The Art of Letting Go..

After a long stretch of endless work and travel for work, I finally took a week off for leisure last week. I've been getting lucky with trips lately - primarily because the folks I choose to travel with are fantastic at planning. On that note, surround yourself with people who cover for your gaps and what you lack so you can experience the best of all worlds.

Before I go off track, let me clarify that this post is not about the type of people we should surround ourselves with - This one's about the art of letting go.

?Last night, I woke up from a 6-hour long sleep fest in-flight and my eyes fell upon the screen of the passenger sitting next to me. She was watching an Irfan Khan film (Angrezi Medium) and the dialogue on the subtitles caught my eye- Actually caught my eye and hit home. It's something I've been thinking about a lot lately . Perhaps because this has been the single most , possibly also the hardest lesson that I've learnt in my 37 years of learning lessons. In this scene, the protagonist is looking out of the window of a car with the wind caressing his face as he shares an epiphany?

"In childhood a child holds our finger and walks so that they don't get lost in the crowd ... and the day they leave our finger ... it feels as if we've lost ourselves ... but there's a point in this my friend ... until the child leaves your finger ... they won't be able to come and embrace you"

Watching that scene stirred in me the need to pick a pen and finally write about this simple( perhaps even cliched but very difficult) act of letting go.?Firstly, it's a recognition of how tiny a speck we are in the infinite galaxy to hold on to moments, grudges or ideas that don't serve us. If we could only remind ourselves of this one tiny detail, we'd probably travel a lot lighter and move on much faster authentically and joyfully.

The lady at the ticket counter made you wait longer than you'd like - express displeasure politely and move on. Your customers ghosted you after endless loops of negotiation or acted impolite- Share a note for closure and move on. Your friends/ colleagues made a remark that felt less than respectful - Set a boundary and express yourself but move on.?

Speak up but move on. Travel light.??

I recall, when I was younger, I'd hold on to my ideas vehemently like world peace depended on them. There was merit in those ideas, no doubt, but holding on to something so tight that you lose sight of every other dimension of human experiences - especially those that people around you perceive or feel- is tunnel vision to put it lightly. If I could go back to my younger self , the one advise I'd give her is the act of letting go. My erstwhile manager once told me, you're doing so well at work because you're passionate but you've got to learn to let go! And boy o boy, wasn't that advise a game changer?!

It took me many years to build a muscle for this because I was hardwired to holding tight. Being passionately involved made it even harder. The day( through intentional practise if I may add) , I switched towards letting go gracefully , my entire mental state switched. I felt calmer & more compassionate without the need for hours of inner dialogue and over thinking when I felt disappointed, I could apologize and also forgive with ease when things went south. And isn't it true that every day, each one of us, experiences something that's not so pleasing??

?They say 99% of the people around us have positive intentions. It took me a hard lesson on letting go to recognize this fact.?

?Now when things don't go my way, it's easier to let go of these micro moments of disappointment with candid on-time feedback and leaving things as water under the bridge.

It's made me happier but more importantly it's given me access to meaningful relationships that stand the test of time. Why? Because the act of letting go comes with the ability to make detached acts of services too. And almost magically and paradoxically - everything that you'd like to embrace comes into your life exactly when the time is right and when you're ready for it.?Almost the way this scene appeared right when I needed a nudge to breathe life into this piece that's been brewing in my head for a while.

?There's almost poetic justice in how everything you need and deserve comes to you in moments- when you learn to let go off their need.