The Power of Letting Go

Written by Raymond Salas


Is there power in learning to let go?


Is trying too hard counter-productive?


Are there benefits to giving up control?


Have you ever wondered “Who’s running this show that I call ‘my life” anyways?”


Are you tired of trying to figure anything (or everything) out in your life?


I know that the answers to these questions have come to me…sometimes the “hard way.”


However, the very fact that you are reading these words at this moment is proof of the power of letting go.


Let’s go back to where this story begins…



Experiences in the Power of Letting Go


After deciding that I was ready to leave my job with a non-profit agency several years ago, I realized that even though I had no logical reason for leaving, it felt like the right thing to do (for some reason). However, it didn’t really make any sense at the time. I loved my job (as manager), including my co-workers, clients, work environment, etc. Yet, something within me was nagging me to leave, so I did. I just let go. “Great, now what?” I thought. I had no idea what to do next.


After a couple of months of floundering about a little (but honestly, loving every minute of it), I decided that I should do something to earn an income. So, I took a management job with an herbal company. I knew almost IMMEDIATELY that it was not the place for me. I did try to make the best of it…for about a month. Then, I let it go too. “Great, now what?” I still didn’t have a clue about what to do.


Next, I decided that I wanted to focus on helping others. Many of my family and friends encouraged me to try education. So, I did. I went to work for an education company that hired me to work on campus with high school students that were not passing the state required proficiency examination. I really enjoyed working with the students. However, after nine months, the funding for the program ran out. So, I had to let it go. (Are you sensing a pattern yet?)


After this, I had no idea what I wanted to do next or what my next move was. I was completely surrendered to the unknown. The education company that I worked for did have several other divisions, so without me asking, they arranged an interview for me with one of them. I went to the interview because…well, I wasn’t really doing anything else. A simple case of nothing better to do.


They ended up hiring me to oversee the operations for 26 of their education centers. Within a few months, this number grew to 46 (through a merger). About a year later, I was promoted to Regional Director of Operations for these same centers. After a couple of years there, I became National Director of Operations for the Medical and International divisions for all 165 centers.


It was totally one of those feelings where I looked out the window from the 26th floor of my office one day wondering “How did I get here?” I had no idea.


After two years as National Director (and some of my best years operationally with the company), I was informed that the company wanted to move in a different direction and I wasn’t in it. Wow! I was completely dumbfounded. Now what? So, I had to let this go too.


A few months later, after leaving the company, I started a publishing company and published my first book. My printer told me that blogs were a good way to help publicize books. “What’s a blog?” I wondered. After finding out, I decided to start one. I still had no idea what I was doing (and quite frankly, I still don’t…but you may have guessed this already), but a friend had told me about Blogger a few months prior. So, I decided to give them a try.


A couple of months after starting this blog (that you are reading now), I received requests for in-person and distance Energy Healing work (that I used to do when I worked for the non-profit), so I decided to start an Energy Healing website to make my healing work available to a wider audience via the internet (a new concept for me).


As I look at my websites’ stats now and amazingly, see hundreds and hundreds of subscribers and readers to my sites every day (and growing steadily, sometimes dramatically); as I receive many very supportive emails, comments, and donations from readers and clients; love and support from the blogging community; as I continue my Energy Healing work with clients now from all over the globe (on a scale greater than anything I ever envisioned), I definitely look up from time to time and wonder “How did I get here?” I have no idea.



The Power of Letting Go


Now, I did not share these details about some of my personal experiences to let you know how fortunate and “lucky” I am because honestly, I cannot take credit for any of it.


Am I special or better than anyone else? Absolutely not.


Did I consciously make plans or set up any of these accomplishments as goals for me to pursue? Absolutely not.


Did I visualize, do affirmations, or anything else to try to make any of this happen for me? Absolutely not.


Do I still have any idea what I am really doing in these or any areas of my life? Absolutely not. 


None. Zero. Nada.


So, what is my secret then? Letting go.


The only thing I can say that I did consistently was let go.


When I didn’t know what to do, I let go.


The only thing I still try to do is let go…on a daily basis.


Yes, I have preferences and desires for my life, but I try not to be attached to any of them. Instead, I try to remain open and allowing with a "beginner's mind," as much as possible.


Is it always easy? Absolutely not.


Although it can be hard or challenging, my recommendation is to let go and surrender anyways (or at the very least, try to).


“Stress is created whenever we resist what is happening in the present moment. In the Chinese book of wisdom, Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu, he reminds us that water is the most flexible element there is. Water adapts to everything. For example, if you dig a hole in the ocean, water just fills it up. Yet, there is no substance, no matter how hard or tough, that water cannot wear down. Flexibility is its power. Flexibility is power. Learn to cultivate it.”


The Benefits of Letting Go


My personal experience of the benefits of letting go include:
  • Releases inner resistance.
  • Eliminates stress.
  • Increases energy.
  • Increases inspiration.
  • Increases creativity.
  • Needs are met and desires manifest easily, often in unexpected ways.
  • Miracles happen.


What’s not to like, right?



Testimonials for the Power of Letting Go


There is a Zen teaching on perceiving "tathata" or “suchness” that says by surrendering or letting go we experience the perfection of things as they are.

Here is what others have said about the power of letting go:

“We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the life that is waiting for us.”
- Joseph Campbell

“We must learn to let go, to give up, to make room for the things we have prayed for and desired.”
- Charles Fillmore

“Have you ever struggled to find work or love, only to find them after you have given up? This is the paradox of letting go. Let go, in order to achieve. Letting go is God's law.”
- Mary Manin Morrissey

“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. When I let go of what I have, I receive what I need.”

“Trying creates impossibilities, letting go creates what is desired.”
- Stalking Wolf, Apache elder