Let Go of the Hat

The other day while I was on a very steep trail, sucking wind and being too stubborn to stop, E told me that if I put away the hat I was holding, I could use that energy to make it up that trail....It was really steep! Good sense gave way to stubbornness and I listened, put away the hat and made it to the top (I did stop a couple of times...just to let my heart slow down a bit. It was drowning out the sound of the wind and the birds). I know that I didn't make it there just because I let go of the hat, but who is to say that it didn't give me a little extra energy to make it there.

I had the occasion to speak those words to myself, metaphorically, today. I've been holding on to a "hat" for far too long now. It's not that the hat was causing me any direct harm, and I probably could go on and on holding on to it indefinitely. The hat had other plans. It blew out of my hand and I realized that the energy I was using to hold onto it would be better put to use elsewhere. It's time for the hat to warm some other head, not hang idly, by my side. It is a disservice to the hat's divine purpose to stay in my hand. And I can use that extra energy to make it to the top of the steep trail to see the blue sky and wondrous view at the top.

Goodbye hat.