It has been two years since I was unceremoniously 'dumped' as Clown Dr Haveachat - my heart job of ten years. With this ending came pain, disbelief and disappointment and quite frankly I was relieved to let go of 2014; to be honest it didn’t live up to the dreams and wishes I had held for it.
Instead there were big unexpected changes as the old that no longer served me came tumbling down around me. It was distressing to say the least but as with all things, hindsight brings healing and the experience provided me with some important insights. We learn and grow through trial and error and I’m not sure I could have done it any differently, but next time I do hope to let go a little sooner.
A new teacher entered my life toward the end of 2014 and he shared with me the gift of the 'AASL formula'.
A – Allow A - Accept S – Surrender L – Let Go
Easy to say, harder to do.
Allow - Allowing what turned up in my life was difficult as I railed against what was happening outside of my control; the more I resisted the more pain I created.
Accept – Acceptance that I could not change the path that was unfolding (no matter how hard I held on, communicating, negotiating, waiting…)
Surrender – Finally surrender came and with it relief, I accepted and allowed the experience to be and surrendered to an end that at that time did not feel like my choice.
Let Go – This was the big one, letting go means facing the grief that comes with the ending of things we hold dear, it meant giving in to the wave of emotions that had been threatening to crash upon me.
On the other side of the experience now two years on, I have embraced and made peace with the unknown and now believe it was all for a good reason as there has been so much more joy and reward as I stepped into the new direction, the new place, that is now my life.
It’s all well and good to have plans, goals and strategies, but sometimes life throws you a curve ball that doesn’t fit with the plans and goals you’ve made and you can expend your energy fighting it or you can Allow, Accept, Surrender and Let go and then, and only then, can you discover that the new direction is oh so much better.
What do you need to allow, accept, surrender and let go of to allow you to move from the old to the new?
Love to hear your thoughts.
