The Art and Discipline of 'Letting Go'

We’ve all heard the phrase, ‘Let go and let God.’ Can you? Are you sure? Do we have to really work on recognizing and releasing our attachments to outcome? Usually we do; working through the frustrations of self-criticism along the way.

But, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Oftentimes, we find ourselves in a vicious vortex of self-destructive patterns. That same vortex can just as quickly release us when we know how to let go of our critical subjective nature, acknowledge the feeling, allow the feeling without denial, choose to release it, observe its release and accept a better feeling.

Sounds so simple in theory yet again, doesn’t it?

What if it really is?

This practice is a relatively simple yet profound tool for transformation and transcendence. You might already realize the advantages. What you will be doing is synergizing your breath with your feelings, releasing the emotional blocks or bottlenecks to your true freedom and flow.

Depending on what you uncover in your emotional patterning, it can work quickly or take some time. The process, once perfected, can be used anywhere at any time. The results are experienced in many ways as they offer deeper understanding of your own emotions and feeling patterns.

We can either respond or react to any situation, depending on our perspective. By responding, we pause and reflect before we act. The observer within allows us to step away from the emotional attachment to outcome, yet helps us define those attachments because we have become aware of them now.

Once aware, we can choose how to respond rather than react out of some unconscious pattern of old behavior. This is especially helpful when dealing with races from other planets that have a higher frequency than most humans.

Personal growth does not have to be painful. Why would we want to continue to experience pain, then? We can observe and not be engaged by the disturbance. So recognizing that the observer is a really powerful place, how do we find it?

The focus of this exercise is to move beyond disturbance in your emotional patterns, the blocks or resistance to change or growth, and become the observer of your process. Emotional attachments cause blockages in energy flow in the circuitry.

Sometimes we have enough awareness to be able to ask why we reacted to a situation in such an inappropriate or incongruous way. That question is an opportunity to explore the deeper causes of our reaction. The following exercise is designed to allow you to garner greater awareness and control of your responses to stimuli. When you can ‘watch’ then you can respond more appropriately on the fly.

Here's an Exercise:

Find a place where you can completely relax and be uninterrupted for at least a half hour. Create an environment you feel totally protected and supported in (crystals, incense, calming music, etc.) Then, when you are ready…

• Recall a situation where you reacted emotionally out of control.
• Remember the feeling/action/words that triggered the reaction.
• Feel the feeling as deeply as if it had just happened again. Embrace the feeling as though it was totally present right now. Notice the sense of it in your body and hold onto it as though it was the most precious thing in the world.
• Now, take a deep breath and, just let it go. On the exhale, feel yourself relax and release it fully, or as much as possible. It may only feel slightly different. That’s okay. It is still different now.
• Breathe deep, again and breathe again. Feel the tension leave your body as it is replaced by a sense of freedom just from breathing.
• Notice that you feel better, less stressed and less tense.

If you don’t know how to release the feeling, just imagine you are free of the disturbance it has caused… completely… like it never happened and you feel completely loved and surrounded by a sense of safety and security. Feel like nothing can harm you, period; like you are in the arms of your parent, protector or God.

That is the process. It is that simple. You probably had forgotten about the feeling, right? Still, if it came up as you focused then it has been there, deep in your subconscious, and affecting your life without your awareness. There could be a bit of residual emotion still. That, too, can disappear with practice. Imagine if you took conscious breaths on a regular basis.

Sometimes past lives, whether you believe in them or not, can affect your current life stream. Your karma is just as easily worked out by and through this process as it is called – forgiveness. We think about forgiveness, but it is a process of releasing.

Most world religions include teachings on the nature of forgiveness, and many of these teachings provide an underlying basis for many varying modern day traditions and practices of forgiveness. Some religious doctrines or philosophies place greater emphasis on the need for humans to find some sort of divine forgiveness for their own shortcomings. Others place greater emphasis on the need for humans to practice forgiveness of one another, yet others make little or no distinction between human and divine forgiveness.

There is a feeling beyond forgiveness once one has processed their bottlenecks. It is a feeling of being imperturbable, as Lester Levinson put it in developing the Sedona Method. It is where one becomes completely impervious to inner and outer emotional tugs.

Don Juan, who was Carlos Castaneda’s guide, taught of ‘sealing the egg’ which required severing all psychic cords to others. The ‘egg’ is akin to one’s aura, the luminous egg that surrounds each or us like a cocoon. If you'd like to know more about the simple practices for transformation, pick up a copy of Transformational Life Coaching: A Seminal View - The 2 Questions.

About Zen: Principal and owner of Be The Dream (since 1988), specializing in partnering facilitation, project management, organizational development, strategic planning consulting, customer service and motivational speaking. His vocational experience spans aerospace, education, health foods, home improvements, manufacturing, radio, social services, television and video production. Zen is one of those characters who has kept moving, creating and facilitating projects including a plethora of passions. Be The Dream LLC