Many of us have heard the advice to "Let Go and Let God." This advice is telling us to let go of our attempts to control and surrender the outcomes to our higher guidance. Yet few of us actually do this. Why is this so challenging?

We let go and let God only when we are in total trust that spiritual guidance exists and is here for us, supporting the highest good of our soul's journey at all times. Life would feel so peaceful if we were in this total trust all the time!

However, our wounded self does not have this trust.
 

Our wounded self believes we have to control to be safe.

When we are not letting go and letting God, it is because our wounded self has taken over and wants to try to control people and the outcome of things in order to protect against feelings of helplessness and fear. The wounded self hates feeling helpless and spends much time in the mind strategizing about how to have control over getting what it wants. Being in the mind and trying to control generally creates much tension in the body, so we feel anything but inner peace when control is the intention.

In a recent phone session with Daryl, he confessed to me that he had finally become aware of how little time he was present in the moment. "I'm so in my head most of the time trying to control things that the moment passes me by. I can't believe how much of my life I've missed out on. Yet I'm not even clear what I'm supposed to be present for. When people are present, what is happening for them?"

"When people are present," I answered, "they are aware of their inner, outer, and spiritual experience of the moment. They are aware of their feelings - the inner experience of their body and emotions. They are aware of their surroundings - of people, energy, and nature - and of what is happening in the moment. And they are aware of the love and peace of spirit filling them, as well as of the guidance that may be coming to them at that moment. When you are in your mind trying to figure things out in order to control people and outcomes, you miss the fullness of the present moment. What do you think is in the way of being present?"

"I don't trust that anything spiritual is here for me. I guess I believe that I need to be in my mind thinking in order to be safe and get what I want. "

"Is it working?" I asked.

"No, I just feel tense and depressed a lot. And I still end up feeling afraid and helpless."
 

"The paradox here is that when you open and surrender to spirit while taking loving action on your own behalf, you become a co-creator with spirit…

“Your openness and intent to learn about loving yourself raises your frequency to the point where spirit can support you in achieving what you want. You will actually end up feeling safer and more powerful than when you are trying to control. The challenge is in trusting that this is the truth."

"So how do I get to that trust?"

"It's a matter of being willing to let go often enough to see what happens and to see how you feel. You will always feel depressed or anxious when you are trying to control. The moment you let go of trying to control and open to the love, peace, and truth of Spirit, you will feel relaxed, safe, and peaceful. While we can't know the outcome of things, we can feel happy and peaceful in the moment. Even if you stay in your mind trying to figure things out, you still can't know the outcome of things. And you actually have a much better chance of having the outcome you want when you are co-creating with spirit, which will only happen when you are in your heart, in connection with spirit, and in the intent to learn about what is loving to you. When you really get that the belief that you can control outcomes is an illusion and just causes a lot of stress, you might be willing to let go to your higher power and see what happens. Doing this over time will lead to trust."

Daryl decided he was tired of the stress that he felt most of the time and tired of missing out on being in the present moment. He was ready to see what would happen if he practiced letting go and letting God.

Learn to connect with your spiritual guidance with Unlocking Your Inner Wisdom, A 30-Day at-home Experience with Dr. Margaret Paul.