Release

.
There are a number of reasons why we would release things from our lives.

There are the things we just don’t need anymore. They probably have been quite useful in our lives in the past, yet at some point in our lives we decide that these things are not as useful as they once were ~ they have lost their purpose. That is exactly the point at which we re-evaluate whether to keep it in our lives... Or if we rather release it.

Then there are things that simply are not our responsibility. Chances are they never were in the first place ~ yet somehow they became part of our lives.
When responsibilities are in play, it is not always easy to see whether it (still) is our responsibility, or if it isn’t (anymore). Take raising our kids. When they are young, they depend on their parents for their care ~ and yes, they are most definitely our responsibility. Then, as they grow up, even have children of their own, they can carry the responsibility for themselves. They now carry the responsibility for their children.
At this point ~ all grown up and in the midst of life itself ~ our kids are not our responsibility anymore. So it becomes a responsibility that ~ while once it truly was ours ~ it now ceases to be. And so we can release this responsibility if we choose to.

In a sense the process of evaluating and releasing things from our lives is an artful one. There is usually no sharp line; no clear ‘yes’ or ‘no’ when we start the process. For most of us how we feel about something may well give the clearest answer whether we are ready to release that particular thing from our lives or not...
And often there is a sense of fear associated with that process as well. What if you make a wrong decision? What if you would release something from your life that seems to have no purpose anymore, yet would regret having released it after the fact ~ when it is gone?

All of this makes the ‘art of releasing’ also a process of personal growth. A process through which we learn to trust how we feel about things. We learn how to make decisions; set priorities. We learn how to create space in our lives for new experiences; new things...

And perhaps most of all, we create an opportunity for ourselves to let go of those things that have made our personal paths more difficult than they needed to be.
We can bless them, release them, and finally get on with our lives...
.
.