffering is simply a right of passage, not a test or a punishment, nor a signpost to something in the future or past, but a direct pointer to the mystery of existence itself, here and now. Perhaps life cannot go 'wrong' at all.”
— Jeff Foster, Life Without a Centre
Tagged: How To Think, The Art of Awareness, Psychology, Philosophy