Last summer, I lost a silver charm bracelet while walking to my suite at the Standart Hotel in Moscow. This taught me about the philosophy of letting go and letting good.

I’d bought this bracelet at a jewellery store along Tverskaya Street to remind me of all the happy times in this city that strangely feels like home. However the day before I left, the bracelet got unhinged as I was walking through the hotel corridor and some of the charms fell off.

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING YOU’VE LOST

The corridor of The Standart Hotel, Russia’s first design hotel, was spotless and empty. However, I lost four charms here and I couldn’t understand how. Then it occurred to me that perhaps the lady at the jewellery store had not counted the charms properly, as I’d bought something like 25 charms and they were all so small.

Andre, the head concierge at The Standart Hotel, which was my home for 10 days in Moscow that June, offered to walk with me to the store to sort it out. This being Russia, the nice lady at the store accommodated us and reviewed the papers, but everything checked out.

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ABOUT A CHARM BRACELET IN MOSCOW

Of course I was distressed. Losing some of those charms felt like losing some of my memories of Moscow. In fact, it felt like I was losing Moscow itself. And no one really wants to lose anything, right?

“You know, if something is lost, you should just let it go. There is no use keeping sadness or bad feelings over your loss inside you.”

This was when Andre said to me, as we were walking back to the hotel: “You know, if something is lost, you should just let it go. There is no use keeping sadness or bad feelings over your loss inside you.”

He continued: “These feelings will just go deeper and deeper inside, and the sad feelings will just keep adding up. One day you will find that everything is so heavy because you have not been able to let your feelings go.”

ABOUT LETTING GO AND LETTING GOOD

Isn’t this so true? We must learn how to let sadness go and we must learn to forgive situations, people and even ourselves; or our feelings will just eat us up inside.

“Sometimes, when you let something go, this is the time it may come back to you.”

In the same way, we must let go of things or people we have lost or who no longer belong in our lives and wish them well. This way, none of the negativity associated with them remains inside us.

Then he added: “Besides, sometimes, when you let something go, this is the time it may come back to you.”

HOW TO FIND WHAT YOU HAVE LOST

So, I followed his advice and went back to my suite to pack up my bags. My car was coming in a few hours to take me to the airport for my Japan Airlines flight from Moscow back to Tokyo. Finally, when my suitcases were packed and everything was done, and I was walking out — what do you know?

Right there, in the middle of my suite, right in my path as if they had been waiting for me all along, were the four trinkets I’d been searching for in vain.

LIFE LESSONS ABOUT LETTING GO

I was alone in the suite at the Standart Hotel in Moscow then and tears welled up in my eyes. I swear I immediately felt the Life Lessons there, about letting go and letting good.

“Letting go and letting good” of things, situations, memories — and even of people — you have lost or who have hurt you is difficult. But if you are able to do this, you will feel lighter. The memories may still be there but the heaviness will not remain inside of you.

And, yes, sometimes it is precisely when we decide to let go that some things, and some people, find their way back to us again.

Read more articles about traveling to Moscow in Travelife Magazine.

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