This morning in my meditation I requested guidance as to what to write about today. I have been reading and taking in so much lately that I was seeking a deeper sense as to what ideas to share. The topic seemed clear when it was intuitively presented to me and is aligned with my Expanding Capacities series. I will write about creating more freedom within by releasing, letting go and forgiving.
Freedom is a very important aspect of living life to its fullest, yet we often inhibit are freedom more than anyone else. What holds us back or keeps us limited is often the past. This past baggage includes our thoughts, our body tensions and holding patterns and our closed down heart. The following are a few ways to release the self-containment of mind, body and emotions and to open to expressing more fully what is possible within:
Release – let’s start with release because it is about our body stuck in holding patterns of the past. When we don’t express how we feel about something we tend to stuff it. Those unexpressed feelings become tension in the body. After a lifetime of holding stuff in we get stiff and rigid. This rigidity means the flow of life force through us is disrupted and that can have a number of negative affects on our well-being.
Release can happen in a number of ways. It can be a body scanning process of noticing where we are holding and breathing into and releasing the restrictions/tension. It can also be through movement like dance, tai chi, yoga, and other forms of active expression that tend to release and enliven the body. Release can come from body-oriented therapies like craniosacral, massage, acupuncture, reiki, therapeutic touch and more. The important thing is to be aware of our body and keep loose and relaxed.
Letting go – this is different than the release because it focuses more on the level of thinking. We are imprisoned by our thoughts more than any other way. If our self-talk is stuck on replay, we often beat ourselves up or obsess about past events and continually feel lousy. What happened, even the last moment, is over unless we bring it up again by our thinking. Everything that hurt us, angered us, disappointed us etc. is over and we need to let it go.
Letting go happens best by becoming mindful or our thoughts and self-talk. In mindfulness we don’t judge our thinking, we just change it if it isn’t working for us. Stop all rewinds of the negative past. Stop beating ourselves up by out own inner dialogue. Letting go means releasing the past events and the thoughts about them so that we are free to expand in the possibilities of the now.
Forgiving – forgiveness is a healing for ourselves. We heal when we release ourselves from the past. This healing takes place by opening the heart. Old past wounds often cause us to close down and constrict the heart. If the past has closed our heart down then we are unavailable to giving and receiving love and compassion. Forgiveness is often needed towards ourselves as well as others.
Forgiving allows us to become fully present as we leave the past baggage behind. Forgiveness can be done by doing a inventory of past resentments and old hurts and then taking action to forgive either directly those who have “wronged” us or through a indirect process like letter writing (most likely we don’t send the letters), journaling, maybe a note we burn in the fireplace, a prayful release or some other ritual of forgiveness. The important part is that we free ourselves from the past so our heart can be fully open again.
I hope you find this helpful. Most of us have stuff inside we need to release and doing so opens us up to living in more expanded ways.
Peace Letter #96
Dear President Obama,
Thank you for giving the oil industry a piece of you mind about their lame and blame game. This is a huge disaster and unfortunately like many heartless corporations they are unwilling to act like responsible citizens. Many of us are very tired of these corporations bathing in barrels of money yet not caring in the least about the damage they leave nor about future generations. Heartlessness in the name of greed is causing this nation to be destroyed and it seems little is being done except and occasional slap on a hand. I am deeply saddened by so little accountability of these heartless and morally bankrupt corporations. Isn’t it time from some real progressives on the Court and in places of important leadership?
I am also saddened by the need of this nation to be in war and to be caught in the total delusion that they are necessary. Please do your best to wake up to the reality of the insanity of war and that no one wins and we all lose.
Joseph Bernard, Ph.D.
Join me and send President Obama emails of support and encourage the end of war and the other dysfunctional ways of government at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact