Letting Go

For my National Adoption Month post, today I have a poem from my "Cosette" scrapbook. It is a good one because it applies to birthmothers "letting go" and also adoptive couples who have to "let go" of some things to be able to open themselves up to the possibilities of adoption.

Of course, it is just a good poem for anyone, but you can see how it applies:

LETTING GO

Letting go does not mean to stop caring;

it means I can't do it for someone else.

Letting go is not to cut myself off;

it's the realization I can't control another.

Letting go is not to enable;

but to allow learning from natural consequences.

Letting go is to admit powerlessness;

which means the outcome is not in my hands.

Letting go is not to try to change or blame another;

it's to make the most of myself.

Letting go is not to care for,

but to care about.

Letting go is not to fix,

but to be supportive.

It's not to judge,

but to allow another to be a human being.

Letting go is not to be in the middle arranging the outcome;

but to allow others to affect their own destinies.

Letting go is not to be protective;

it's to permit another to face reality.

Letting go is not to deny,

but to accept.

Letting go is not to nag, scold or argue;

but instead to search out my own shortcomings and correct them.

Letting go is not to adjust everything to my own desires;

but to take each day as it comes and cherish myself in it.

Letting go is not to criticize and regulate anybody;

but to try to become what I dream I can be.

Letting go is not to regret the past;

but to grow and live for the future.

Letting go is to fear less and live more.