Letting Go

From the Tarot of the Master, the Four of Swords; from the Paracelsus Oracle, Tristizia/Tristitia:

There is a time when the sanest thing we can do is to lay down our helmet, gloves and sword and cease fighting anything or anyone. There are some battles we can't win, problems we can't solve and people we can't make better. Tristizia ('sorrow') and the keyword for this Four of Swords (meditation) suggest we surrender our weapons and rest our whirling, grasping mind. This is a response that seems counterintuitive to most of us; we have been trained otherwise. Yet we need time to process what is happening or has happened, to grieve it and to release our grip on it.

While letting go can be extremely beneficial, the practice can be even more significant when we also learn to let go into something valuable. From this side, letting go is more about what is gained than what is lost. When we let go of fear, it may also be possible to let go into a sense of safety or a sense of relaxation. Forsaking the need to be right or to have one’s opinions justified can allow a person to settle into a feeling of peace. Letting go of thoughts might allow us to open to a calmer mind. By letting go into something beneficial, it can be easier to let go of something harmful.

—Gil Fronsdal