This morning I had a gratitude ceremony and honored all that I have created in the past 7 years.
And then…
I deleted 2 podcast feeds—>183 podcast episodes.
I deleted 800 posts on Instagram.
I deleted 900 blog posts.
This represents over 7 years of content creation, growth, and insight.
I love podcasting, I love writing, I love teaching, and I feel so grateful to have been able to not only have a way for me to record what I have learned, but to the tens of thousands of people who have listened and joined me in this journey. I really am so grateful. Between the two shows there has been well over 2 million downloads and I am honored that even one person found any of these episodes helpful on their own journey as well.
I know this is a drastic decision. And I want to first say that it was not made without significant contemplation and time to process the pros and cons from every angle. And because I know there will be some speculation, I feel it’s important to note that this decision is not in any way influenced by outside pressure.
The core reason for this choice is simple.
There is power in letting go. There is freedom in letting go. There is a blank canvas in letting go that creates space for new possibilities.
Going forward, I intend to continue podcasting and teaching on the power of creation, and I’m excited to start at a new beginning. It’s not often that we get to start fresh in our life. In fact, I’ve many times wished I could have a do over on how I’ve navigated certain decisions or events. Sometimes we have to create those new beginnings for ourself by making space, changing things up, or letting things go.
In the Northern Hemisphere we are heading towards the Winter Solstice. This time of year, Mother Nature is teaching us about death, letting go, rest, and the importance of darkness. Of all the markers that turn the seasons, winter solstice is my favorite.
Last year while in a winter solstice yoga class, my teacher profoundly taught us that winter is the most abundant of all seasons.
This seemed like such a contraction! How could that be possible? This is the time of year when nothing seems to be growing, so much has died, the trees are barren, and the darkness rules the land. It’s emptiness.
And herein lies the secret. In this emptiness, you meet infinite potential. You meet the possibility of all that could be created. You are in a space of being able to select what seeds you actually want to plant in the spring.
While summer has it’s own beauty and purpose, you don’t have the same potential for new choices because you are committed to what you started. You must see things through to the end of the cycle.
Death is what makes space for rebirth. There must be a letting go before you can start something new. Our bodies show us this universal law everyday as we take in food and our bodies digest and use up the energy the food provided. There must be a stage of release and letting go or we become overwhelmed and sick.
Often when we think of creation, we focus on adding in something to our life that wasn’t there before. Just as powerful, however, can be the opposite: Subtracting something from your life.
Meister Eckhart, who was a Christian mystic in medieval times taught that spirituality has much more to do with subtraction than it does with addition.
I’ll be the first to admit, my default is usually adding something in. If I have a challenge or need, I’m super quick to go find a book, purchase an online course, or buy the next product that will make my life easier. I add something new. I love to add. Adding makes me excited and I quickly visualize how all my wildest dreams will come true with this new thing I’m adding in.
The challenge with adding, is that we don’t always have the space for it. Whether it’s physical space, or mental, emotional, or spiritual space. We have a limited capacity to hold things. This is by design. The Universe did not intent for us to be hoarders! We are meant to share and give with one another, which is the reason why we have a limited capacity to hold onto things. We experience more balance and flow when we learn to let things go. We subtract. The magic, is that when you subtract, you create space.
Often times it’s easier to see the things that take up space in our physical environment. The truth is, sometimes it’s the unseen things that take up the most space of all. How much space does our ruminating thoughts take up? Or our grudges or traumas? Or our suppressed emotions and judgements? How much space does our commitments that we no longer want to do take up? How much space does an old identity take up? How much space does the stories we tell about ourselves or others take up? How much space does unsupportive habits and patterns really take up?
Many years ago I heard the author, Bob Goff speak, and I will never forget how he told the audience that he quits something every Thursday. We all laughed, because he’s actually quite a funny guy, but then realized that he was serious. I have often wondered if that is one reason he is so joyful all the time, because he knows how to let things go and its a dedicated practice for him?
The research that has been done on habit formation shows that even more powerful than starting a new habit is stopping an unsupportive one. It’s actually even more powerful to stop something that is getting in the way, than starting something new.
While I don’t quit something every Thursday, I do love to honor the seasons and align my energy with what Nature is asking. Whether it is fall or winter, or the full moon, these are all times in the natural world that support the necessity that letting go and releasing play in creation. It’s a necessary part of the process no matter how much our ego wants to cling and attach to things.
While there’s so much I’m excited to create and share in the coming year, I have to make the space for it. It’s been interesting to watch my own resistance to letting go of 7 years of work.
When I think of holding on to all my past work, I go into scarcity. I’ve been quite attached to my work. I’ve identified with it, and the idea of letting it go feels like I will be nothing without it. My ego freaks out that people need all those podcasts so I need to keep them to help other people. I also tell myself the story that the only reason I found success in the past was because of these podcast episodes. To let them go I will be nothing. Talk about big time clinging and attachment.
But when I get really quiet inside myself and connect with my true Divine self, when I love and accept the part of me that gets scared and she calms down because I have held space for her, my inner still small voice says, “it’s time to let it go, Brooke. You must let go of who you used to be in order to become who you are. Trust the creation process. This is the stage of letting go so new life can come to be.”
Earlier this week I was reading 8th century poetry translated by Lorin Roche, and just marveled at this sutra that says,
Worship does not mean offering flowers.
It means offering your heart
To the vast mystery
Of the universe.
It means letting your heart pulse
With the life of the universe,
Without thought and without reservation.
It means being so in love
that you are
Willing to dissolve
And be recreated in every moment.
Let me read that last stanza again…
It means being so in love
that you are willing to dissolve
And be recreated in every moment.
As my ego clings to an old identity not wanting to let it go, my heart finds so much peace in these words. It reminds me of Mother Nature being so willing to dissolve every Autumn as she lets go of her leaves, as the flowers and shrubs die and dissolve, and then beautifully they are recreated again in spring.
The fear of letting go comes from believing that this is the end. That everything stops here. That there is no more.
Yet nature proves to us over and over again that death is not the end. Winter is not the end. In fact, it is the beginning. All of life is literally recreated over and over again in this beautiful process.
There will be things in our life that die. There will be seasons and stages and relationships and careers, and commitments that run their course and its time for them to dissolve and be recreated. To die and be reborn. We can cling and attach ourselves in resistance to the cycle, or we can be willing to surrender and allow this process to unfold as we trust that there is more to come. There is new life. There is a new season, there is abundance in this place. Things will die whether we accept it or not, but the moment we allow and surrender to the process, we are free to joyfully expand into what comes next.
As we approach this New Year, as we approach Winter Solstice and the darkest day of the year, remember creation is balanced by opposites. Adding and Subtracting are both wonderful ways to improve life if we have a balance of both.
For our masculine dominated culture, we tend to focus most on addition. We focus on the growth seasons of spring and summer. We come to the New Year with all the things we want to add in. In order to create more balance, we also need to ask, what do we need to let go of?
What has run it’s course?
What needs to die?
This creates the space for what comes next.
This creates the space for more.
What can you subtract to create MORE time?
What can you subtract to create MORE presence?
What can you subtract to create MORE calm?
What can you subtract to create MORE space? MORE order, MORE love?
Mother Nature is amazing. You think you’re letting go, but you automatically receive something more in return.
So what can you subtract?
Thank you dear listener for being here with me. Thank you for allowing me to let go in a really big way so I can create more and lean in to this current version of myself. I’m so excited for all the new seeds I have planned for the coming year and feel so deeply that I will better be able to serve and love others deeply by honoring this balance of creation.
Remember, you are a creator.
Feel, be, see, say, and do.
The light in me honors the light in you.
Namaste.
