Letting Go I

In our lives, we often get “stuck” in a pattern of thoughts or feelings that won’t seem to go away. We want (sometimes desperately) to make this difficult feeling or persistent thought go away and allow our mind to get back to “normal.”

And what would normal be… ? That would be our usual stream of thoughts, sensations, and emotions – which we also have very little control over.

I am encouraging you to give yourself permission to let go!

“Let go of what?” you say.

Let’s start with letting go of the need to have a different experience in this moment.
What is your experience in this moment? If we feel the intense need or desire to change it, or wish we were having a different experience, we only increase our suffering in the present.

“So, how do we just let go?” you say.

First, we begin by bringing mindful awareness to whatever our experience is in this moment. We notice that we can hold whatever we experience in a larger awareness and let whatever we are experiencing have space it needs to relax in that larger awareness.

Then, we let go of the want and need to be having a different experience. We accept our experience as it is and acknowledge what wisdom is available in what is arising now.

Lastly, we can recall that we are always already held in the love and care of our benefactors. We can rest in that field of care and bring a compassionate presence into our current experience.

So, how is it helpful to let go of wanting a different experience? By accepting our experiences with compassionate presence, we allow the experiences to arise and dissolve in their own way and in their own time. By not clinging to the experience or pushing it away, we reduce the tendency of engagement with the experience to bring us into suffering.

What other things can we Let Go of in our day-to-day experience?

Experiment with Letting Go of:

• Needing to be Right (This is the source of much of our suffering. Try replacing the need to be “right” with the desire to be “kind.”)
• Needing to Work Harder (You may already be doing as much as you can in this moment. Learn to trust your innate wisdom and know when to say “No.”)
• Needing to be Perfect (How many of us have the feeling that if we aren’t perfect, then we are not good enough and people won’t like us? What if we were able to love ourselves and accept ourselves just as we are?)
• Needing to be Good (As Al Franken used to say as Stewart Smiley on SNL, “You’re good enough. You’re smart enough. And, gosh darn it, people like you!”)
• Needing to be Worthy (Your self-worth is not earned. It is an inherent quality of your true nature. We just need to discover what is already there: Our Inherent Worth and Dignity.)

Here endeth the short teaching on Letting Go in the moment. However, there is one thing you should never let go of. That would be your spiritual practice with the intention to be of benefit to others in this life.