July 24, 2024 · Michael Bertrand
James was a professional in his late forties living in the vibrant city of Hong Kong — a place where the skyline is a symphony of towering skyscrapers and bustling markets. For years, he had pursued career advancement with single-minded focus, accumulating success and, quietly, burnout. The relentless forward momentum had come at the expense of something he couldn't quite name.
Then he discovered David R. Hawkins' Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender.
The book introduced James to something simple and counterintuitive: the practice of acknowledging difficult emotions without resistance, and allowing them to pass naturally. Not suppressing. Not dramatising. Simply being present with what is, and then letting it move through.
His first real test came during a traffic jam — one of those ordinary, infuriating moments that can consume a disproportionate amount of energy. Instead of fighting the frustration, he allowed it. He consciously released it. What followed was unexpected calm. Not because the traffic moved, but because he did — internally.
Over the months that followed, James's demeanour shifted noticeably. His wife Sarah observed a new composure in him — a quality of presence that had been missing for years. Even situations that had previously triggered reactive patterns seemed to land differently.
When faced with an impossible work deadline, he applied the same principle. Rather than bracing against the pressure, he moved through it — and met the deadline with a clarity that surprised even him.
James established a support group for colleagues navigating work-related stress, sharing what he had learned. He witnessed similar transformations across a diverse range of participants — people who came sceptical and left with something they hadn't expected: a lighter relationship with their own inner life.
The ultimate test came with his father's death. Grief arrived, as it always does, without permission. James grieved fully — without resistance, without trying to manage the experience into something more acceptable. And in that surrender, he found peace. Not absence of pain, but the absence of fighting the pain.
Inspired by his journey, James eventually wrote about it — and the story spread. At its heart was a simple truth:
"Freedom emerges not from avoiding emotions but from being aware of a feeling, letting it come up, staying with it, and letting it run its course."
Surrendering emotional attachments — to outcomes, to identities, to ways things should be — opens pathways to genuine freedom and fulfilment. Not because the world changes, but because our relationship with it does.
The art of letting go is not a passive act. It is one of the most courageous things a person can practise.
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