The Thing in the Way Might Not Be Real

I’ve been sitting with a slim but potent book by Peter Russell called Letting Go of Nothing.
The title alone carries a paradox that’s central to much of the work I teach—and live.

We often assume that peace or clarity is something we need to chase.
If we just try harder, heal more, or figure out the missing piece, then we’ll be free.

But Russell offers a different view:

What if what’s in the way… isn’t even real?

So much of our suffering comes from what we’re unconsciously clutching—
not actual events, but our stories about them.
Not the emotion, but the resistance to feeling it.
Not the self, but our attachment to the role we believe we must play.

And often, when we look closely,
what we’re holding onto turns out to be… nothing at all.
Just a ghost of a thought. A patterned belief. A habit of control.

Letting go doesn’t mean giving up.
It doesn’t mean passivity.
It means softening the grip, loosening our identification,
and learning to rest in something deeper than the thinking mind.

This is the heart of the contemplative path—
not accumulating more, but shedding what no longer serves.
Not becoming something else, but relaxing into what’s always been here.

And you don’t need to go anywhere to find it.
Just pause.
Notice.
Breathe.

In the space that opens, you may discover:
There’s nothing in the way.
There never was.