{"id":5268,"date":"2017-12-30T07:00:06","date_gmt":"2017-12-30T12:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/?p=5268"},"modified":"2018-10-09T19:02:31","modified_gmt":"2018-10-09T23:02:31","slug":"365159-hanging-on-letting-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/365159-hanging-on-letting-go\/","title":{"rendered":"365+#159:\u00a0Hanging On & Letting Go"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

\u00a0 \u00a0Click to enlarge<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

HANGING ON:<\/strong>
\nIt was just one leaf \u2013 but it kept hanging on. That\u2019s what I thought as I looked outside my bedroom window from Nov. 21 to Dec. 5. As I sat in my prayer space during those two weeks, I kept pondering the spunk of this lonely leaf (see the middle of our neighbor\u2019s window). I thought about the trials of this political year and how caring for the common good can be tiring and frustrating. Yet, like the leaf, we hang on. We continue to go to meetings, call our congressional representatives, donate to worthy causes, and give a hand to those in need.<\/p>\n

CONTEMPLATING:<\/strong>
\nAnd then, on December 6, it was gone. I knew the leaf would eventually fall to the earth and become part of the ongoing cycle of life\u2026But it gave me hope to see that it kept trying to stay connected. So my prayer turned to pondering my aging body and when would I die? And what would happen to the essence of my being after I died? Is there really an afterlife? Is there really a God? Or is this just a myth that helps people deal with the trials of life? Hmmm.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>And then the birds came. Male cardinals \u2013 in their bright red plumage. Five of them flitted around the bare tree on Dec. 6. Cardinals are common in Kentucky. (It\u2019s our state bird.) But five of them on one small dogwood tree at the same time. That<\/em> was unusual. Maybe I noticed them that day because the tree was so bare. Then I started noticing the squirrels scampering across the wires. It always seems miraculous that they don\u2019t fall. So my thoughts were pulled out of the depths of desolation and uncertainty to hope, the web of life, and the wonder of creation. I have no proof that there is an afterlife, but I have this intuitive sense that there are cycles to life and maybe it is more about being transformed and living through the next generation. I don\u2019t know, but I can believe, and that shapes how I spend my days and hang on today.<\/p>\n

\u00a0LETTING GO:<\/strong>
\n\"\"<\/a>And then there were the boxes of loose photos \u2013 approximately 1,500 photos stored neatly under a window bench. They lived in the land between conscientiously organizing them into photo albums and the digital era (1994 \u2013 2004 for us). I discovered them because I was searching for some memento photos for a friend who was moving out of town. This started me on a compulsive roll. I decided to prune the obvious duplicates and poor quality photos. (See pile).<\/p>\n

PASSING IT ON:
\n<\/strong>Then another insight \u2013 Hey, the kids will be coming home for Christmas soon, This could serve the dual purpose of reminiscing together and passing some photos on to them. I would then feel free to pitch the rest. It could be a way to say farewell to the old year and welcome the new – sort of a family bonding and purging time. (I’m writing this before the kids arrive so they may just chalk this up to one more of Mom’s corny ideas. Meanwhile, some of you might want to try the photo review yourselves – either this New Years or on some other family occasion.<\/p>\n

LESSON:<\/strong>
\nBe mindful. Hanging on for awhile can be virtuous, but eventually we need to let go of the non-essentials to see more clearly and nurture the ongoing life around us. Nature can be a window to the soul.<\/p>\n

BONUS:<\/strong>
\nCheck out the ritual I created for letting go of Memorabilia: Letting Go Of a Symbol \u2013 Internalizing the Memory<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HANGING ON: It was just one leaf \u2013 but it kept hanging on. That\u2019s what I thought as I looked outside my bedroom window from Nov. 21 to Dec. 5. As I sat in my prayer space during those two weeks, I kept pondering the spunk of this lonely leaf (see the middle of our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[25,29,27,17],"class_list":["post-5268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beyond-stuff","tag-christmas","tag-intangibles","tag-memorabilia","tag-musings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5268"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5288,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5268\/revisions\/5288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.susanvogt.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}