Let it go, Indianna. It was a simple statement from a scene near the end of the movie, Indianna Jones and the Last Crusade:. The hero, Indianna Jones, was in pursuit of the Holy Grail in order to save his fathers life. In the end, he had to choose to let the Grail go, even though it was close at hand.

Hearing the statement in the movie, Let it go, Indianna, had an immensely profound effect upon me, personally. It was like this huge bullhorn screeching in my brain, Listen to what hes saying! Let it go! I had some issues in my life at the time that I was grasping onto desperately. But I really needed to let them go.

Life has those kinds of issues. Some of them are very close and deeply personal. Some things may be causing pain, right now, even as you read this. Other things will hurt tremendously if you let them go. But you know you must still let them go. There comes a time in our lives when there are certain things or issues we have been dealing with that just need to be let go. We know they need to be let go. But sometimes, even the act of change can be a deterrent to our personal progress. We are afraid of change and what may happen to us as a result of the change.

There are so many things and issues we deal with on a daily basis. Here are a few that often require a change of letting go:

(1) Relationships. When our relationships reach a point that they hurt us or prevent us from progressing to our full potential, we need to consider letting them go.

(2) Death of a friend or loved one. Death is a change that is thrust upon us, usually without warning. This can be highly devastating to our soul if we can not find a way to deal with our loss and let them go. We will always feel of their absence, because we loved them so much. But our lives must learn to go on.

(3) The shoulda, coulda, woulda of life. This is probably the most common, the most frequent situations that we need to learn to let go of. Here are a few:

a. Parenting Skills. Children are not born with an accompanying shrink-wrapped manual of instructions. It is probably because every child is different. It is simply a process of trial and error. Lots of trials. Lots of errors. After having had six children of our own, and in spite of our trials and my errors, Im glad we had them. Id still like to kick their rear ends from time to time, but theyre all good kids. I can honestly say that hardly a day goes by when I dont wonder if I should have or have not done such-and-such differently. Thats my need to let go.

b. Grudges. Highly destructive and painful to all involved. Let them be and let them go!

c. Personal Failures. No one is perfect. We all make mistakes from time to time. Some of those mistakes are real doosies, too! But we only truly fail when we cease to strive to be better. We only lose when we quit. Accept your mistakes and learning opportunities and pick yourself up and move on.

Never give up.

Never quit.

But let the bad from the past go.

Just let it go...