The Art of Letting Go

I just finished reading a great book. “Letting Go…the pathway of surrender.” By David R. Hawkins. I loved it and gave out a few copies. For the most part I have been practicing surrendering what I can’t control for many years. I also have learned to be thankful for everything that has ever happened. Not just the good stuff, but the very bad as well. Why? Because you wouldn’t be who you are or where you are this very moment if none of that happened to you. And let’s clarify…it didn’t happen to you. All actions have consequences. Sometimes random acts happen, I know, but often a life gone awry has a lot to do with others actions but also your own. It’s what you do with that, that determines your outcome.

Everyone knows stress has damaging effects. Besides affecting your mood and sometimes even appearance, it can increase your chances of heart disease and other serious health problems. To cope, most experts give the same advice you have already heard before: eat better, get more sleep, exercise and try to calm down.

Let’s think about something different. An alternate idea: let go and surrender…. What?

Letting Go…Whether your stress springs from your career, relationships, deadlines, or illness, you can learn to let go to find relief.

Career stress: Your co-worker always gets better assignments and better reviews. It eats at you To surrender, stop comparing yourself to your colleague. Let that stress go. Look at the individual with fresh eyes. Ask yourself what you admire about your co-worker and what you might learn from him or her. Borrow those strategies, and focus on creating your own success.

Relationship stress: You try not to argue with your partner, but you do. Lately, you're blowing up often, and you can feel your fuse becoming shorter. To surrender, give up control over having the last word. To lengthen that fuse and calm your stress hormones down, meditate for 3 minutes. Twice a day, find a quiet place to sit, close your eyes, rest your palm above your heart, breathe, and imagine it opening up with a white light. Throw away unwelcome thoughts. Notice how and what you feel. Then let it go. What will be, will be.

Illness stress: Whether your health problem is a nagging cold or a more serious ailment, your first inclination may be to talk about how stressed it's making you feel. No one wants to feel sick. If you are feeling lousy from being sick or from fear of getting ill, you probably want to share that with people. If you repeat the story though over and over again, it becomes a tape that runs over and over in your mind — potentially leading to increased stress. So, tell who you must and then, give up the old script that’s tells of you feeling sick, and say, "I am looking forward to feeling better."

Constantly Stressed?

Surrendering, or letting go, is the key when coping with chronic stress. By doing so, you reduce your stress hormones of adrenaline and cortisol, and you help your body be as well as it possibly can be. The series of actions is a natural form of stress relief. People typically think surrendering won't work. They think it's a sign of weakness or failure. In reality, it's an active approach to coping with stress. But you have to know when to let go and give up control, as well as what's involved in the surrender process.