Learn to let go and allow

One of the major pursuits of my life over the past 10 years has been to learn to let things happen more naturally. I see the value in learning to allow instead of control and the peace that it brings with it.

I first heard about the value of learning to allow and let go through Wayne Dyer. His books seemed to touch on this way of going through life in a flowing, peaceful, happy way that also brings with it success and achievement.

When I first realized how much I was trying to control and dictate in my life and started to ease up, an interesting thing started to happen.

Suddenly I felt as thought I wasn’t pushing against a raging river to get where I want to go. It was almost like I finally stopping pushing to go upstream and let the river take me where it wanted me to go. I could still turn and choose between various forks in the river, but I wasn’t trying to go against the current any longer.

An amazing transformation started to happen. I was finding myself more happy and peaceful but I also started to enjoy more success.

I had to let go of dreams about what I wanted in life but in doing so was filled with new dreams and new interests. These brought with it new levels of achievement and contentment.

But there is one caution I would make here. Part of the reason I reaped as much benefit from this approach was that I was, at the same time, working on transforming the systems and habits in my life.

These worked marvelously together. As I let go of my desire to constantly control, I also put in place the right automatic steps that would allow me to grow and improve.

I didn’t just sit on my hands and expect everything be done for me. This isn’t what I mean when I talk about letting go and allowing life to happen. Instead it was more of a shift where I focused more on the structures and systems in my life and focused less on the specific details and situations.

By taking the higher-level view of my life, I was able to make much more drastic change in my life. Where previously I would feel betrayed when an opportunity at work went to someone else, I now simply look to put in place the right work ethic and mindset every day so I can keep improving.

That allows me to calm the entitled mind that we all experience from time to time. I could see past this one situation and continue to make strides. I focused on what I could control not on what I hoped would be the outcome.

Learning to let go and allow life to happen, I have been able to slowly improve year after year after year. I keep moving forward and getting better without constantly struggling to keep my head above water.

Instead I learned to be able to take the natural ebbs and flows in life and maximize those, rather than trying to determine what those ebbs and flows are.

This is available to everyone and if you are just starting to see life in this way (or if you never even thought about this) I highly recommend reading books and listening to speeches by Dr. Wayne Dyer.

His book, Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life, inspired me to view life differently and started my interest in the connection between the systems and habits approach to improvement and the ancient text, the Tao Te Ching. You might just be surprised that when you stop controlling, things unfold much better than you could have done by your self.