....but I'm a keeper; I save things!
Really, it takes some courage, I think to let go.
A goodly amount of mental energy goes into providing room for all those things I've held onto. Emotionally sustaining things, situations, moods, conditions ... even some relationships which have fulfilled their purpose -- after a point they begin to feel sooo heavy.
We can have "good" goodbyes or, what feel like "bad" goodbyes.
I think we can all remember some goodbyes that felt sad, that felt hard. Situations that we left which weren't our conscious choice to leave. People who we left or who left us -- and not by conscious choice. "I didn't get the chance to say 'goodbye' in the gracious and loving way that I would have liked."
In one of my favorite movies, Castaway, there are several kinds of goodbyes:
There is a goodbye that is intending to be temporary ~ much more temporary than 4 years! ~ when he says, "I'll be right back."
And then there's a sad goodbye ~ things didn't work out the way I wanted them to and I'm hurting.
And finally... there's a peaceful goodbye. And you just sort of know, when the goodbye is peaceful and loving that the doors are opening for a new beginning.
We never know when we say goodbye some morning, if that's the last time we're going to have this exchange, when or if there will be another hello. So, isn't it important for all of our goodbyes to be loving and genuinely affirming, "God be with you... good be with you."
In that wonderful book Illusions there's a beautiful statement that goes something like, "Don't fear goodbyes, for they are necessary in order for you to have all the beautiful hellos that life has waiting for you."
DH and I wish you all a Very Happy 2011.....May your new year be richly blessed!
