“I can’t seem to let it go.” I bet at one time or another you’ve made that statement or said something similar. In fact, most of us struggle to let go—even of the things, people, or situations that don’t serve us.
It’s common to feel as if it’s challenging to let go of relationships, old stories, past hurts and grievances, disliked jobs, things you don’t want or need any longer, situations that don’t serve you, or negative thoughts, limiting beliefs, and bad habits. But what if you didn’t have to struggle to let things go? What if it was easy?
Drop the Hot Pan
Imagine yourself holding a hot pan with your bare hand. You wouldn’t hesitate, struggle, or spend time trying to figure out how to let it go. Instead, you’d just drop it.
Without even thinking about what to do or how to do it, you’d let go in a second. Your subconscious drive for self-preservation would move you to action. Your hand would open and the pan fall to the floor before you could form the thought, “That hurts!” or say, “Ouch!”
What if you could do the same with the relationships, situations, and conditions that don’t serve you? In fact, you can allow your self-preservation mechanism to open your hand and drop those things, too.
Program Yourself to Let Go
You don’t have to wait for a situation, relationship, or condition to get so hot you can’t help but let go. Instead, you can program your subconscious mind to do just that.
Visualize that whatever you want to let go of is red hot. Then, in your mind, drop it. Do this repeatedly, reprogramming your subconscious mind, so it will prompt you to let go when you encounter this person, thing, or situation in real life.
Hypnosis is a powerful tool for reprogramming the mind. Learn self-hypnosis or ask a hypnotherapist to help you. While in the hypnotic state, again, imagine yourself dropping whatever you want to drop quickly and effortlessly.
Hopefully, you will find it easy to stop holding onto whatever you no longer want in your life. But, if it doesn’t happen instinctually, imagine the relationship, condition, or situation as dangerously hot. See and experience what you visualized—red hot and skin searing.
Then, you will find yourself able to drop it as an act of self-preservation—and an act of self-love. After all, if you really loved yourself, you wouldn’t allow yourself to hold onto a hot pan, would you?
Give it Over to a Higher Power
If you are still struggling to let go of these unwanted things, turn them over to a Higher Power. That’s right… Give them to God, Source, Creator, the Universe, and trust that this Higher Power will show you how to let them go…or remove them from your life. For that to happen, though, you have to release the unwanted thing to Creator.
There’s an oft-told story about a little boy with a broken toy. He wants it fixed and asks God to take on this task. Yet, he won’t let go of the toy. God can’t fix it for him unless he releases the toy and control.
The little boy needs to open his hand. He’s too afraid to do that but still expects God to fix it.
If you want Creator to fix what’s broken in your life—or, in this case, help you let it go—“let go and let God.” You don’t have to be religious to apply this advice.
Stop trying to figure it out yourself. Overthinking—and over-worrying—are broken strategies. (Remember, you wouldn’t spend time trying to figure out how to drop the hot pan.)
Turn this challenge over to a Higher Power in prayer or meditation or by setting an intention. Then have faith that “it is done.”
Do You Really Want to Let Go?
If you still can’t let go, you may not want to—even though you say you do. In most cases, not taking a different action indicates that, on some level, we don’t have the desire to do so.
When the pan is in your hand and you feel it burning your skin, you are 100% willing and ready to open the hand and let it drop. However, the rest of the time, when it’s just warm to the touch, you aren’t.
Why…when you continually claim to want to let go? Because you are afraid. You are comfortable. You are complacent. You’d rather hold on than release it.
Increase Your Willingness to Let Go
To increase your level of willingness, consider the damage caused by continuing to hold on rather than letting go. The more clarity you have around how holding onto something hurts you, the more willingly you let it go.
You can increase your willingness by answering powerful questions like:
- What’s the result of continuing to hang on?
- What do you gain if you don’t let go?
- What do you gain if you do let go?
- What do you lose if you don’t let go?
- What do you lose if you do let go?
- If you continue to hold on tightly, where will you be in six months or a year?
- If you let go, what becomes possible in six months or a year?
I bet you have more to gain by letting go than by hanging on, right? Couple that knowledge with the fact that continuing to hold on hurts, and you will let go faster than you thought possible.
A Symbolic Release
Still looking for a way to let something go? Take symbolic action.
Imagine whatever you want to release existing inside a balloon. Visualizing letting go of the balloon’s string and watching it float up into the sky. See it getting higher and higher…until it disappears. Affirm that it is now gone or will be gone soon.
You might even get a helium balloon. Attach a note that describes what you are releasing to the string or write it on the balloon itself. Then release it.
Or list the things you want to release on a piece of paper. Then, burn them in a release ceremony. This practice follows closely with the idea of letting go and letting God. The smoke rises toward a Higher Power that you trust to handle it from that point forward.
In the end, you have to want to let go more than you want to hold on. Then, letting go will be easy.
What do you want and need to let go of, and are you willing to let go of it now? Tell me in a comment below. And please share this post with someone you feel will benefit from its message.
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