Many people find this prayer, statement, or mantra to be extremely helpful as they face the difficult challenges presented by life. And somehow the world never seems to let us down with its consistent supply of challenges and obstacles. Although many people feel relief as they say this prayer, many others do not have the same experience. What happens and what makes for the difference? Some people can feel relief by reminding themselves not to worry about something, and yet this does not work for others. As humans we we all need to be loved and universally share a variety of emotions and experiences. We all must meet certain needs in order to be fulfilled and happy. Are ability to let go may at times be related to our ability to meet our personal needs. When certain needs are met, it may be easier for us to let go in certain areas or our life. Most likely the concept of "letting go", and "letting God", taps into our ability to trust, to trust ourselves, to trust others, and to trust in nature. It is likely that it tapes into our core belief that world is a safe place, and the belief that it will come through for us. This in part may be related to our childhood and the comfort and trust we developed in our formative years. For most of us it is not likely that we can force ourselves, or demand that we surrender to nature or the will of God, even when when we know it would be helpful to do this. It is more likely to be something that we learn to do with practice over time. And rather than forcing it is more of an allowing process. Tara Brach says that we can't will ourselves to "let go", but we can trick ourselves into believing that we "let go". From her perspective we need to bring awareness or "mindfulness", into the process of letting go. If someone loses someone they truly love, such as parent or spouse that they have been with for twenty years, they can tell themselves to "just let go", but this is not likely to work very well. The process of "letting go", will occur as they become mindful of their own grief and allow that "natural" process to occur. Unfortunately, and too often we create a layer of "expectation ", on top of our grief, or we do not allow are our grief to be within our conscious awareness. We shut down or contract our bodies, to numb ourselves and prevent ourselves from feeling. Some people might call this complicated grief. By repressing our experience or shaming ourselves we inhibit the natural grief process. This concept can apply to any emotion from which we want to free ourselves. Sometimes people can hold the grief in there bodies for decades. They may not feel the emotion, but they may know that they have become stuck in some way, and may very well experience somatic symptoms from a contracted body which has protected them from the painful experience of grief.