"Let it BE"...instead of "let it go"

Distinctions are EVERYTHING.

This: “let it BE…rather than let it GO”…came to me yesterday and I immediately thought "YES. That's it, a perfect distinction".

I appreciate where the "let it go" comes from (not necessarily from the Frozen 😂 movie).

But it's become dismissive - I've heard it used a lot as a platitude, a placatory nicety, a way of trying to shortcut the hard, painful and often messy work that needs to be done BEFORE we let it go.

This is relevant in work, relationships, life circumstances...

Letting it BE, isn't a passive acceptance. Its an active choice.

💡 When you let something BE, you do accept (the situation/feeling/event/circumstance) as it is to you right now, and decide how to process and deal with it, INSTEAD of forcing it to be different or trying to control all elements to fit what you want

💡 When you let something BE, you can move through MORE QUICKLY. Why? Because you're not trying to resist it or dismiss it or the impact that it is having on you

💡 When you let something - or yourself BE - it is MUCH healthier. You don't have to enjoy it or like it, and you can acknowledge that it is utter sh*t, perhaps, and then work through it

💡 When you let it BE, crucially, you are also able to hold that space for others

💡 When you let it BE - especially with strong emotions - you can stop over-analysing them. Sometimes, we just feel, and we don't have to know why

A great example would be an experience that upsets you and you feel strongly in response - could be an issue with a colleague, or a redundancy announcement or a remark someone has made to you.

If someone says "let it go", or you say this to yourself, how seen do you feel? And does it work? (Nope!) You probably feel as you are making a fuss and you should just be getting on with it. And that isn't how humans work!

Remember, we are all driven by emotions, not logic, and we need to work with them, too.

If you let whatever it is and whatever you feel BE...well, then you are able to:

🙂 acknowledge whats happening and the impact it's having on you/others/your team

🙂 accept it as it is, rather than forcing it to be something it is not (which is then much easier to work around/through/with)

🙂 label your emotions and allow them to either pass quietly (we don't always have or need to respond to how we feel) or process them

🙂 decide how we want/need to respond to the situation - if at all - and what would make most sense in order for us to get to the experience that we'd rather have. Remember, choosing not to respond is also a response.

And you can move through all these steps very quickly - sometimes in a matter of seconds.

And THAT, my friends, is way more powerful and effective than simply saying to yourself or others "let it go".

What do you think?

Have you felt dismissed when someone just tells you to "let it go"?

Try it. Freedom awaits 💫