Letting Go
(For the DVD and book giveaways for the "coming through natural disaster" blog topic, please see here.)
"WHEN I LET GO OF WHAT I AM, I BECOME WHAT I MIGHT BE." –The Tao Te Ching. Christians everywhere are observing the season of Lent, a forty-day period of self-sacrifice in preparation for Easter. The practice of giving up comforts, vices, or habits for a time is a feature of many spiritual traditions. It helps us to move on or to understand what is truly important in our lives.
An assortment of blog posts about sacrifice»
This week, please write about a time you gave up something for a while (or forever), and the how letting go helped you change for the better. Please tag your post letting go blog.
A few bloggers will receive books by Red Room authors:
In her newest book, award-winning television journalist and author Jane Velez-Mitchell (Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell on HLN) shows how Americans need to give up and let go of our addictions, both legal and illegal. In Addict Nation: An Intervention for America "is designed to be a blueprint for change. But, first, we need to wake up to what’s happening."
Clinical psychologist and practicing Buddhist Dr. Pavel Somov's newest book is The Lotus Effect: Shedding Suffering and Rediscovering Your Essential Self. In it, Somov "offers meditation techniques and intriguing thought and perception exercises for shedding difficult thoughts and experiences, anger, worry, stress, and feelings of low self-worth."
So post a blog entry today about Red Room's topic of the week
"the time I was I glad I let something go"
For help on how to blog, please see the directions here. We'll choose one of these blog posts to be featured on Red Room's homepage next week. Post your entry by Friday at 10:30 a.m. PST (GMT-08:00) for consideration, and be sure to tag it with the keyword term letting go blog in the Blog Keyword Tags field so we can find it. (Please don't forget the exact tag. For more information about tags, click here.)
Don't miss last week's blog entries about famous, inspiring women. From the the connections one feels from and the inspiration she draws from Gloria Steinem to a remembrance of United States Medal of Freedom honoree who was also the blogger's godmother, Red Roomers educated and moved us with stories of inspiration.
Thanks for blogging!
–Huntington W. Sharp, Senior Editor, Red Room
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Giving Up and Letting Go
It is hard to keep fighting when you know you are destined to lose no matter what.
That was how I felt nine years ago when my husband was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. The day we were given the diagnosis we held on to each other and wept and we prayed that it was a mistake. That the doctor had mixed up the test results with someone else. I was in denial. I couldn't believe that I was going to lose the love of my life after it had taken me so long to find him. Up until the day he died I refused to believe this was really happening to us.
That morning I looked down into his face, the skin hung from his bones and was gray. Even though he could no longer communicate, I saw the plea in his eyes. He was holding on because of me. He knew I wasn't ready to let him go. My heart calmed and I knew it was time. Time for me to accept what was inevitable. I bent over to kiss his cheek and told him that I loved him. I told him I would be okay and that he could move on now. I told him that I would live my life to the fullest and I would see him again one day.
Only a few hours later, he passed.
Now, nine years later, he is still in a piece of my heart where he will always remain. I hope one day to love again, but if not, well, I have had the love of my life. What more could anyone ask for? I am at peace with his loss now.