“Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If, in our heart, we still cling to anything – anger, guilt, or possessions – we cannot be free” – Thich Nhat Hanh

Life is a balance of holding on and letting go.

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.”

It’s not easy to learn to let go. But there is a thing about our hearts and our lives: we either collect dust-gatherers that fail to fill our lives with meaning or we hold things that really fill our lives with something of great value.

The same goes to our feelings and our free-running emotions. If something bad happens there are 2 scenarios: we either plunge into bitterness and let it define us or we learn from it, cool off and then let it go. We cannot hold onto something forever and have it weigh us down. There comes a time when “the party is over” and the guests leave.

Feelings and emotions are brief visitors: they come and they go.

The balance between letting go and holding on means accepting every joy, blessing, test, sorrow and loss as it is without judgment. Instead of drowning in emotion - simply breathe.

If something hurts you, let it go.

If something makes you happy, magnify the presence of it in your life.

It is inevitable that we will experience many emotions every single day. Good feelings, bad feelings and so many in between.

We cannot control this. But we CAN control how long we allow these feelings to matter, how much impact they have and their intensity.

The art of embracing emotional freedom liberates the soul.