Falling Into Letting Go

It is that time of year again when Mother Nature debuts her fall fashion line. The red hues and golden highlights decorate the trees with intention. The change, although predictable, is always exciting and anticipated. Yet, it isn’t very long after the colorful show before the leaves fall from their branches to the ground beneath. One afternoon, last autumn, as I watched several leaves fall gracefully from their host, I couldn’t help but wonder if they were actually falling or letting go.

What exactly is the difference? Well, in my experience, a fall is usually unintentional; an unplanned, often unwanted, action. Letting go, on the other hand, is a choice; an intended action that is made consciously. So, is it a fair assumption to think that a leaf falls unintentionally from a tree?

While I cannot say for sure, I am pretty certain that the life cycle of a leaf is planned in advance. It is a predictable process, similar to our very own life cycle. Therefore, although maybe unwanted, I believe the leaves actually choose to let go when following their natural cyclical state of being to pursue the next step in their life cycle.

There have been times in my life when I actively chose to let go of people or struggles. But, I also recall times when I reluctantly, or unintentionally, let someone or something go. The assumption was that doing so was the best choice for me at the time regardless of desire or, in the case of doing so unintentionally, the course of time. In those situations, I guess I could say that I fell into letting go. So even though letting go was a choice…it was a choice that wasn’t necessarily planned and was, possibly, unwanted.