Let Go

“All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.” – Havelock Ellis

This is easier said than done. Life is all about discovering what to let go, how to let go, when to let go and why to let go. As we age, we realise more and more the benefits of letting go rather than holding on. LET GO are two simple words but with profound meaning that shape our lives. 

What comes to your mind when you hear the phrase “Let Go” ?

• Is it letting go of emotions, feelings, sentiments, relationships, memories of grief, love, illnesses, anecdotes ? 
• Is it letting go of attachment to places you lived in, offices that you worked at, people that you loved or disliked, things that you used and are now redundant ?
• Is it letting go of negative thoughts, excessive thinking, unwanted information ?
• Is it letting go of the six enemies (arishadvarga or shadripu in Sanskrit) of kama (desire), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), mada (sense of I or ego), moha (attachment) and matsarya (bias) ?

You could have more and the list could go on endlessly, depending on your life experiences and your perspectives. While normally we associate ‘letting go’ with emotions, people and living beings, I experienced the ‘holding on’ to inanimate things. As we were moving back to our newly renovated office space, I found it so difficult to give away some furniture, crockery, visiting card albums and even old client files. Why, even to redo the website, I had to tell myself to let go of certain pictures and images that wouldn’t sit well with the new layout. It set me thinking as to why we get so attached to some of these. While repurposing is good, if we do not see any value in some things, we better dispose them off and make way for the new. Giving away, letting go, destroying is essential to receiving, letting in and creation. Unless we clear out the old, how do we clean up the clutter ? how do we make space for the new ? Just think about it. Whether it is technology, information, people, furniture or even positions in an organisation, redundancy must be welcomed. Only then there is room for fresh thoughts, innovation and progress.

I experienced this in yet another part of my life. My speech mentor in my Toastmasters journey would always chip away the unwanted portions and say – let it go. His mantra was – don’t force fit ideas, content, gestures into your speech. Fit in only as much as required, as much as relevant. Make space for pauses, for reflection and audience response. Letting go of superfluous content enhances the speech quality. How true in our lives as well – hoarding of materialistic things, wealth, holding on to toxic relationships, unpleasant memories, redundant data, rivalries – all of these cause stress and anxiety. They need to be purged out from the system. Unboxed from our minds. Periodic cleansing is the key to happiness.

Well, the funda is, the biggest asset one can gain out of Letting Go is happiness, tranquility, peace and health. The key drivers for quality life. Like I said earlier, it is easier said than done. I would like to leave you with a question – What can be done to Let go ?

I have shared a philosophical take on the topic of letting go. Unfortunately I cannot say the same with respect to the failure of the MCA portal that is adversely affecting professional time and money, delaying corporate transactions, impacting the economy and more importantly triggering mental health issues amongst the professionals taking up Company Law assignments. It is 6 months+, yet the technical issues on the portal are as bizarre as before. None of us are in a position to let go and move on because there is no other alternative to get India Inc moving ! This is to express solidarity with thousands of trainees and professionals working on ground zero in extreme conditions of anxiety and frustration. 

While at this, let me urge you to scroll down and read up the 289th issue of Samhita which carries two important articles on Digital Lending Guidelines of RBI and the extensive amendments made by SEBI from governance perspective. There are other regulatory updates from IT, GST, RBI, DGFT too.  For any previous issues of Samhita and the readers’ feedback, please visit http://www.sharadasc.com/resource-center/.

Here are some pointers to the question of how to let go……take up new hobbies, activities, immerse yourself in work, try music, dance, exercise, sketching, travelling, caring for others, meditating. Let go and Move on!