All dog owners know the importance of the command, “drop it.” When well-trained, a dog will drop whatever it has in its mouth upon hearing those words.
Imagine if you could drop your upsets, stressful thoughts, your becoming judgemental as quickly as you do, and your self-righteousness all upon command!? What if you could consider these things as something you picked up, rather than something that’s a part of you? What if, just as swiftly as you picked it up, you could put it back down?
It sounds easy and simple, but do thoughts, feelings and emotions really work that way? Do we really have that kind of sovereignty over what we think and how we feel about something? For most of us, right now, the answer is no. Trying to address our emotions this way can actually feel discouraging because we think, “why can’t I just let this go?!”
To come back to the dog metaphor, you need to teach your dog the command and the linked behavior repeatedly before they get the connection. If you did not go through these repetitions, you and your dog would probably find the process very frustrating.
We also need to learn the “language” of our emotions or else we usually end up having our life and plans hijacked by them. One of the tools we offer to help strengthen your ability to “let go” is meditation. Just like the dog needed to be trained to learn the: “drop it” skill, so do we. Letting go doesn’t happen by brute force but rather via acceptance, patience, practice, and a willingness to feel what is there without judgment.
If you’re interested in developing a meditation practice of your own, reach out to us to discover the next opportunity to join our weekly meditation group.
To letting go
