It’s Time to Let Go of That Pen That’s Running Out of Ink

I do a lot of writing during my morning quiet time. I have an entire pack of pens that I use for that purpose. Two days ago I noticed the two pens I was using weren’t writing as smoothly as I was used to - both pens. I looked at them and tried to figure out if they were out of ink, but couldn’t see through the barrel. I made a couple of strokes on the paper and they still wrote, so I just kept using them, unhappy with my results.

Yesterday, one of the pens ran out of ink. Ah, I said, that’s why it wasn’t writing so well anymore. I threw it out and continued writing with the second failing pen. This morning the second pen ran out of ink also, so I grabbed a brand new pen. After the first couple of strokes to get the ink flowing, it wrote beautifully, just the way I wanted it to.

I asked myself why I didn’t just throw both pens out as soon as I was unhappy with their results. Instead, I gave them some hard strokes to see if they would come back to life, but they did not. They were spent and on the way to being so for the last couple of days, even though I pushed through and used them, receiving meager results.

It was time to let go of them, but I continued to struggle. I was unwilling to let them go. Why?

Immediately I realized that the pens were only symbol of what has been happening in my life. I have been called to let go. REALLY let go. I wrote about it in my last blog a couple of weeks ago. But, I’m still learning what I am required to let go of.

Yesterday I received amazing inspiration during my quiet time. It’s a new approach for promoting my business and my books. It’s something I’ve never done before and although I’m very excited, I’m also scared. The scariest thing for me is letting go of all the things I’ve been doing that haven’t been working – like the pens. I want to hold on to those things because: someone told me to do it, business coaches teach it, everyone is doing it, so many people have found success doing it, it sound good, it looks good on paper. I could go on...

What I realized this morning is that when something isn’t working, I must go deep inside and ask if it’s time to let it go. And then, I must follow the guidance I receive, without being afraid of letting it go in case it might work in the future. In order to move forward with what today holds for me, I must be willing to let go of the past, to let go of the failures, to let go of what I thought was going to work but hasn’t.

This is such a big lesson for me. I will take account of what is not working no matter how hard I try. Then, I will let go of each so I can move into what will work And, I will remember that even if the new approach is working beautifully at first, once it starts failing, it’s time to let go and reach for that new pen.

Is there something in your life that is not working no matter how hard you try? Maybe it’s time to let go of what you’ve been doing and make space for something new.

Mari