How Do We Let Go?

In 30 Ways or Less

It’s one thing to know you should let go and to even want to let go and it’s another thing to know how and actually let go. In this post, you’ll find a summary of the three primary ways to let go and a list of 30 suggestions based in movement, play and Sedona releasing. 1.    Move it! Emotions live in the body (for more about this, check out Molecules of Emotion by Candace Pert). One of the most effective ways to let go of a feeling is to physically move it. Whether you dance with it, run through it or hike it up a mountain; getting conscious to what’s happening in your body will help you to let go. Suggestions 2-4, 11, 12, 18, 19, 22-24 and 27-30 all involve moving. 2.    Play with it! Many of our habitual patterns developed when we were little trying on adult behaviors. Playing into stuck-ness is a natural way to let go. “In play all definitions slither, dance, combine, break apart, and recombine.” (S. Nachmanovitch, Free Play) Because of its spontaneous nature, play takes us out of strong habitual patterns and brings us into the present moment, where we can make a new choice. Suggestions 5-7, 12, 13, 17, 21, 25 and 26 all stem from play. 3.    Release it! The Sedona Method is a phenomenal technique for letting go of unwanted thoughts and feelings. I have written many articles about and incorporating the method. The first two are the basics: 5 Ways to Release and The 4 Programs (that underlie thoughts, feelings and behaviors). This link takes you to 25 blogs that reference the Sedona Method. Suggestions 1, 2 and 16 are examples of Sedona Method releases.

30 Ways to Let Go of Unwanted Thoughts, Feelings, Sensations

1. Be with what is here is this moment. Allow the thoughts and sensations to do whatever they are doing.  Let go of wanting to change what is. 2. Just drop it. (pen analogy) 3. Use your arms to Give Up. (arms in air) 4. Shake or bounce it loose (thoughts, feelings and sensations).

5. Exaggerate the thought or feeling. 6. Get curious about the wisdom of holding on or engaging in a self-defeating habit. Journal about why you would hold on. 7. Give yourself permission to be lazy, over-indulgent, or whatever it is you’ve been resisting. 8. When reacting to others, catch the projection. What do you see in them that you can’t tolerate in yourself? 9. Expand the playing field (both in your body and in your attention) 10. Practice compassion, kindness and gentleness with yourself. 11. Change your posture (what is the posture that goes with I’m not good enough, I can’t do it, I feel sad, I can’t say no) 12. Allow your inner child to throw a tantrum. 13. Imagine what you would do to them if no one would ever know and there would be no consequences. 14. Forgive yourself. 15. Appreciate yourself. 16. Let go of trying to change others. The more you want them to change, the more they will resist. 17. Make up songs, poems and dances. 18. If you feel like things are moving too slowly, play with really slow movements and really fast movements in your own body. 19. If you’re feeling out of step, or out of rhythm, put on some music that you can easily move with. 20. Imagine the nagging critical voices sitting on the couch next to you. Ask them to leave the room. If they won’t, you get up and leave them there. 21. Turn the words into a song. For instance… 22. Embrace defeat. Do a defeated dance or movement. 23. Feel whatever you are feeling and put it into a movement. Then shift that movement an inch at a time. 24. Imagine stepping over it, around it, or under it. Whatever it is. 25. Put the scene up on a movie screen and sit in the audience. 26. Turn the offending character into Mickey Mouse (or Tasmanian Devil) 27. When you are trying to force a situation, find a conscious yield in the body. 28. When you feel like you are being pushed around, feel in your body what it’s like to push back. 29. If you keep stopping yourself from going after what you want, let yourself feel a strong pull (use your arms). 30. Afraid to ask for what you want? Find a conscious reach in the body.