Letting Go

by Tori Roalef
September 23, 2025

Yesterday was the autumnal equinox—a time when day and night are of equal length. We’ve already begun to see the trees letting go of their leaves. Their leaves that pulled in the sun’s rays and turned them into energy, supporting the tree’s growth and survival. As the season turns cooler, the days shorten, and the leaves age and die, the trees shed the leaves that are no longer serving them. Today, let’s learn the art of letting go.

The Idea of the Week

Letting go is a powerful practice that applies to all parts of our lives. You often hear people say, “You need to let it go” when dealing with emotions like anger, sadness, or grief. It’s said during experiences like loss, holding onto memories, or a recent breakup.

There are also other areas where we can practice this. At work, we might need to let go of perfectionism to complete tasks, release control to allow ourselves to rest, or stop avoidant behaviors to make that important phone call.

In this 2-minute video, Simon Sinek talks about how leaders must also learn to let go to build a sustainable business. For example, letting go of “being the best” at parking a submarine so that multiple team members can handle it when you’re sick.

Reflect on this for a moment: What happens when the trees let go of their leaves?

When we let go, what happens?

The Practice of the Week

What does it mean when we let go? Letting go, by its definition, means stopping our hold on something, relinquishing, or reducing our attachment to outcomes, desires, or expectations. If you look up “let go” in the dictionary, you’ll find synonyms such as loosening, releasing, unleashing, unlocking, or expressing.

When we let go of something psychologically or spiritually, we often pair it with physically letting go of an item. It becomes a symbolic or practical process.

For example, if you let go of limiting beliefs about your worth and appearance, you might also let go of “low self-worth” clothes or clothes that don’t inspire confidence and good feelings. A common example is letting go of an ex-partner’s gifts or possessions after a breakup.

So, here are two physical practices to help you master the art of letting go.

Morning Pages or Journaling

Morning pages are a form of journaling, proposed by Julia Cameron. They involve a daily practice of stream-of-consciousness writing, where you write whatever’s on your mind as it comes.

It is letting go of the thoughts in your mind and letting them exist on the page instead. It allows you to let go of grammar, punctuation, and full sentences, so you can stay in the flow of writing what is on your mind.

Journaling is a similar letting-go practice. When your mind races with thoughts, let them go and write them down instead. If you have trouble falling asleep at night, take out a pen and paper and write what is on your mind until you fill up the page.

Somatic Shaking

Shaking is a great way to release pent-up stress and tension in the body. Our bodies even naturally shake after a stressful event, such as shaky hands or full-body tremors. This is the body’s way of releasing the excess energy that was activated and stored up during the stressful event.

We can intentionally use shaking to help the body release tension and deep-seated emotions, like a tree shaking off its leaves in the wind. Here is a 6-minute video demonstrating somatic shaking.