Having The Courage To Let Go.

Letting Go.

What does that mean to you?

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately as I’ve been shifting my energy and how I spend my days. Normally my days are time blocked from the moment I wake up to the moment my head hits the pillow at night. Meetings, sessions with clients, working out, creating programs, updating websites, meditating, working with my staff, eating, professional development, webinars, social media, writing, shooting videos, going live, family and domestic responsibilities.... ALL the things and more squeezed into a very short day.

That's the way it's been for a long time, but not any more. Over the past several weeks I've:

• Let go of projects that I thought we’re helping me achieve certain goals.
• Let go of the idea that working hard is the path to success.
• Mentally let go of things I would typically be stressing over all day and night that I thought were important.
• Even let go of physical items that are no longer serving me that I've been incredibly attached to.

I’m learning there’s a freedom to surrendering, but it’s not as easy as it sounds.

It's counter intuitive for us high achievers to NOT work for what we want. If I told you that part of my journey of “letting go” meant a I stopped a program I was running that was making me money during these times of financial hardship, some of you would say that’s irresponsible and a really bad decision.

What I’m learning is that I need to stop letting others in the entrepreneurial space influence me or tell me what the (bleep) to do!

Over the past 20 years of building businesses I've experienced a significant amount of flow... but that came to a screeching halt about 4 years ago. I've always worked hard, but the work/return flow before these past 4 years felt effortless.

What I'm seeing is that there are more entrepreneurs out there than ever before - which I think is amazing! MLM companies and the online space has made starting your own business more accessible. I'm also seeing businesses targeting new entrepreneurs and encouraging them to drink the Kool-Aid... and I would dare to say that the majority of them ARE drinking the Kool-Aid. The message is that hard work, long days, short sleeps and hustle will provide them with status and success. 

Over the past 4 years I’ve been listening to all the experts on business, health, wellness, entrepreneurship, spirituality, healing, upleveling, scaling, growing, mastering, etc, etc, etc. And although I’ve learned a lot – the biggest take away was that I should have been listening more closely to my own gut instinct.

It was my gut instinct that helped to create a multi-million dollar, world renowned Resort... It was my gut instinct that guided me to build our stunning home in Costa Rica... It was my gut instinct that lead me to invest in and create my other businesses, all of which have now generated a return.

Something shifted over that past 4 years. We moved to New York and found ourselves in a very challenging position. That fear and discomfort had me second guessing myself and I started relying on programs, people, and things OUTSIDE of myself to fix the shit storm we found ourselves in.

Was what I learned helpful? Sure.

Did it help me to grow? Yep.

Did it inevitably provide me with the transformation I was seeking? Not even close!

Why? Because I was efforting. Because I was resisting. Because I was trying to control the outcome.

Every time you effort, resist or control you halt the process of allowing what you want to come into your life.

Allowing involves trust, connecting to oneself and LISTENING! Listening to what your mind, body and gut are trying to communicate. 

If you are working and working and working and NOT getting the return you are hoping for, then all the efforting you’re doing is the reason you’re not getting what you want. READ THAT AGAIN!

All that efforting is putting the breaks on what you’ve been trying to manifest into your life. 

Letting go and surrendering is TERRIFYING! It takes a ton of courage to do it. I’m still in the middle of it myself and navigating this territory is uncomfortable for me. I was very familiar and comfortable with the energy of allowing when I first started my journey as an entrepreneur. Maybe it was because I was naive, but going with the flow and listening to my gut sure brought me a ton of success. As soon as we were confronted with some massive challenges, I ended up trapped in fear and I created a dissonance with the flow I was so familiar with.

I’ve been blocking the flow of abundance by trying so hard to get it back. I know, it’s a paradox! What I’m learning is that there is a lot of beauty in trusting… there’s a lot of freedom attached to it.

Trusting what I've envisioned for myself and my family is already on its way.

Trusting there’s a divine plan.

Trusting the Universe is supporting and guiding me.

Trusting the more I Let Go the more I allow to flow.

Trusting there is a path to effortless achievement…

and it doesn’t come from working your ass off!

Look, I’m not saying hard work hasn’t helped me in the past. If you read my post about the 4 Sacred Seasons you’ll learn there is a time for everything. Over the past 4 years however, my hard work has literally stopped me from attracting what I want.

I know, I know… all the high achievers reading this are like WTF Kelsey?! That doesn’t make any sense! 

Well, it might not make sense to you if the work you are doing is allowing things to flow to you with ease… but if you feel like you’re spinning your wheels and can’t catch a break, then I invite you to rethink what you’ve been doing because what you’ve been doing might actually be stopping you from getting what you want.

Crazy right?! I know. I’m still wrapping my head around it. I’ve been building businesses for a long time and I've experienced flow, success, hardship, challenges, stress, and great achievement... but the more I let go, the more I realize this is the secret sauce.

So if Letting Go is the first “secret” to manifesting what it is that you want, then seeing your life, exactly how it is right now as PERFECTION is the second secret.

My life is perfect exactly how it is.

With all the troubles, challenges, stressors, pain and shit hitting the fan... it’s all perfectly perfect and something to be grateful for. This has been a hard lesson for me because I know this intellectually; I know exactly how the power of gratitude works, but putting it into true practice is a totally different ball game when you're faced with difficult times.

Letting go takes courage. It means looking at things through a new filter. It means (for many of us high achievers) doing things that are counter intuitive.

We live in a culture where you see quotes on Facebook every day that say, “There’s no elevator to success, you have to take the stairs” and “Never Dream of Success – Work For It!”.

I call Bullshit!

I’m now realizing how happiness, joy, intuition and operating from a higher vibrational frequency play into success much more than efforting and sleepless nights ever will.

I’ve been there, and now I’m here. Let’s see how this all plays out shall we?

During this journey I've been meditating more than ever before. I've been revisiting some of my favorite meditations I created for my 30-Day Meditation Series. Two meditations I go back to over and over again are the Chakra Healing and the Forgiveness Meditation. Both of them are super powerful! If you're interested in 30 meditations that are all different (and include different styles of meditation), this series is a tiny investment for the results it can offer.