The process of letting go is the same process as death, except that you live on.

If you’ve had the experience of being around someone in the hours of them approaching physical death, you know their focus is not on hanging on - it’s on letting go. The things that they clung to hours, days, or years ago are no longer important. All their worries, concerns, fears and woes disappear as though they never existed. They truly let go of everything before going on.

 

We’ve all been issued an instruction to “let go” of something by a concerned someone. What they did was offer us a directive without a strategy to carry it out.

 

The strategy is to let go of everything, which includes your something.

 

Your something is glued to everything else you are holding on to. It’s not going to separate from the pack. Your isolated something is an integral part of everything, and as they say, “There’s strength in numbers.”

 

Below is an exercise for letting go. I invite you to, as the British say, “Give it a go.”

 

Take about 10 minutes and engage your imagination. Imagine yourself letting go of a list of things that are “important” to you. Also imagine letting go of the annoying things that cling. In this mental movie, let go of all that you know. Let go of what you’re “good” at. Let go of any position that you have on any issue. Let go of your role, your responsibilities and your deadlines. Let go of your family and friends and favorite pet. Remember, this is your imagination; you can do anything you want in there. Let go of your enemies, your slights and things that go bump in the night. Let go of your possessions - all of them, including the clothes on your back. Continue to let go until you can’t imagine one more thing to let go of. If you run into any resistance while doing this exercise, let go of that too.

 

This is a powerful meditation that will leave you feeling lighter - unburdened by the effort you’ve been expending by holding on. This is an exercise you can do anytime, anywhere when you have 10 minutes to spare.

 

The exercise gets you into the practice of letting go. When you include everything, your something is included as well.

 

Whatever “something” that has a hold of you is bundled with “everything” with powerful glue. When you let go of it all, you’re not throwing out the baby with the bath water, you’re letting go of the entire concept of holding on, which is really the illusion of control by another name.

 

When you realize you are in control of nothing, it’s easier to let go of everything.

 

Lighten your load and let go of everything. It’s a mental cleaning you can do year-round, not just in spring. And don’t be too surprised when you find that your something no longer clings.

 

All the best,