Fifty Ways of Letting Go
Shadow Work for Spiritual Practitioners
by
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OPENING TO LOVE CHAPTER 1: FALLING INTO GOD’S ARMS CHAPTER 2: LETTING IN LOVE CHAPTER 3: DEVELOPING TRUST CHAPTER 4: BEING WITH OUR VULNERABILITY CHAPTER 5: LETTING GO OF SELF JUDGMENT CHAPTER 6: LETTING GO OF SELF DOUBT CHAPTER 7: LETTING GO OF GUILT CHAPTER 8: LETTING GO OF SHAME CHAPTER 9: LETTING GO OF FEAR CHAPTER 10: ACCEPTING & LOVING OURSELVES GROWING UP CHAPTER 11: BEING WILLING TO PAY THE PRICE CHAPTER 12: HEALING & LETTING GO OF CHILDHOOD CHPATER 13: LETTING GO OF VICTIMHOOD CHAPTER 14: LETTING GO OF GRASPING CHAPTER 15: LETTING GO OF AVERSION CHAPTER 16: GOING OFF AUTOPILOT CHAPTER 17: LETTING GO OF SECURITY CHAPTER 18: LETTING GO OF JUDGING OF OTHERS CHAPTER 19: LETTING GO OF ANGER & RESENTMENT CHAPTER 20: LETTING GO OF CONTROL CHAPTER 21: LETTING THINGS BE AS THEY ARE CHAPTER 22: LETTING GO OF OUR PERSONAL PLANS FOR ENLIGHTENMENT LOOSENING THE GRIP ON WHO WE THINK WE ARE CHAPTER 23: LETTING GO OF HOW WE SEE THE WORLD CHAPTER 24: LETTING GO OF “IT’S ALL ABOUT ME” CHAPTER 25: LETING GO, WORKING WITH CHANGE CHAPTER 26: LETTING GO OF PLAN A CHAPTER 27: LETTING GO OF OVER RESPONSIBIITY CHAPTER 28: LETTING GO OF EFFORTING CHAPTER 29: LETTING GO OF BEING RIGHT CHAPTER 30: LETTING GO OF OVER SERIOUSNESS CHAPTER 31: LETTING GO OF PEOPLE PLEASING CHAPTER 32: LETTING GO OF PRIDE & ARROGANCE CHAPTER 33: LETTING GO OF BEING SMALL CHAPTER 34: LETTING GO OF IDENTIFICATION WITH MIND LETTING GO OF THE WORLD CHAPTER 35: LETTING GO OF THE FEAR OF BEING WITH OURSELVES CHAPTER 36: LETTING GO OF THE TRANCE OF CULTURE CHAPTER 37: LETTING GO OF EASY SOLUTIONS CHAPTER 38: LETTING GO OF SPIRITUAL AMBITION CHAPTER 39: LETTING GO OF BUSYNESS CHAPTER 40: LETTING GO OF NOISE & DISTRACTION CHALLENGING PRACTICES CHAPTER 41: LOOSENING THE GRIP OF ADDICTION AND COMPULSION CHAPTER 42: ALLOWING OURSELVES TO SUFFER CHAPTER 43: ALLOWING OURSELVES TO BE BROKEN OPEN CHAPTER 44: ACCEPTING DEATH INTO OUR LIVES CHAPTER 45: ENGAGING WITH THE HORRIFIC BEING OF SERVICE: THE ULTIMATE PRACTICE CHAPTER 46: FALLING IN LOVE WITH EVERYTHING CHAPTER 47: BEING OBEDIENT TO THE CALL CHAPTER 48: SERVING IN OUR PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS CHAPTER 49: SERVING IN OUR COMMUNITY & COUNTRY CHAPTER 50: SERVING IN OUR CHURCH, TEMPLE, MOSQUE, OR CENTER WHAT IS LETTING GO? You have not to do anything in the positive sense of the word, in order to realize God. Simply undo what you have done in making your prison house and there you are, God already, truth personified already. - Sawan Singh There is a funny spiritual story about a man who goes on a pilgrimage up in the mountains to find a guru who can give him spiritual guidance. He starts out along the winding path in the morning in the bright sunlight, but as he continues through the day, the clouds come over the sun and it starts to rain and become very dark. As he slogs along the narrowing trail, he loses his footing and slips over the side of the sheer cliff below. Luckily, he is able to grab onto a small bush on the cliff but he can’t get enough purchase with his feet to be able to haul himself back up onto the trail. In his desperation, he calls out, “Help, help! Is anyone there?” To his surprise and relief, God answers him back in a deep clarion voice, “Yes my son. I am here.” The man shouts back to God, “Help me!” And God replies to him gently, “Let go my son.” The man is quiet for a moment and then he shouts, “Is there anyone else up there?” On this funny note is where the story usually ends; but let’s take it a bit further. There is no answer, so the man hangs on until morning and then notices in the increasing light of daybreak that there was a ledge just a little under his feet. Had he listened and let go, he could have rested on that ledge and then easily pulled himself up in the morning. Instead, he had to struggle to haul himself with great difficulty back up on the trail. And as he lay there exhausted, he realized he didn’t need to go up to the guru for advice: he gained the wisdom he had been looking for from his own struggle the night before: trusting when to let go. In the story above, a man goes on a journey, seeking wisdom in the words of a guru far removed from the noise of everyday life, But instead he finds himself facing his own survival, hanging onto the edge of a cliff. He is looking for wisdom outside of himself and instead life circumstances bring him to hanging desperately onto a small bush over the edge of a cliff. (Has Life ever done this to you?) And then God tells him, kindly, to let go! The poor guy doesn’t trust God and hangs on for dear life. But his struggle is what in fact leads him to the very wisdom he has been seeking. Isn’t this how we spiritual seekers often are: looking for a guru or a book or a philosophy that will tell us what to believe or what to do to gain wisdom, when the very thing that will lead us to real wisdom is our life itself that we struggle with, distrust, resent and resist? So this book is not a compendium of easy advice to solve your problems but rather some suggestions on how you might relate more wisely and willingly to the difficulties and challenges and the opportunities to let go more gracefully. In this book, I invite you to engage with your life, as it is, not the idealized, elevated spiritual life that you wish you could attain, but to engage with the very nitty-gritty life that you have now, with all of its ups and downs and challenges. Yes, that life!
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About the Book
“Robert Cornell has written a wise and practical book for our times. A book that beautifully integrates psychological health and well-being with a genuine spiritual path.” Roshi Robert Joshin Althouse , Zen Life & Meditation Center, Chicago “This is a book that bears witness to a life-long journey of intense self-understanding and is an exquisite exploration of the oft-heard spiritual injunction to “let go.” I say intense and exquisite, because you will be stunned by the subtle layers of the human psyche that Robert has beautifully un-packed and articulated in a way that will give every authentic pilgrim of the human experience some new territory to ponder and explore.” John Dephouse, Associate Priest, All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena, CA
About the Author
Robert Cornell is a former Zen Buddhist monk and a spiritually based psychotherapist . He is well versed in the use of integrative methods of psychology that address body as well as mind and heart to help spiritual practitioners of many faith traditions to plumb the depths of their inner experience.