A Meditation to Help You Let Go and Accept Change

Explore a variation of this compassionate practice to create more ease and openness as life unfolds moment by moment.

One of the hardest parts of life for me, and I think for everyone I know, is that it’s always changing—and sometimes in unpleasant, unexpected, and unplanned ways. And when changes like these happen, things we don’t want to happen—someone we love dies or we have a breakup or divorce, maybe an injury or illness in ourselves or others, or even being fired—then we struggle not only with the pain of the loss but also with its unpredictability. One reason for this anxiety is that we have little control.

One of the hardest parts of life for me, and I think for everyone I know, is that it’s always changing—and sometimes in unpleasant, unexpected, and unplanned ways.

Everything is eternal. It is always changing, coming together and falling apart. And not being able to make things go our way is frustrating. But paradoxically, when we can accept that not everything is up to us, and we stop trying to control what we can’t change or predict what we can’t predict, we can feel much more relaxed and more open to the moment-to-moment unfolding of our lives. By embracing change, we can bring kindness into our experience, even if it can be painful and sad at times, and we can feel more at peace with life’s changes.

Key Summary

Advantages of Acceptance:

• Reduces suffering caused by resistance to inevitable change.
• Builds resilience to navigate life transitions.
• Builds psychological resilience.
• Creates space for new possibilities to emerge.

Key Principles:

• Difference Between Acceptance and Resignation
• Working with volatility as a natural law
• Be open to uncertainty
• Practicing letting go as an active, compassionate choice

Application: Especially helpful when dealing with major life changes, loss, relationship changes, and circumstances beyond our control.

Guided Meditation: Letting Go and Accepting Change.

1. First, find a place where you can just sit and be quiet. Turn off your devices, close your eyes, and just take a few breaths. Look at your feet, your seat, your stomach. Bringing your attention to your forehead, your cheeks, your jaw, allowing the sound to enter your ears, the taste entering your mouth.
2. Place your hands on your stomach. Just notice how your belly feels like it expands when you breathe in and how it contracts when you breathe out.
3. Think of someone you know who is struggling right now. You can imagine that they are here with you, visualize them, or just feel their presence. If you like, place your hand over your heart and silently offer them this sentence: May you find comfort in life’s changes. May you be at peace with life’s changes. May you be at peace with life’s changes. Keep repeating it silently, as if you are giving a gift to this struggling being.
4. Notice: Where is your attention? If you’ve lost touch with this struggling being, reconnect, start over. May you be at peace with life’s changes.
5. Let go of this connection with this other being. Look at your feet, feel your seat, relax your shoulder blades, bring your attention to your breath, to the light entering through your eyelids.
6. Next, place your hand on your heart and connect with yourself. You can imagine that you are looking in a mirror, visualize yourself as a child, or simply connect with your beautiful presence. Give yourself the same wisdom: Life changes bring me comfort. And continue here for just a minute or two, giving yourself this compassion and wisdom.
7. See where your focus is. If you’ve lost touch with yourself, come back by gently reconnecting. I am at peace with the changes in life. For just one minute, give yourself this kindness. I am at peace with the changes in life.
8. Keep this relationship with you And now add to that first being and maybe everyone you know and love. May we be at peace with the changes in life. May we be at peace with the changes in life.
9. Expand the sentence to include all creatures. All living things in this ecosystem we call Earth. We all struggle with change, with loss, with instability. Giving all of us, including yourself, your wisdom and your kindness and your good heart. May we all be at peace with life’s changes. May all be comforted by the changes in life.
10. End your meditation when you are ready. You can close your practice by giving thanks for your good intentions, for your beautiful heart, for these joyful efforts.

Remember that you can practice this way whenever you need to. Stop, feel your feet, put your hand on your heart, and say to yourself, I am at peace with the changes in life. If you’re struggling with an unexpected loss, be sure to be patient and kind with yourself, and check in with your good heart as often as possible.