When I recently heard the Oscar-nominated song “Let It Go” (from the popular new animated film Frozen, sung by a character voiced by Idina Menzel) I thought of the inspirational poem “Let Go” that I’ve posted off and on in my waiting room. Not only are the titles similar, but there’s also a little thematic overlap.
Or maybe that’s a stretch. No matter. Both pieces are important.
I. LET GO… (Author Unknown)
For the full poem, see this link.
The following are all the ways the author defines this concept. “To let go…”:
- …does not mean to stop caring; it means I can’t do it for someone else.
- …is not to cut myself off, It is the realization I can’t control another.
- …is not to enable, but to allow learning from natural consequences.
- …is to admit powerlessness, which means the outcome is not in my hands.
- …is not to try to change or to blame another, it’s to make the most of myself.
- …is not to care for, but to care about.
- …is not to fix, but to be supportive.
- …is not to judge, but to allow another to be a human being.
- …is not to be in the middle arranging all the outcomes but to allow others to affect their own destinies.
- …is not to be protective, it’s to permit another to face reality.
- …is not to deny, but to accept.
- …is not to nag, scold or argue, but instead to search out my own shortcomings and to correct them.
- …is not to adjust everything to my desires but to take each day as it comes, and to cherish myself in it.
- …is not to criticize and regulate anybody but try to become what I dream I can be.
- …is not to regret the past, but to grow and live for the future.
TO “LET GO” IS TO FEAR LESS, AND TO LOVE MORE.
II. “LET IT GO” from Frozen
Per UDiscoverMusic.com: “Elsa sings ‘Let It Go’ from her place of isolation. She’s frustrated at the way she’s been forced to hide what she is capable of and, over the course of the song, resolves to accept her powers rather than live in fear of them.”
Watch the movie clip and/or read the lyrics at Genius.com.
