7 WAYS TO LET GO

1.Forget Hope

In Learning from the Heart by Daniel Gottlieb, Gottlieb writes, “Hope is always about the future. And it isn’t always good news. Sometimes hope can imprison us with belief or expectation that something will happen in the future to change our lives. Similarly hopelessness isn’t always about despair. Hopelessness can bring us right into this very moment and answer all of life’s most difficult questions. Who am I, where am I, what does this mean, and what now.” This is letting go--when we let go of how we hope things to be and become content with how they really are. This is the place where we can delve deep into the present moment and start to answer all of life’s questions with more clarity and composure.

2. Slow Down

When we are always running at a frantic pace from one commitment to another we never get the chance to simply sit with our feelings. When you don’t take the time to see how these feelings affect you and more importantly where they stem from, you never get to truly come to terms with those mistakes or regrets and they can tap away forever, little by little tearing your present moments away.

3. Forget the past

Thinking about past mistakes can put a very heavy burden on anyone. When you live a life always thinking about past regrets you continually miss out on what’s in front of you, and then only add to the list of mistakes and regrets. Even thinking about the past for a moment has the ability to significantly impact your motivation, inspiration and positivity and the more you let your mind slip back into the yesterdays, the more you allow yourself to fall prey each and every day.

4. Stop Clinging

5. Give yourself the time and space

When we finally give ourselves the time to stop and reflect we can see all of our habits more clearly. Does my mind always return to the same thought patterns? Why am I thinking about how angry I am at my sister when I am making my morning smoothie, and she isn't even here? Giving yourself time to relax and quiet the mind will teach you the areas in which you need to practice letting go.

6. Practice mindfulness

One of the best things you can do when you are trying to relax and give yourself some peace and quiet? Practice the tools of mindfulness. Mindfulness practices teach us how o control our thoughts, instead of letting them control us. When we let our minds wander freely all day we can become overwhelmed with worries about work, money and relationships. The more we worry about these things the more we let worry, fear and emotions invade our lives. Mindfulness helps end this cycle for good.

7. Remember life is impermanent

We need to remind ourselves that we've got more than enough right here and now. We need to be aware that life is impermanent and inconstant and this moment will quickly end. Sitting stuck in some trivial thing from the past will only cause more suffering. We sit around worried about insignificant matters when we are surrounded by beauty each and every day. Next time you are sitting around worrying about various factors in your life-- take a few deep breaths, look around you, and find 3 beautiful things in your line of vision. These 3 beautiful things won't be around forever-you won't be around forever- so just enjoy it while you can.

Ev Sutter