I listened intently to Robin Hood* from his death bed, as he explained to a child how to use a bow and arrow. He said, “The secret to shooting an arrow is not letting go — you just stop holding on.” The words resonated.
I believe in letting go. I also believe in the power of the right words, though! The right words help us to get our mind around a concept. They help us to see a picture. They light up the truth. And they provoke us to take action … or to stop taking action.
Therein, lies the distinction. We don’t have to do anything to send the arrow flying through the air. We just have to stop holding it back. And so it is in life. We don’t have to make it happen. We just have to let it happen. We have to stop preventing it from happening.
So, let’s stop holding on to what stays our arrow, dams our flow, stifles our freedom, restrains our greatness, compromises our integrity, and attempts to justify our fear. Love is here, pure, unabashed love, in a constant state of readiness. The first step, the biggest step, is to stop holding on to what opposes love; and the mother of all that opposes love is fear.
May we let love displace fear.
*in the movie, The Death of Robin Hood