Some years ago, I accompanied my husband on a business trip to The Cayman Islands, which are known for some of the best snorkeling in the world. He decided to teach me to snorkel by having me jump from a low wall into rough water wearing my snorkel gear. I began thrashing and almost drowned the two of us. We made it out of the water alive, and then noticed a group of beginner snorkelers swimming in a barrier reef that looked like a shallow pool.
That’s where I finally learned to breathe through that ridiculously narrow tube. I don’t do well when I am thrown in over my head. I like to wade in with my feet touching the bottom, if needed, at least at first. This makes it easier for me for letting go of my fears.
Once I got the hang of it, my husband would wake up in the mornings, startled to see me standing beside his side of the bed with my snorkel gear ready to go. I had surrendered to the ocean.
That’s what I felt like when I was thrown into India last week. I again traveled with my husband for this adventure. This time for ayurvedic health purification treatments.
Even though this was my fourth trip to India, the accommodations were more third world than I expected. My room was without windows and had a broken air conditioner with no one available to fix it. The electricity went out every day at noon for a couple hours without any regard for the 100+ degree temperatures. And did I mention the roaches in my room, including one climbing out of my toothbrush?
I know it sounds strange to many people that I would even go to India for rejuvenation treatments, but it is the home of an ancient health treatment called panchakarma.
In the same breath, I might add that India is not for wimps, but it is a great place to burn off karma, stretch your boundaries and letting go of any limiting beliefs. In my clearer moments, I watched preconceived perceptions wash down the drain.
It’s a country of opposites — beggars, poverty, deeply spiritual citizens and holy people in the Himalayan mountains are quite common.
The scene outside was interesting — an empty lot filled with trash, that was burned on a daily basis, filling the air with choking smoke. Right next to the lot, was a small country club with a beautiful swimming pool filled with water, but no swimmers. Indian chants were blasting over a loudspeaker in the lovely park on the other side of the trash lot. The clinic is in a nice neighborhood, so there were no beggars on the streets, nor smoke from cow dung burning at night.
Their standards of cleanliness, however, are different than mine. I won’t even go into detail. Each day I would let go of my notions of what I needed to feel comfortable.
In each moment I had to die to my beliefs of cleanliness, of fine customer service, of being in control of my environment.
India was a gift that gave me practice allowing the death of my ego, the surrender of how things SHOULD be. The little deaths we go through when we fail, or find ourselves in deep water outside our comfort zone, create a more open-hearted, compassionate, enriching life.
For me, I find that coming up for air to find solid familiar space under my feet every once in awhile, supports the practice of letting go.
LETTING GO is a fast track to experiencing strength, growth and freedom. When we choose to try something different, we learn to stay flexible.
Grab change by the hand, maybe get a lifejacket, and swim.
What is your ‘India’? How have you learned about letting go? I’d love to hear from you.
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L. Some day I will be going to India. Right now I am in the zone of the “book” and looking forward to attending a conference in Chicago on depression and bi-polar disorder. I am hoping I can be a presenter at the 2011 conference. How some families go through the experience when a loved one is having challenges can go from one end to the other end. There is a point, to let go of our fears, our concerns, but to accept an effort needs to be made to change on how one perceives “I” –or “me” – I hope I can help families to disregard the cultural cult of stigmatizing the mentally ill. I know there needs to be energy, puring, and living in the moment. I am so happy that you and your husband enjoyed your experiences. Delia
Delia,
I’m glad you’re finishing your book. I’m sure it will help all of us to better understand the challenges of mental illness–for those experiencing it and for the families. Please stop by my blog anytime. Here’s to India and all of her gifts of transformation.
My India is my mom. After not living near my mom for over 30 years I now have her living in my sweet town of Fairfield,Iowa. She’s 81 and moves slow. I’m smelling the roses as I move slow with her. When I’m with her, I have to let go, because I am not going to get done as much as I would like to. She’s my India.
Love,
Diane
Thanks Diane for sharing your experience of letting go. Sometimes when we least expect it, a challenge presents itself and we choose to love and let go.
There’s always more to get done than we have hours in the day!
It’s funny, because I like to jump in feet first. I say, “If you’re going to cross the river, you’re going to have to get wet.”
However, almost anyone placed in India with the acclimation as different as your own, would probably react similarly to you.
I find it hard to go through change and moving on from people I love. I don’t know how to do it, how to cope. I do find that the more I do it, the better I become and the more I realize that letting go is just part of it and those people will still be in my life, no matter what. Great post and great accomplishments you have made dear Momma 🙂
Grace,
I know you jump in. I thought of you jumping off a cliff in Switzerland! And you mention moving on from people you love, it does seem harder, especially when you have a big heart and it opens wide to let in love and challenges. Our thoughts and beliefs come into play which increases the discomfort even more because we make the loss MEAN something to us, like I’m not good enough, or I’ll never find love, something must be wrong with me. These statements I call limiting beliefs and are the culprits for strangling us from moving on. Congratulations on seeing that it is part of life’s journey.
“Each day I would let go of my notions of what I needed to feel comfortable.”
That is really, really powerful. I think I’ve had a taste of “my India” through a few experiences, but never really tested like that. I loved this – you’re a fantastic writer!
Doniree,
Thanks for your comments and compliment. Love that those “India” experiences keep up flexible and compassionate..or very uncomfortable!
Blessings to you.
Someone passed two Eckhart Tolle books to me a while back, and I immediately thought of some of the really simple truths in those books. Your blog is (like those books!) always great reading that puts the mind at ease.
On letting go… it’s a simple concept with a whole root system of different aspects — letting go of fear, anxieties, ego, sometimes entire belief systems, other times just plain thoughts.
I suppose it’s what “changing limiting beliefs” is all about!
Lenora, as always, thank you for sharing!
Matt,
Having readers like you inspire me to keep writing. Most of the time the power is in the simplicity of a principle.
Here’s to letting go of all that is keeping us playing small.
Lenora