In the words of Lao Tzu "If you realize that all things change, there is nothing you will

try to hold on to. If you are not afraid of dying, there is nothing you cannot achieve.”

Taoism teaches us that nothing in life is constant, permanent or forever.

When the caterpillar learns to get rid of how it is used to living,

it can transform into a butterfly. Just like the caterpillar, humans

are in a constant state of change, and so is everything around us. To keep life simple,

Taoism tells us to embrace change and impermanence by learning to let go.

Change and impermanence generally scares us. We spend most of our time trying to

avoid having to face change and we tend to want the things we enjoy to last as long as possible.

When life, then, inevitably does not work out the way we want it to,

we feel powerless. In order to ignore this feeling, we tend to focus only on what we think

we can control. This often results in clinging onto those things that we pretend to control,

like a job that's making you miserable or holding on to a fading relationship and so on.

We are incredibly attached to life and its temporary circumstances, to the point where

we do not even acknowledge the fact anything could be different in the future. This attachment

results in a lot more difficulty and pain in life, for when the inevitable change or even,

end of something does come, we are entirely unprepared to deal with it.

For example, Imagine you are in an unhealthy relationship. You fully realize that you do

not enjoy living and spending time together any longer - but you have been together for so long,

you barely know how to be alone. The possibility of having to find a new place to live and figuring

out how to manage by yourself is daunting enough for you to try and deny your feelings instead.

You look for any sign that love is still there and refuse to let go of a relationship that you

know in truth is already long over. Thus, when the time inevitably comes when your

partner ends up breaking up with you first, you will feel more unprepared than ever.

Because of the fact that we are afraid of change despite its inevitability,

we tend to deny it instead of embrace it. And when the change comes, it leaves us

feeling caught off guard, distressed and sometimes even hopeless. Not only that,

those negative feelings often distract us from any new opportunities that might arise.

But change needn't feel like a punishment. Instead, letting go and embracing the change

might be the answer to many of our problems and leave us freer than we could ever imagine. Every

change or end comes with a new beginning. Those who have not mastered the art of letting go,

tend to be preoccupied with the doors that have already closed, trying to pry them open again,

to walk back through them… and getting nowhere as a result. This refusal to let things go and move

on is like swimming against the current of a river instead of accepting where it will take us.

To let go, on the other hand is going with the flow, it means to be able to accept the

closing of doors and look forward to new, open ones. Like how after a relationship is over,

you can look forward to having more spare time, more individuality, a newfound focus on personal

life goals, and eventually a possibility of a new, better relationship. Letting go means to embrace

the freedom that changes and ends might bring you, and look for new opportunities whenever you can.

Letting go is the gateway to living our most harmonious and simplest life possible.

To live our life in the easiest, happiest and most free way we can,

we have to acknowledge that change and death are the only constants in life. We need to

avoid forming unhealthy attachments to our desires and learn how to appreciate what we

have in our present moment without clinging onto the idea that it is going to be there forever.