Giving Up

“Time to cash in your chips

put your ideas and beliefs on the table.
See who has the bigger hand
you or the Mystery that pervades you.

Time to scrape the mind's shit
off your shoes
undo the laces
that hold your prison together
and dangle your toes into emptiness.

Once you've put everything
on the table
once all of your currency is gone
and your pockets are full of air
all you've got left to gamble with
is yourself.

Go ahead, climb up onto the velvet top
of the highest stakes table.
Place yourself as the bet.
Look God in the eyes
and finally
for once in your life
lose.” 

― Adyashanti

 This poem crossed my path recently and has really stuck around.  On one hand, it resonates with that sense of letting go and clearing out that I always feel at the end of a year, but it points to something so much deeper.

Giving up.

So often that phrase is seen as weak or small, but lately, I've noticed a real courage in defeat, in surrender, in giving up.  The strength of being willing to tread forth without hope of a win, or being right, or succeeding at anything.

Just walking, one foot in front of the other, curious, wide eyed and unsure about where your feet are walking.