Jean Edelman Word of the Week: WINGS

It is great to be with you this week. This week, I want to talk about the past, letting go and the power of now observing nature. That is our greatest teacher. We happen to have a pond near us and I love to watch the geese. And sometimes they'll get in a big fuss with each other. But unlike us, us humans, they will just flap their wings and then float off in the opposite direction as if nothing happened. And even once they're further away from that other goose, they'll flap their wings as if saying, 'Woo, glad it's over. Not going to go in that direction again.' We humans, we unfortunately don't seem to have that ability. We hold on. We hold on to stuff for days, months, years, lifetimes. And it is as if our body is concentrated in that fight continually. All that energy, all those emotions, it as if the fight was happening right now at this moment. With us humans, no situation or event is ever really finished. We can learn a lot from our duck friends. I think we need to learn how to flap our wings and let it go and let it be over. 

The story of two monks

 I have another story. Two monks are walking along in silence and they happen to come upon a muddy road. They came across a woman in a beautiful kimono and they wanted to help her get across without getting muddy. So one monk picked her up and just carried her over to the other side of the road. And then they continued to walk on in silence for 5 hours. When they approached their destination, the one monk said to the other, 'Why did you carry that woman across the road?' And the other monk replied, 'I put her down hours ago. Why are you still carrying her?' Why do we carry all this stuff and why do we feel like it's important to us and who we are and our self-image? We should not let the burdens of the past weigh us down. This is a big action item. I want us to sit down. I want us to make a list. What are we holding on to? What person or situation keeps replaying in our mind? What negative stories are we always sharing with others? We need to write this down. Write down our feelings. Write down everything that's coming up. Write it down until there's no more emotion in the words that we're writing. And then, in a very safe space, we need to go outside with a lighter. And we need to light these papers on fire so that we can let them burn and let this go.

It's like the geese flapping their wings. It's like the monk. He put this woman down hours ago. We need to let this go because the stress of this that it's putting on our body isn't good for us. We should sit in nature and breathe and just take it all in what is important to us. And we will come back into balance. The goal of life is to be in balance. The goal of life is to not let these emotions tilt our seesaw so that it's in the wrong direction. This is not easy work, but it's important work. It's important human being work. And it is possible we can release these burdens; we can release the past. So I encourage you to try this exercise, and I think it will help us be more present, because when we're here, when we're now, when we're with our family and friends and loved ones, we don't think about the past and we don't worry about the future. We're here enjoying these moments. Let's flap our wings more. Let's move on and let's not become the victim of our wounds and our hurts. 

So my word for this week is WINGS. 

The W is for wish.

Because my greatest wish is that we all find happiness, that we can let go and be our true selves doing what makes us happy. 

The I is for improve.

Every day we get to start over. We get to fix our mistakes. We learn from our mistakes. They make us stronger. They make us better. 

The N is for nibble.

That's how we approach life. One moment at a time. One breath at a time, one step at a time. We have the time. That is our only asset is time. So let's make the best of it. 

G is for grow,

grow emotionally. It's not healthy to stay stuck because we stay stuck in the past and in that moment and at that age. And we need to grow and evolve. And so let's do some personal work. 

And S for shine

because when we're living in the moment and not weighted down by our past or our worry of the future, we give ourselves the opportunity to shine and we become the best versions of ourselves. 

Letting go is the ultimate personal work, and it is going to be our biggest homework assignment. But instead of being graded, we are going to be given freedom. We're going to be given the ability to move on. Have a great week, everyone.