The gurus tell you to release negative energy from the body and don’t hold back.. That’s a tall order and very challenging. But the truism always holds: you don’t need everything in your life to make you happy and fulfilling. There is always negative energy that is disposable and holds you back being the best that you can be. Eliminate the negative energy, the superfluous, and accentuate the positive, the best of your life. Cliched? Not really.
How do you decide what belongs in your life and what to let go of? Ah! There’s the rub! We always think we need everything. “If I let go of this vase, there will be moment when I really need it. Like for that dinner party that will take place the 12th of never.” But that’s just a vase or a suitcase, or a tote, or some bags full of books you’ve been lugging around for the last 30 years. Maybe these things don’t get in your way but are simply collecting dust on your bookcase. Once a year during spring cleaning you take them off the shelves, blow the dust off the top of the books and put it back on the shelf without thinking why you still have them. High school text books, old tech manuals, obsolete books. What about the closet stuffed to the rafters filled with 80s shoulder pads and square toed boots? Where do you put the new clothes? Recycle the old, dude, and don’t get into the pre-hoarder mind set. Here’s the mantra: let go and surrender.
I can’t write with clutter in front of me, think with clutter around me or connect with another person’s cluttered mind. At my age, I have little patience to endure yet another mindless narrative. I don’t like a lot of visual or audible distractions. Moving into silence, moving into stillness as in my yoga practice gives me clarity and joy. These are not attitudes I have to have; these are attitudes that make room for what I really want to create – the most exciting and creative life possible.
Questions for you on what to decide to eliminate in your life:
How often do you use the word “should?” Should is an energy drain, an obligation and not a choice.
Are there activities you do that take away your energy rather then give you spiritual sustenance and physical endurance? How about people who sap your energy and give no positivity in return?
How much time do you devote to doing things that are not creating a life that makes your world rock?
How often do you say, “I’m going to…” and never do?
How much of your day is spent doing things that do not reflect your values, your long term goals or even your hourly or daily intentions?
How much of your week or month or year is spent in routine efforts that lead to dead ends?
Are you your own best friend? Do you spend more time with you than anyone else? Are other people an escape for you so that you don’t have to be mindful about what lights your fire or promotes self-reflection?
Is there something that if you didn’t have to do would give you a feeling of huge relief? Please don’t everyone say work!
Do you think you are missing something in life?
We never think we are enough for ourself. And we certainly don’t devote enough time reflecting about where we are and where we want to be in our life.
But what if where you are is where you want to be? Awesome!
If you are not, where do you want to be, what’s holding you back?
Two things maybe: you might give yourself more space to clear your mind of the extraneous and and set time for self-reflection during the day.We take way too many things for granted in our life – that’s mindless thinking and mindless thinking leads to repetition and repetition leads to dead ends. Or, you might be more mindful of your own dedication to personal resistance – the most toxic force on the planet, the single most important mind set that holds us back from the unlived life, a life without fulfillment – and see if you can’t set aside the clutter that litters the path of your truth – who you are on the journey of your life -and make a commitment to seamlessly eliminate the superfluous from your life. And remember, along the way, the best things in life are free: ideas, imagination, energy, determination, optimism, opportunity, friendship, kindness, love, empathy.
So, if your cup is too full, if your life is too much and has no more room to reflect on the good stuff, why not
Break a habit
Do something that makes you feel insecure, uncomfortable, strange, scary
Carry out an action with complete attention and intensity as if it were you last
Give yourself permission to let go of the chaos, let go of the people, places and things that drain your life and wake up every day and make an intention never to hold back. It’s a drag, man.
Namaste
Joan