Brandon Hatton
Instagram: @brandonthatton
hattoninvestments.com
Letting go—that’s what I have come to realize lies at the bottom of the bucket. As an entrepreneur and investment advisor, I encounter several opportunities each day to “let go,” yet it still remains a challenge. If you consider yourself a high achiever, I would wager that letting go doesn’t come easy to you either. In fact, you are probably in your very position because you don’t let go easily. You were hired, promoted, and achieved remarkable feats precisely because you excel at being in control.
The Journey
Early in my life, for example, I learned through experience that things didn’t work out well when I let go. So, I became quite the expert at controlling things so closely that I believed I could (almost) control the outcome. The few times I did not control the outcome, I looked back to find what I believed to be the culprit—the solitary moment I loosened my reins. I then vowed to hold the reins even tighter next time. This approach has brought me much worldly success, but I am now beginning to realize the costs: sleepless nights and a general feeling of constant struggle. I found myself questioning if this skill still serves me.
Controlling Everything
Perhaps you can think of a time when controlling everything served you? Perhaps you know it is not serving you now but wonder how to let go? I believe deep down inside we all want to let go. Once the punchline for jokes, meditation has entered the corporate atmosphere as seamlessly as kombucha, gratitude practices, and yoga. I began my meditation and yoga journey almost a decade ago, and have made a lot of progress, but I still find it difficult to go the final mile.
Learning to Let Go
Over the last few years, I felt as if I was on the brink of letting go and yet still found myself face to face with what felt like a paper-thin wall blocking me from my birthright of joy. In essence, what I have been trying to do is to quiet the entire system and let my intuition or mind be heard. I have had glimpses of this quiet in the past and have found I am a better version of myself in and out of the workplace. So, in 2023 I decided I was going to go that final mile.
Panchakarma Springtime Cleanse
The preparation began in January when I voluntarily began to avoid coffee, alcohol, and meat. I also booked a 16-day Panchakarma springtime cleanse in Nepal. A pillar of Ayurvedic medicine, Panchakarma is part of the most comprehensive medical treatments spanning back thousands of years. Tucked in the hills of the Himalayas, I allowed for hours upon hours of massages, herbal treatments, and dietary considerations (let’s just say I ate a ton of dal) and learned a simple fact—I had a lot to let go of. It was not just control, but also memories, experiences, mistakes, and all the abuse I put on my body to find worldly success. Over the years of establishing my career in the financial industry, these memories, traumas, and regrets got stored in my body, and deep in the Himalayas, it was time to let go.
And let go I did. The doctors will tell you that my doshas are balanced—I believe them. Most of the treatments were quite passive—I just laid there and received the care. As my body quieted, my brain quieted, and the darndest thing happened in the quiet.
Learning to Accept Ourselves
I discovered the mystery of why it is so hard to let go. Ready for it? (I barely was, and I was on a massage table for hours a day.) It’s so hard to let go because we must accept ourselves for who we truly are. In other words, we must fully love ourselves. Through all the hardships, mistakes, and sleepless nights working long hours and juggling (sometimes bumbling) a family, we overlook the simple fact that we didn’t need to do any of that to be worthy of our love. We had it all along. Thus, in the cleansing, I was able to let go of all who I really wasn’t.
It was just as poet David Whyte reminds us: “…as if you deserved what you loved all along, as if just remembering the taste of that clear cool spring could lift up your face and set you free.”
The Ayurvedic practice began working. It opened my heart and gave my mind its voice back. I have a greater wisdom, guided by my mind, on what is controllable and where I just have to live in the unknown. This allows me to serve my team, my clients, and my stakeholders better, and dollars for dal, it will make us more fulfilled.
Now, imagine what it can do for you.
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Brandon founded the Center for Conscious Wealth in Miami to help families, business partners, and individuals have candid conversations about money—and heal the challenges holding them back from having these important discussions.
