Letting Go and Making Jewelry

I've been making a lot of jewelry about "letting go" these days--necklaces and bracelets with houses, trees, birds and, for some reason, skulls. It all means something, I'm not sure what, but I'm guessing I'm going through a transition phase in my life (again) that involves letting go of the past, embracing the NOW and, letting go of the future. To live in the NOW is very, very, difficult, but whenever I start regretting the past or mourning it (and I do believe grieving is an important part of letting go), I have to discipline my mind to be right here, right now and trust that God does have an amazing plan for my life. You know, He doesn't just have a plan for the future, He really did have a plan for my past and I can see that now. I can honestly say that every little bit of pain was a lesson, bringing me closer to the truth I needed to understand and it brought me to where I am today, which is a pretty awesome place! But I've learned, the hard way, to hold on very loosely to things and to be fluid... to be flexible about life so that I don't miss what is right in front of me. I have a friend that is so fixated on the way she wants things to be that she doesn't notice what already is, which she would readily admit. What is the price we pay for not being able to let go? Misery; we're never happy with anything because it doesn't measure up to our expectations and we're constantly disappointed.

Recently I had a conversation with a friend and he was asking me about my life. WOW! What a life I've had! I look back and I see a woman who has made a TON of mistakes, but had so much courage to try something new, to seize opportunities, to love without the promise of getting much back, to change directions and risk total failure. Part of living this kind of life is learning to let go of the way things were supposed to be, not so much the way they were; and it is sad, it does hurt, and it deserves to be mourned. But once you work through that, the future begins to look brighter and you are stronger, you have begun to heal. That's what my jewelry is about these days: letting go and healing so that I can open up my arms and welcome what is to come...right here, right now, today.