Big theme of letting go is all around me lately. Letting go of my thoughts. Not ’stuff’. Not ‘people’. But IDEAS that float through my head and which I often give power to because they are interesting in some way. Interesting in that they make me feel something… like fear, anger, judgement, disgust, happy, sad, confused. So I give those thoughts attention. And so I feed them. I oxygenate them with my attention. And they grow and multiply and they gain more power to take space in my head and sometimes I think they are true. Sometimes I believe them because they seem so real. It’s a game us humans like to play but it’s a sticky game, and sometimes I feel trapped in this game. And I want to be free.
And so I needed this bit of wisdom that came to me recently, which I’ve been hearing in different forms. LET GO. JUST RELAX, and LET THE THOUGHTS FLOAT AWAY. Let go of the grip on the thoughts. They are just thought-icles. Specks of thought dust which I could either examine and examine, or just watch float away, and not give any more thought to. Don’t pay attention, be interested in something new, something different, don’t believe everything you think, they’re just ideas. Silly little ideas that your clever mind made up to see if it could catch your attention and take you away from the present moment.
Thinking certain kinds of thought is tiring, have you noticed? The old, repetitive ones, the ones that make you feel bad. Or the same problem which your mind plays with like a tired old ball of playdough always ends up looking like the same lump of grey playdough, with only more bits and pieces of garbage and lint and crumbs that it’s picked up. And then it’s time to throw it in the garbage because it’s kind of gross. Those are like old thoughts that repeat and repeat and repeat and only serve as a distraction from what’s right in front of you. So I’ll stop giving my attention to those old gummy thoughts and just let go now. Relax and just enjoy the flow of beautiful life that is in and all around me. Big sigh of relief. Freedom.
The reclining Buddha, yes, I remember him from Thailand. Natty, you are such an artists to be able to piece together the abstracts of motherhood and assemble them in your blog as stories for us all to read and relate… and did I mention that I miss you immensely?… I do.
Is this the meaning of the reclining Buddha? The relaxed enjoying the moment pose of a being who just let go of all their silly little thoughts and watched them float away in a big exhale? I love that! And I miss you too Carole… One day we shall have a face to face conversation and gaze upon each other and the beautiful lines that have grown on our faces and marvel at all that has happened to each other over the last decades. Thanks for your comments too, it means so much coming from such an accomplished writer.