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Writer's pictureTricia Webster

Focus and Release


Focus. Imagine the intense concentration of an archer, bow and arrow balanced and taut, eyes ever on the target. I know that feeling in my body. You don't have to have practiced archery to know the feeling of pulling that bowstring back, the arrow straining for release, and letting go. This is a metaphor I am living with these days, considering both the focused tension of directing my energy toward an outcome and the balance of release, letting go.


I am thinking about this because it sometimes feels like my body is in a state of constriction, as if all my muscles have frozen into place, from holding on tight to too many things for too long. All my energy seems to be going into holding on to things, into control. It is no wonder that my neck and shoulders are tense or my belly feels alternately cramped and roiling with discontent: I have been putting my energy into holding on, when I need to release.


Letting the arrow fly . . . how lovely. I can feel it in my body. It feels like a big sigh of relief and a letting go of those clenched muscles. Holding onto that bow and arrow, willing it all to go in some way that I feel is best, feels like a contraction. Releasing the arrow, that feels like expansion.


I think both are important. It is when I lose the balance that I get in trouble. Stringing the bow and aiming at a target . . . that is how I set my intentions, move forward with the things I most want to create. It is important. It is equally important to loose that arrow, however. When I try to hold on to a particular form, or to too specific of an outcome, by body constricts. I need to let that intention go, loose the arrow, realizing that it is creative universe, and my arrow may not hit the mark exactly the way I planned. None the less, there is far too much I am holding on to right now.


So, my mantra is "let it go, let it go." Letting go requires trust. Letting go requires a willingness to loose a lot of arrows in the world, knowing that there are some I will never find again. I set my sights, my aim, with intention, then I let go of outcome. Angeles Arrien says "Be open to outcome, not attached to outcome." So it seems to me, too. And it feels a whole lot better to let go of my illusory control of the world and step out with curiosity to see where the arrow lands. I loose the arrow of this blog entry into the world. Who knows where it will land?

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