2026 : A Year of Release Opening Thoughts
I’m aware it is not 2026 yet, but artificial things such as a calendar shouldn’t be the final determining factor in whether we pursue a worthwhile goal. Sometimes the journey begins even if we’re not on our feet, and it is up to us to rise and begin, if not catch up.
Only one kind of wisdom can be reliably forced; the kind of lessons you learn immediately after you need them. All other forms of wisdom come to us when we are ready to receive them, yet we try so hard to reach out and grasp them instead of being an empty vessel. Being an empty vessel doesn’t mean being emotionless or thoughtless, wandering aimlessly. Instead, it means not filling our capacity for life full of distractions and judgments, preventing us from listening and learning. Instead of overthinking, overanalyzing, and always approaching a situation with a question, it is ok to let life unfold as it will, to observe and learn with full presence rather than trying to force something to happen.
Modern life teaches us it is essential to control our environment and bend things to our will. Modern life teaches us to expect immediate results, instant answers, and rapid progress in all things, or else something (or someone) has failed. Wisdom is rarely found through impatience or impulsiveness; on the contrary, rash acts are how we attach ourselves to unworthy people and causes, expending energy and wasting time we would not have done so had we thought things through initially. Oftentimes, it takes more energy and time to release (let go of) the attachment than it took to attach in the first place.
In this age of quarterly reports and instant gratification, advocating patience may seem counterintuitive at first. Western culture conditions you to believe if you don’t act now, you’ll ‘miss out’ because the opportunity will pass or someone else will leap ahead and seize what you hesitated to pursue. However, by constantly feeling pressure to move from one action to another, we are more likely to both make mistakes and not process the actions we take as well as we should. Verily, slowing down enables us to verify the path we set for ourselves is indeed what we genuinely wish to walk rather than the one we find ourselves upon – proactivity vs. reactivity.
Believe it or not, we should practice being bored from time to time. We should look out the window and daydream about ephemeral nothings, moments of random entertainment we can let go of the moment we cease thinking about them. We should take a walk just to walk and allow ourselves to be pleased by all the random things we encounter along the way, be it the shapes of the clouds, a passing butterfly, the sounds of children playing, the invigoration the breeze brings to our faces, the soft reset brought by putting our previous task down for a bit and walking away, and so much more. By ‘emptying’ ourselves from time to time, we give ourselves an opportunity to travel back to a place of importance organically. If we travel nowhere in particular, it can be a wonderful thing, as it may mean we have nowhere important to be (or do) at that point in time.
Another truth about being capable of receiving in life is once we’ve filled our capacity, we can’t hold any more, no matter how sincerely we try to grasp more. If our vessels are filled with pain, anger, fear, despair, and confusion, opportunities will pass us by. Whether we like it or not, we must empty our vessels before we put any more in them. The question of ‘How do we empty our vessels?’ doesn’t have a one-size-fits-all answer, though many solutions share similarities. First and foremost, we must be honest with ourselves. Whatever state we’re in, we need to acknowledge it without additional qualifiers. If we’re in a place of anger, be open with ourselves without excuse or judgment. Only then can the path toward release begin.
When we arrive at the starting line, being open about where we are without excuse or judgment, we can begin to consider what we need to do to empty our vessel. For some, it may be finally reaching a state of radical acceptance regarding an unchangeable past. Radical acceptance of the past may mean understanding we’ll never get the conclusion we so badly want, and have to stop fighting for something which will never arrive. For others, it may be physically removing an object from the environment, which serves as little more than a constant reminder of pain. Emptying our vessel may include having a conversation we’ve been avoiding – with a specific other or a version of ourselves, past or present.
The process of emptying our vessel of all the pain we’ve grown so accustomed to is a complex and challenging task obscured by the smoke of fires burning long into our spirit. Healing is not linear, and unlearning (removing an attachment) is always more difficult than learning it in the first place. If we could so easily force a resolution, we would have done so by now, no? Hence, the need to let go of the impulse to grasp for answers and instead be prepared to receive them. Self-compassion can go a long way here, along with mindfulness – gently returning our thoughts to the present without judgment and pushing aside thoughts like ‘why haven’t I figured it out yet?’ We tend to overvalue the ‘a-ha!’ moments, while failing to value all the steps it took to reach the final assembly stage. In truth, some of the steps leading up to the ‘a-ha!’ moment happen when we’re bored, daydreaming, or otherwise not consciously directing our focus somewhere. Our minds seemingly spontaneously come up with something, and we wonder, ‘Where did that come from?’ It is a value of not being at full capacity, leaping from one action to another – we can process things even subconsciously.
The process of emptying our vessels is one of those ‘simple doesn’t mean easy’ concepts. It is challenging for many people to recognize and acknowledge a problem, and for the solution to be ‘do less.’ However, if ‘do more’ was the solution, many of us would have cracked the code long ago. It is also challenging to be told, ‘The answer will come when you’re ready for it.’ Then we feel the urge to ‘get ready,’ but the more we try to control everything, the less ready we’ll be. Yes, for those who need to commit to an action, such as removing an object or having a conversation, an action is part of the plan. Still, there are reasons those actions haven’t been taken, and we’re back to not forcing them, even if we know what must eventually be accomplished. Readiness is a state of calm, in the end, a state in which we can look ourselves in the mirror and know it is time to act.
Be Ready to Receive; You Are Worth It!
reBLUEvinate!