“What must I give more death to today, in order to generate more life?”
- Clarissa Pinkola Estes
Fall is here, and all around us we see the world letting go. Leaves fall, the days grow shorter, and we breathe a collective exhale. We cannot live life fully without also being brave enough to release the old. Outdated habits or identities can feel comfortable and safe, even when they no longer serve us. Yet it is only through letting go that we discover our authentic self, what is really of value in life.
Part of the medicine of death is to remind us how to truly be alive. If we lived as if this day were our last, wouldn’t we choose to be present for all the miraculous beauty life has to offer? Yet, the beauty is not found by acquiring or doing more things. We find the beauty in space.
As we stand on the precipice of surrender, we can feel apprehensive of the unknown. If I give up one thing, what will I be left with, and how will I fill the void? We look for ways to fill up the emptiness. But what if emptiness is where it all really happens?
This is why Tai Chi practice always begins with standing in Wu Ji posture- Wu Ji is the primordial emptiness that contains all life, and it's also a part of each of us. But we have to let go to be able to experience it.
When we create emptiness and space through letting go, we free up the energy to intentionally receive the best of life. We can’t fully inhale without emptying first. Surrender and cessation actually have their own form of joy- it feels less like a Saturday night party, and more like a long blissful exhale.
“How can I find what is truly of value?
You don’t have to try,
You only have to let go,
maybe just for the afternoon
if it feels like too big of a task.
You can always start now.
You don’t even have to tell anyone else
you’re doing it.
Simply exhale
and allow
yourself into
the everywhere
that lives within you,
and enjoy the view.”
Copyright 2024 by Dr. Athene Eisenhardt, L.Ac, DAIM