Lesson from the Leaf

As I was walking in the back yard on a warm summer day, a big beautiful green leaf floated down in front of me. I thought “Oh no, it fell before it was time.” I picked up the leaf and I heard “Know when to let go”.

What does that really mean? Many of us choose to ignore rather than actually going within and feeling what we are truly feeling. So in finding out what to let go of or what is no longer serving you, will then offer you a new way to experience. Maybe it is procrastination on a project that needs to be worked on and completed like in my case. Allow yourself to see why you are procrastinating on the project.  Is it because you can’t find the time?  Is it you don’t know where to start? Is it you already have too much on your plate to start yet another project? Do you need the proper tools? Ask why and allow yourself to really feel what that feels like in your body. For me it felt overwhelming. Too much to do and not enough time, yet a necessary project.

Once you have identified the “why” you then can replace the why with another energy. Everyone loves to feel joyful. I love to feel joy. Joy is a good feeling. Try finding joy in your “why”. Turn your why into a positive feeling. Example: I was procrastinating on starting a project to clean and reorganize my office. I knew I was dreading my start and so I checked in with myself to see why. I was feeling overwhelmed that I didn’t have a large enough time slot to do this project and it will probably take days. So I decided to change the overwhelm to joy. I set my intention to express joy into the cleaning and reducing the clutter while feeling the organization of my office come to life. AND to just start no matter how long it takes me! Now I really like a clean and organized office. It does make me feel joy.  I like how everything seems to be happier. I like how the desk top can be seen. The energy is more expansive and fresh. So I put on my favorite music and grabbed the recycle bin and started clearing out stuff I no longer needed and no longer served a purpose for me. I knew when to let go. When I felt the joy in letting go, it propelled me to move forward into a space of momentum. I was now looking at cleaning and reorganizing my office as a joyful experience instead of dread! I was seeing a happy, clean, organized office that brought me even more joy to work in. I even found several items I had forgotten about. My office looks great. I felt a sense of accomplishment. I knew when to let go. I let go of my procrastination which was keeping me from feeling more joyful and happier about my work space.

I kept that leaf for a long time as a reminder to me of the lesson on that summer day. When I was cleaning and reorganizing my office I threw the leaf out. I put it outside in the garden. I was feeling a bit remorseful for throwing such a gift away when I heard “Know when to let go”. Yes, another lesson from the leaf.

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