Let that shit go

If I were to bet I would guess that 90% of the “shit” that troubles us is already behind us. In some cases, so far in our past that we are not even sure if we still have the story straight.

“Two monks were on a pilgrimage. One day, they came to a deep river. At the edge of the river, a young woman sat weeping, because she was afraid to cross the river without help. She begged the two monks to help her. The younger monk turned his back. The members of their order were forbidden to touch a woman. But the older monk picked up the woman without a word and carried her across the river. He put her down on the far side and continued his journey. The younger monk came after him, scolding him and berating him for breaking his vows. He went on this way for a long time. Finally, at the end of the day the older monk turned to the younger one. “I only carried her across the river. You have been carrying her all day.”

At what point does letting that shit go make more sense than carrying it around with us? Shit is heavy. It takes up valuable space and time. Shit prevents you from moving forward, which, is the only direction you should be headed.

I know there are serious hurts, slights, actions and even inactions associated with the shit we deal with. It has left many of us with scars, open wounds that seem to never heal. But how many of us take the time to really examine these wounds. If you cut your arm you know what to do, you clean the wound, wrap it, protect it, forget it and in time it heals. You don’t take the wrapping off every five minutes to look at it and relive the moment. You leave it alone, you don’t pick at it, you let it heal and you move on.

A lot of post I read on WordPress are about hurt. I understand that for some it helps to write about it rather than keeping it locked inside your heart. If that helps you to release the shit then write about, scream about it, sing about it, paint about it but then let it go. Let that shit go. The space inside of each of us is to valuable, way to valuable to be occupied with shit that you can’t change, that you can’t fix. The past is behind you, the future is ahead of you, but right now, this moment, is the most important place you can be.

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” – Buddha