Sovereign #Hacks - The Art of Letting Go
hack
/hak/
noun (informal)
―a skilful means of achieving complex outcomes quickly and easily
The Art of Letting Go
Much of our daily stress is created by the mind - and in particular by a counterproductive tendency to dwell on past experiences.
Using the mind’s astonishing creative potential we recreate the past in the present and subject ourselves to unnecessary pain - regret, resentment, sorrow and depression.
Also, to protect ourselves from being hurt in the future, we cut ourselves off from others - and from different aspects of ourself.
Rather than working constructively with our own experience, we disavow it, suppress it, and repress it - setting up patterns of emotional reactivity.
These experiences hijack our inbuilt health and natural ease, and shut down our creative spark and inner mojo in the process. Unless we learn to let go of these reactive patterns, real and lasting transformation is impossible.
We know we need to let go. But why is it so hard to do?
Here is a three-step Sovereign #Hack designed to unlock the art of letting go.
Step #1: Let it Arise
So much of our reactivity is really just pain avoidance. But we tend to run from pain into addictive behaviours without ever finding resolution.
What would happen then, if we strategically welcomed the discomfort instead?
Try this now. Allow the discomfort to arise. Take three slow, deep breaths through the nose. Notice a subtle shift to a more relaxed state. Take a moment to experience this calm.
Step #2: Let it Be
Practically speaking, there are only ever three things you’re aware of - physical sensations, emotions, and accompanying mental narratives.
Having allowed the discomfort to arise, now explore how it manifests across these three different aspects of experience.
How does it feel in the body? What are those feelings saying to you emotionally? What mental story is being enacted?
Having recognized these, just allow them to be there, and let go of any resistance or rejection.
Take three slow, deep breaths through the nose. Notice a subtle shift to a more relaxed state. Take a moment to experience this calm.
Step #3: Let it Go
Having strategically welcomed the feelings, and recognized their different physical, emotional and mental components, the overall experience shifts into something far more manageable.
Feelings are just feelings. Emotions are just emotions. Narratives are just narratives. And you know what? As individual elements I can handle them. They can be there just fine. It’s ok.
Our trifold frame of reference is now much bigger than the discomfort. Because our body and mind have relaxed, those reactive impulses subside. There’s no need to flee into addictions, repression or suppression.
Take three slow, deep breaths through the nose. Notice a subtle shift to a more relaxed state. Take a moment to experience this calm.
Final thoughts
Letting go is hard because we tense up and fight against the experience.
The beauty of following this skilful three-step Sovereign #Hack, is that by strategically welcoming the feelings - by letting them arise and letting them be - the subsequent experience of letting go actually happens all by itself.
To learn more, join me once a week for Sovereign Tea Time. For more information on how to sign up, click on the button below.