I've Got to Let Go of Yesterday to Receive Today
On opening our hearts to life's infinite supply
Dear friend,
I've got to let go of yesterday to receive today.
It's true about everything I want: money, love, creative ideas...
They all get stale. Initially, this can sound like superstition—what's the difference between yesterday's dollar and one I've yet to receive? But as I look at everything alive in the world, this holds true. Year-old bread, or milk (!), isn't the same as fresh. Alive things get stale. They need to move. They need to be renewed.
In the case of dollars, an old and new dollar may spend the same. But they don't move the same.
A fresh idea moves differently than one I've sat on for years.
Maybe it's less about the dollar or the idea, and more about my posture toward the natural movement of life.
In my fear, do I resist life's movement?
When I'm afraid of running out, and I start grasping onto the little I have, I lose my receptivity to what is new and fresh and most alive. My body is different. I'm in survival mode. And that's exactly how I feel—like I'm surviving, not really living.
Maybe the best way to receive more in life is to let go of what we have. This challenges a core belief I've held for most of my life: that the supply is limited.
In order to confidently let go of what I have, I would have to believe there is plenty more to come.
So in a way, money, love, creative ideas, and just about everything else that matters to me comes down to faith.
Do I believe that I can let go of everything I have because I am standing in an ocean—an infinite source of life, love, and all of the resources I will ever need?
Could it be that we don't receive what we want because our hands (and hearts) are closed—tightly gripping yesterday, closed to today?
I don't want to live on old bread.
Today I open my hands—I let go of yesterday. I open my heart to receive today.
—Nathan
Originally posted at: https://nathanpeterson.net/letting-go-of-yesterday/