Relax and Let Go. Mantras for Life?
I am currently reading Michael Singer’s book, The Untethered Soul, and it’s speaking to me deeply.
He says nothing new, but he does present these spiritual teachings in his fresh way, in a way that’s unique to him, and that is opening my mind and soul up even more. I am a huge fan of Eckhart Tolle and have read and listened to many other spiritual teachers, but “The Untethered Soul” is giving me the same guidance in a whole new way.
If I could sum up his book in two phrases they would be “let go” and “relax”. Let go of all the accumulated “shit” of our lives — hurts, traumas, joys (yes, even these, he says, because we tend to cling desperately to them) and a myriad other human experiences and emotions. And relax whilst letting it all come up, because it’s likely to be painful. According to Michael Singer, if we can just relax into the discomfort of letting our stuff come up, sit with it, don’t turn away, don’t try to change it or make it into something else, then it releases on it’s own. Let it come up, relax as the disturbance happens, and then let it go.
So simple, yet not always easy to do. I sat yesterday on my couch and cried as old pain came up. Old trauma from shit I’d been through. We all have trauma of some sort or another, if we’re human and have been alive long enough. Even though I thought I had processed a lot of my “shit” I noticed that more of it wanted to come up. So I let it. I felt the feelings. The anger, sadness and pain. And the joy of the good times that have passed, that I will never have again. Michael Singer is right when he says we hold onto our best moments, too, emotionally clinging to them out of fear that we might not get them again.
I sat with everything. It was random and jumbled, some emotion from thirty years ago, some from twenty years ago, some recent. All of it. Bubble bubble, up it came. And then, after about half an hour, it just evaporated. I had given it it’s space, and it lost it’s charge.
Now, side note: I journal as a release, and I’ve been to a psychologist, so I sometimes feel like “God, but I’ve dealt with this already! Why is it coming up again?” But I’m learning now, don’t judge it. It is what it is. If you create the space, internally, and it’s there and wanting release, it will come up. Let it. Relax into it. Just be aware. Watch and say “How interesting that I’m still holding onto that fond memory so tightly” or “Geez, I thought I had let go of that, but here it is, oh well,” and then shrug, and let it go. And if you have to do it a million times over, that’s fine too. Sometimes we create shit around our shit without even realizing it.
Does this mean I am free? Unfortunately, not yet. But I do feel lighter today. I am committed (again) to observing my thoughts and emotions, and observing when I get sucked into them. For example, this morning I went for a jog. It’s a beautiful, sunny day here in South Africa. I should have simply enjoyed the fresh air and the movement. But I noticed my mind kept trying to pull me away from the moment and into a million different directions. Thinking about my hair, money, work and what people think of me — all sorts of irrelevant things. I kept letting all the thoughts go, over and over.
I have heard Eckhart Tolle say that his greatest achievement in life is the ability to not think when he doesn’t want to. Well, I can’t say I am anywhere near that! But during my jog, I did have a small moment of no-thought. Of course, then my mind was all like “Look at you, you’re doing it! You’re not thinking!” which totally got me thinking again. But then I put my mind to good use and got it to repeat after me: “Relax and let go,” during the jog, and it was very pleasant.
I humbly share this story with you so that you might try the same too, if you are battling to quieten your noisy mind. I hope it is of some help.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
If you enjoyed reading this, would you please leave me a comment or a few claps? I’d so appreciate it. Did you know, if you hold the clap button down (that little hand-icon) you can give me lots of claps? That would be super cool.
Also: if you’re new to me, I have a YouTube channel. If you are keen to check it out here it is.
