when traveling with another person, we sometimes come to a junction. it may be in the best interests of one person to go one way, to see certain sights, gain certain experiences, learn particular lessons, and for the other to go in another direction. this is a difficult time of challenges, maybe hard choices.

blending journeys sometimes is not always best, or even possible. we can accompany another on his or her journey, but there may be a price to pay for that. we may forgo our own journey and become passive observers. we can ask or insist that the other go along with us on our journey. but for the most part, he or she may be as bored and restless as we would be if the situation were reversed. sometimes we need to let go. sometimes we need to say good-bye.

feel all your feelings. although you may need to feel angry for a while, clear all resentments from your heart as soon as possible. say good-bye with blessings and love toward the other, thanking that person for all he or she has helped you learn. remember that any curses you place on another will ultimately come back to harm you.

grieve your losses. say your good-byes. then let each travel down the road that he or she needs to go. holding on won’t help. let both be free to plan their own journeys, map their own trips, and embrace and enjoy their destinies.

set others free to achieve and experience the path that leads to their highest good and you, too, will become free to find yours.

melody beattie

why on earth does this little thing called ‘ego’ have so much power over us when it has absolutely no relevancy to reality? instead of ignoring it and seeing things as they are, we choose to believe all the fictitious stories it concocts.

i’ve spent quite a bit of time observing my distorted mind (ego), watching the way it moves, studying its strategy. after years of getting tangled up in its wild web and crawling on my knees through the dark to find my way back out, i am beginning to see just how it works. 

it doesn’t wish for our happiness. it wants to manipulate our every move, control our every choice, until our actions are no longer genuine. it starts out wanting something, seemingly simple, from our external environment. next thing you know, we have to have it, can’t live without it, whether it be money, success, fame, approval or a relationship with a particular person. we begin putting all of our energy into capturing this ‘something’ we are craving, convincing ourselves we will be happy once we get it. this yearning becomes an obsession. before long, we become a slave to our ego’s appetite, allowing it to feast upon our freedom. 

our worth is not determined by how much money we make or by our reputation among others or by our position in society. we are enough just as we are. there is nothing to ‘get’ out there. that ‘something’ we want (and feel inferior without) will not bring peace to our minds or love into our lives. it will only leave us wanting more…more of what we don’t have…more of what we don’t need. these desires are our primary source of anxiety and fear: anxious to grasp what we feel is within reach and fear of losing it once we get our hands on it. 

letting go of expectation and trusting things as they are, opens us up to a world of possibility, allowing for the unexpected to occur rather than clutching so tightly to what the mind originally planned for itself. everything happens for a reason. what we lose always comes around in another form. it may not look like what we envisioned or come to us at the exact time we are expecting it, but it will come, arriving even more beautifully than we ever imagined. 

surrender to the moment. detach from future results. the outcome makes absolutely no difference. live each moment truthfully, with love and compassion. make all choices from a place within. everything else will effortlessly fall into place.