I spent a summer in Maine where I started a 6am public meditation group at the beach. Consistently, very familiar thoughts would visit me: “Stay in bed,” “It’s too early,” “Just five more minutes,” and then, somehow, I would befriend and let go of grasping these early morning thoughts, get vertical, grab my meditation cushion and walk towards the rising sun. (Is there anything more glorious than the sky 30 minutes before sunrise on the Maine coast?)

One, two humans joined me to meditate on most days...then one day seven! The dogs pounced on the beach shortly after we started sitting. Izzy, a puppy, would leap into my meditation lap, testing my equanimity. Willow looked mean, but acted kindly (much like her owner, who threatened to throw rocks at Willow, but their barks were louder than their bites, and he’s the one who created community - he brought enough treats and a cooler filled with water for every dog on the beach).Then there were the half-sisters, Shelby and Berry, tug of warring with a frisbee or rope. Berry always won the playful battle, but one day, Berry got the frisbee and then offered it to Shelby. It was an amazing act of generosity - giving up what Berry most wanted.

So, that got me thinking about my work with money. I’ve been recommending practices that turn us into the skid, that are counterintuitive: Giving money when you have little or think you have little, wishing even more success to someone you envy, resisting the urge to do something when the markets are crashing, feeling the pain of a financial setback rather than acting impulsively, and finding your “Enough”, in this very moment, even when you think that’s impossible.

Well, maybe it’s time for us to build up the letting go muscle. We say to ourselves and others: just let go, just do it, stop worrying, be free. But how do we get there? I find myself, and many of us, holding on. We’re scared of the market crashing, our business or role at work changing for the worse, a health crisis that requires significant money, etc. I humbly admit that I often find myself tightening my grip on worry or the imperative to produce at work. I don’t know if that’s because of my recognition of mortality or that more people are dependent on me, or just that I want to make this world healthier.

In my three decades as a financial advisor, I’ve seen that letting go is the path to becoming more confident, relaxed, and more attuned to our inner selves. Ironically, our brains get the message that if we can let go, we must be ok, we must have enough.

It feels strange to be excited about letting go, but it’s what every spiritual tradition honors. A teacher once said to me, if you want to be a little bit free, let go a little, if you want to be completely free, let go completely.

What if each of us lets go of something we value? Here are some possibilities:

• Letting go of checking your portfolio too often or watching the stock market (monitoring the market does way more harm than good!).
• Letting go of buying the last “roll of toilet paper” in the store so someone else can have it.
• Letting go of the fear of having a courageous money conversation.
• Letting go of pursuing the thought: If I had more, I’d be more secure, or If I had  ______, I’d be content.
• Letting go of the fear of running out of money and doing something proactive instead, like scheduling a session with a professional advisor, or looking at your expenses and seeing how you might reduce them.
• Letting go of money by sharing it with a charity or a friend.
• Letting go of a possession or maybe even your most coveted possession (your frisbee). If you knew this would advance your growth as a human being and increase your financial security, would you do it?

We are training our brains just like we train our bodies at the gym. Without our kind attention, our brains, like our muscles, revert to their ordinary ways of grasping. That grasping is sourced by fear, and fear is corrosive for our finances and our wellbeing. Letting go is the antidote. Money, fortunately, is an easy tool to help us train. What if we can relax, let go, and realize that our needs will be met? When we are relaxed, we can more easily access the money wisdom ever present within ourselves. We will buy things that are truly aligned with our values, we will make less impulsive investment decisions, and we will stop overstriding and stressing at work. What’s your value at work if you’re less stressed?

I encourage you to have the courage to let go in this next moment. Let go because it’s better for your heart, let go because it’s better for your finances. This is an ongoing practice.  Stay with it and soon you will notice that you didn’t do the impulsive thing you used to do with your spending, earning, giving, or investing. Letting go can be the precursor to financial success and profound contentment.