This is true both physically (e.g. when you are holding on to something with your hand) and psychologically (e.g. when you are holding on to something mentally, emotionally or in some other way ... it might be an unpleasant feeling or thought, some expectation, or a limiting belief).
Holding on is tiring, it is inflexible and pretty soon being so tensed up becomes unpleasant.
Letting go is relaxing. When you let go of something you stop using energy. You make a decision, you relax, and then you are no longer using energy. It is easy and pleasant and you now have the possibility of freely and flexibly using your resources as you please.
Letting go is allowing everything to be the way it is.
Allowing yourself to be the way you are.
Can you feel how your hand is contracting, how you are using energy? How your attention is preoccupied with the thing you are holding on to, and with holding on in itself? You could do other things while you are holding on, you could probably cook a meal if you really wanted to, but you would not be able to fully use both hands and neither would you be able to use 100 percent of your attention on cooking, because if you did, you would automatically let go. When you are holding on you are locked, limited.
Now, try letting go of the thing you are holding on to.
Having let go, please consider: What did you do to let go?Not very much, huh? What you did was actually just this: You decided to let go and then you relaxed.
That is what letting go is.
Now, that you have let go, can you feel how you no longer need to use energy? How you no longer need to pay attention to holding on? How you are now free to use you hand for something else?
That is what happens when you let go.
When you have let go you have actually reverted to your natural state of being. This is what it feels like to be you when you are not exerting yourself.
Everything you have just demonstrated to yourself is true,
both on the physical plane and on the psychological plane.
A pleasant feeling inside.
That is it. It is as simple as that. We want to feel good. We want to feel happy. Other words for the same thing might be: love, joy, inner peace or feeling whole/complete.
Letting go is the quickest and most direct way Home to a state of being where we feel whole, joyful, happy, loving and at peace. That is: A pleasant feeling inside.
This includes: thoughts, feelings, habits, needs, beliefs and more.
Do you have a bad habit? Maybe you eat too much candy and ice cream. You can let go of that habit.
Do you hold a grudge, or feel shame, about something that happened years ago? Maybe you were hurt, or you hurt somebody. You can let go of those feelings.
Are you afraid of heights, water or spiders? Or are you afraid of not having enough money, love or security? You can let go of that fear and that mistrust.
Do you hold a belief or faith which no longer serves you? Maybe you believe that there is something wrong with you or with the world. You can let go of those beliefs.
And so on ... Anything you have picked up, and which is now limiting you, you can let go of.
You can consider unpleasantness or discomfort a clear sign
that it is time to let go.
You stop being locked down. You stop using energy and attention. You relax. You revert to your natural state of being. You feel more whole, happy, loving and at peace because those feelings ARE your natural state of being.
Letting go is very, very attractive.
What happens is actually quite the opposite. When you let go of something you become free to choose. At any time you may choose the thing you were holding on to.
Example: Letting Go of a Grudge Let
us say that you were holding on to an old grudge. Because of
this grudge, you had a feeling of hating another person. Even
if you let go of your grudge and stop hating the other person,
you can still start hating the other person again any time you
choose. But you no longer HAVE to hate the other person. You
have lost nothing, but gained your freedom.
(Absolute reality is the very attractive state of mind where you end up when you let completely go of something. I will tell you more about that another time).
All of the above things you can NOT let go of. But on the other hand they do not limit you in any way. And also, there is no reason to let them go, for they give you a very pleasant feeling inside.
So, to put it differently: You can let go of anything that limits you. That which does not limit you, you cannot let go of.
Or, to put it in a further different way ...
So feel free to try and let go of ANYTHING.
You cannot go wrong.
This is why I recommend that you start with small, not-so-important stuff.
Maybe you experience an unpleasant thought which is not very important to you. Then you can practice your letting go skills by letting go of this thought.
When you have become reasonably adept at letting go of not-so-important thoughts, you move on to not-so-important feelings.
After that, move on to more important thoughts and feelings.
Letting go of thoughts and feelings should keep you occupied for quite some time.
Later
on, you might want to try your hand at letting go of things
like habits (behavioural patterns of action) and needs. But
that is not usually recommended for beginners.
When you get real adept at letting go, you can start letting go of beliefs and (parts of) your relative identity. But this is the really advanced stuff. For now, I recommend that you stick with learning to letting go of thoughts and feelings/emotions.
Does that seem easier said than done? Probably.
So what I am going to do is give you an intro to - plus a
simple and ultra short version of - my own technique the Let
Go Method. Please find it in the self improvement article Let
Go Let God - the Let Go Method by Soren Lauritzen.
It is 75 easy to read pages, in a PDF ebook for download - and you can get it immediately after you have paid. It costs $19. You can read more about it by following the above links, or, if you trust my experience, knowhow and ability with words, you can buy this excellent self help ebook right here:
If you are one of these good folks, if you want to know if you can let go of your soul in exchange for worldly goods, plus you'd like to read something about the anatomy of the soul, your soul identity, whether someone else can steal your soul or you can lose your soul in other ways and the nature of soul power, then you might consider reading Sell Your Soul? Soul Power and How to Sell Your Soul - or Not.
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