I was one of those soul-searching teenagers who at age fifteen read The Tibetan Book of the Dead and philosophers like Plato, Kierkegaard and Sartre. It’s not that strange that I at age thirty plus am doing The Bead Movement. I can’t help but ponder life, and I can’t help but reach for the dream. It’s in my dna, it’s in my blood. Now in my thirties I’m on an active search for happiness.
It’s not a random act that I, during an exercise with my career coach recently, put Meaningfulness on my top 8 of necessities that need to be met in order for me to be happy in my everyday life. Without it I would be lost. Neither am I one of those artist types who believe melancholy is a prerequisite for creating good art. As a matter of fact, for me it’s the opposite, if I’m happy and content I do my best work.
These past 8 months of doing the Bead Movement have pushed me towards the edge of my comfort zone more often than not, and it has been highly rewarding. To tackle one’s fears, reflect on the present situation and have a fellow Bead traveller on the other side of the world, with whom I Skype once a week, leads to a massive leap in personal development for sure. In Mhairi I have found a co-philosopher with whom I tackle life’s biggest questions on a weekly basis.
As our third week of Letting go is coming to an end it hit me. It became clear to me that ever since starting The Bead Movement I have been on this journey of letting go. The whole thing of going against my fears, that I have actively been pursuing for over a year now, has also oddly been about letting go. And what I found out now, as I thought about it all, was that Letting Go is absolutely key in living everyday happiness. It might actually be THE KEY.
Because,
When I let go of the need to be right in every situation
When I let go of pettiness
When I let go of hurt
When I let go of blame
When I let go of past conditioning
When I let go of preconceived ideas and instead embrace the moment
When I let go of my plans
When I let go of my need to control something/someone
When I let go of negative thoughts
When I let go of other’s expectations
When I let go of the need to always stride for my own point of view
When I let go of the need to punish myself or someone else for hurting me
When I let go of the future
When I let go of the past
When I let go of resentment
When I let go of mistakes
When I let go of a getting and instead give
I am happy.
And every time I let go, I get or achieve something greater.
Yes, it is a cliche, but in fact it is also very much so a truth. When I now look back at this past year of letting go, I can see that all the sweetest and most magical things and moments stem from letting go of something old. Despite how scary or hurtful letting go can be or feel, it’s definitely a life lesson to remember – that on the other side of letting go is something so much better.
Love, Johanna.
Tags: books, Johanna Ginstmark, Letting go, soul searching, soulful, teenager, The bead movement, writer