Letting Go of the Good for the Greater

This phrase, letting go of the good for the greater, was a teaching I received early on in my experience of New Thought. It was a stretch in the beginning getting comfortable with wanting, asking for, and expecting more, when what I had was already good. Even once we get accept the idea that it’s okay to ask for more since the supply is unlimited, it still can be hard to let go of the good.

We like the good; that’s why we consider it good. On some level, it works for us. We know it and we’re comfortable with it, so why would we let it go? Well, it may be that something even better has just presented itself to us. It may have just been newly created, like the latest Blackberry, or something we just learned about that has been around a long time. It could be that our sense of self has expanded so much that now we can imagine having something better that we couldn’t dream of having before, such as a higher level job or a bigger house in a nicer neighborhood.

It’s easier to let go of the good when the greater is right there waiting, such as accepting the new job that’s been offered. It’s a lot harder to let go of the good based just on the faith that the greater will appear. Often, though, that’s the way it works when we want to receive. In March, I let go of the Jazzercise class that I taught three times a week and loved so that I could move into new opportunities to promote my current book and write the next one. The greater is still in the process of manifesting, as you may have guessed from my last post.

The picture of this process that I get is one of having my hands full. If I’m literally holding so much stuff that I could not possibly hold anything else, I’ll have to put something down. I’m reminded of that wonderful song from Sesame Street, when Ernie asked Mr. Hoots to help him learn to play the saxophone.

I've learned a thing or two
From years of playing in a band
It's hard to play a saxophone
With something in your hand
To be a fine musician
You're gonna have to face the facts

Though you're blessed with flying fingers
When you wanna wail, you're stuck
What good are flying fingers
If they're wrapped around a duck?
Change the toy's position
If you wanna ace the sax!

You gotta put down the duckie
Put down the duckie
Put down the duckie
Yeah, you gotta leave the duck alone
You gotta put down the duckie
Put down the duckie
Put down the duckie
If you wanna play the saxophone!

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