July 2005
Letting Go
by Gwilda Wiyaka

In our world where fear rules all, fear of lack seems to be the biggest motivator.  We fear we will lack funds, a home, belongings, food, friends, or love.  We are constantly driven to manifest these things but the very nature of manifestation makes it difficult to manifest from fear.  Manifestation requires first that we access our true desire.  Rarely is our true desire the things we fear we will lack.  Another thing we need in order to manifest is trust which cannot co-exist with fear.

The fear of lack has us desperately clutching for more while we cling on to what we have.  This in turn has us grasping for anything even close to what we think we want yet in our desperate refusal to let go of what we have obtained (that probably doesn't serve us) we cannot receive what we are reaching for.  There simply is no room.  My teacher once told me, "You cannot receive with a clinched fist."

A tree must be willing to shed its leaves in the fall which decompose and fertilize its roots for the new buds to appear in the spring. If it did not do this and live barren in its season, instead of fresh green buds developing into beautiful shiny new leaves, it would have brown shriveled leaves that could not receive sunlight and sustain it. Furthermore it would not have the rich composted loam to feed its new growth.  The weight of the winter snows on its unshed leaves would tear it down.

Fear has so crippled our ability to manifest that we have come to believe that the only way we can get what we need is to take it from someone else who may have managed to manifest something. We also believe that if someone else gets something it must be at our expense.  Can you imagine what a leaf grabbing frenzy this belief would create in the forest?

Yet fear is the result of our past damage and not something we can shed through an act of sheer will. Our fear has served to keep us safe in the past yet now cripples us. This fear can only be released by the shamanic healing of our damaged belief systems. 

True manifestation requires not only that we access our desires and trust that they will be met but also to let go of what no longer serves us so the tied up energy can be freed (like the falling leaves) to nourish our new manifestation.  This also requires us to live barren of what we had for a time in order to create what we want in our future.

Instead of grabbing from each other what is available in the present, we work our will and create what we need in our future.  Plant it in our future, so to speak, so that when we need it, it is there rather than spending our energy dragging something along for years until we need it again only to find it a poor fit to our present needs.

While we may understand this concept, implementing it requires massive letting go and radical trust.  We may well be surrounded by a home, belongings, food, friends, or lovers that no longer fit who we are.  These people and things have our energy and personal space so tied up that we have none left to manifest with.  Nor do we have the room to bring in new things into our lives.

It is also important that we don't find fault with and cast these people and things out but rather that we give gratitude for what they have brought and lovingly release them in their time. This brings us to another vital ingredient of manifestation, gratitude.

So, my dear friends,
Here is to desire, trust, letting go and gratitude. 
May the only thing you lack be fear.
May your seeming sacrifices richly feed your future.
May the seeds you plant grow tall corn.