The Reflective Eclectic

How to Let Go of Resentments, Regrets, Reproaches, and Recriminations

Let me tell you about an object in my office that I use as a therapeutic tool. It looks like this:

One client aptly named it Keith’s Crock of Shit.

I think it originally came with some kind of cheese in it. Now it contains people’s shit. By that I mean the things people need to let go, lest it back them up and poison them. I’m talking about resentments, regrets, reproaches, and recriminations. All the things they need to forgive go in the crock. All that shit.

It works like this. First, you identify the thing you want to let go of. Be specific. Write it down on a Post-It note. You don’t have to write a book and the spelling doesn’t have to be just right, just as long as you know what you mean.

Next, say it out loud, that thing you want to let go of. Say, “I want to let go of …”

Now comes the tricky part. You’ve got to get your shit in the crock so it’ll stay there.

I take my job as custodian of people’s shit very seriously. I don’t want those evil things getting out so they can hurt people. For this part of the operation, I shut the windows and lock the door. That way, if anything escapes the crock, it can’t go far. I open the crock swiftly and carefully. When it’s open, it looks like this: