Our eighteenth meeting of World Speakers’ Coalition Kuala Lumpur found us in a new venue, a pizza joint called Pizza Mansion that is located in Jalan 17/13 in Seksyen 17, Petaling Jaya.
Suriakumar Arulampalam was organizer and host. Altogether, eight of us turned up, comprising five members and three returning guests.
The good news is that two of them decided to sign up as members, i.e. Anandh Munusamy and Dr. Ricky Toong.
“Letting Go” was our meeting theme.
As the Roman philosopher Seneca once said, how long we live does not matter as much as how we live. But living well goes hand in hand with living long.
And here’s the question. How do we live healthier, happier, and as a consequence, longer? While there are many aspects to the good life, many determinants of longevity, and many ways to enhance these, there is one that everyone can do no matter who they are, where they are, what their circumstances, and whatever their past.
Letting go.
The more we cling to the things that slow us down, distract us, infuriate us, numb us, or hold us back, the less we can expand the breadth of our lives – and yet, because those things are familiar, they are all too easy to cling to.
We all carry baggage. We have bad memories. We have something producing drag against the forward motion of our lives. In fact, we, if we so choose, can carry negative emotions, grudges, anger, resentments, grievances, regrets, and worries for our entire lives – and shorten the quality and quantity of our years as a consequence. That would be very sad indeed.
An inability to let go directly impedes our ability to live, and we deserve to live better than that. Whatever we cling to that is weighing us down, no matter how attached we may be to it, no matter how many excuses we make for ourselves, has to go.
Letting go can be the hardest thing someone does in their life. It is not easy. That which we hold on to can become important to us, a crutch, a pretext, or a means of avoidance.
It’s hard to deal with the baggage, and so tempting to just let it be. But to hold on to these negative things takes power from you, you hand your peace of mind over to the past – and though the past is gone, for your mind, the past is only gone if you let it.
Letting go means forgiving others, but it also means forgiving yourself.
It takes strength to let go. It takes courage.
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