Let it Go

Molly writes...

Some of you have probably heard the saying, “the universe is trying to tell you something.” I know that I certainly have. I want to think that I listen when the “universe” speaks, but sometimes it takes a while before I actually realize what it is saying. It is almost like you need to be in the right place at the right time for it to finally sink in. When I think about it more, I see that maybe this is all part of the process. Like you need to get to a certain point where the message is supposed to be heard.

Our lives are full of highs and lows. We all have gifts, and we all face challenges. We all have things we should celebrate, things we need to work through and things we need to learn. And sometimes the things we learn the most from are the things we find through self-discovery.

A few years back I had a moment where I finally realized, “the universe was definitely trying to tell me something.”

Like so many of us, I had filled my schedule to capacity and then some. I was overloaded with family duties, work duties, volunteer work and more. I had piled up so many things that I was not focusing on any one thing very well. I found myself obsessing over all the little imperfections and mishaps instead of celebrating all the wonderful things that were in my life.

At the time, my children were little and the movie, “Frozen” was the latest Disney phenomenon. It was my kid’s first choice for movie night for months and when they couldn’t watch the movie the soundtrack was playing, and Frozen themed everything seemed to show up everywhere. Its popularity was not isolated to my home, so I did not get to far without hearing dear Elsa sing boldly from the mountain tops to, “Let it go!” Months went by that I felt like everything revolved around Frozen. Meanwhile, I continued to feel a little stuck in life and I even found myself obsessing over things in my Zentangle work, abandoning tiles and not finding flow and struggling with every mark.

One day, I was having coffee with a friend and I was frustratingly venting about something and she calmly said to me, “Ya know … sometimes you just have to let it go.” At that very moment I swear I heard music playing, and maybe an icy wind flowed through the room. It was the “Universe” speaking to me. Or maybe it was Elsa herself trying to give me a loving nudge. “Let it go, Molly”.

It was a moment for sure. And, my friend and Elsa were right. It was clear that I had some stuff that I just had to let go of. Very shortly after I brought that energy back to my Zentangle practice to channel that feeling. I needed to once again trust the process. I needed to remind myself to embrace the not-so-prefect lines and to understand that it is all part of the bigger picture. When we can let go of perfection and learn to embrace all that we have to give, we start to see the beauty and all of those little things that once seemed so bad, seem to fade away. When I am able to pass over each stroke as deliberate and purposeful, I find creative flow and love in my work. That feeling magically trickled into my life and I can once again focus on the beauty in my world.

Now, I know when life gets little full and overwhelming and my focus starts to shift from seeing all the beautiful things to dwelling on the negative, I remind myself to tap into my inner Elsa and “Let it go!”