It’s time to let go! This injunction, which resounds everywhere like a mantra, is said to be the key to our serenity. But letting go isn’t easy! Here are a few tips to help you release the pressure and distance yourself from life’s ups and downs.
Once the preserve of personal development enthusiasts, “letting go” is now a household word. We’ve all heard it before: ” Stop stressing, let go!
This well-intentioned advice is obviously sound. But it’s important to understand what letting go is, and how to go about it.
What is letting go?
Letting go encompasses many concepts.
To put it simply, letting go means freeing ourselves from our fears, both conscious and unconscious.
It means learning to act without forcing events. It means accepting what cannot be changed. It also means learning to trust ourselves and have faith in life.
Letting go means freeing yourself from confining mental constructs. Letting go means living in the present, without nostalgia for the past or worrying about the future.
In the end, it means rediscovering the freedom of the spirit, for where there is true freedom, there is peace.
Letting go is by no means synonymous with passivity, or even fatalism. Far from it!
Letting go invites us to move forward in our lives, according to our desires, our needs and our deepest intentions, but without forcing it, without seeking to gain control over events or those around us.
By letting go, we can quickly realize that life becomes more fluid. It doesn’t prevent us from experiencing setbacks and disillusionment, but it does encourage us to take a step back.
Letting go has many benefits: we breathe better without that feeling of fear or oppression. We embrace life despite its imperfections, and above all, we take events as they come without falling into a pit of emotions.
Tips for learning to let go
– Perfection doesn’t exist
Accepting that we can’t master everything and that we don’t have all the answers requires a healthy dose of humility. And what if, in the end, we started with that?
Integrating the fact that we’re not perfect, that we don’t have power over everything, that our beliefs and judgments can literally lock us in and freeze us.
First and foremost, letting go means accepting our own vulnerability, while looking at ourselves with a benevolent eye.
Our society pushes us to be the best at everything we do. Stop! Letting go also means having the right not to be Wonder Woman or Superman, fighting on all fronts. Because life doesn’t have to be a battle..
– Take time for yourself
Do you know this phrase by Mikhail Bulgakov, a 20th-century Russian writer? he who takes time never lacks it.
For years, everything has been speeding up. We’re running around like crazy, and we have the unpleasant impression that we’re not managing the essential areas of our lives properly.
By giving ourselves regular breaks, we allow ourselves to breathe easier and listen to our essential needs. These asides from ourselves refocus us. Our energy is better channeled.
The result? Fatigue is reduced, and stress can no longer linger.
The ideal is to take five minutes every hour, just for yourself.
You’ll soon notice that you’ll be much more present and focused on the tasks at hand.
– Defining what is essential
We’re often called upon to do all sorts of things, and sometimes, when we’re tired, we can’t distinguish between what’s essential and what’s secondary.
During your downtime, take a blank sheet of paper and make a list of what’s important to you: children, spouse, work, home….
We have the annoying habit of trying to manage everything, and finally, with a little hindsight, we realize that by spreading ourselves too thin, we’re not being efficient.
Refocusing on what’s most important to us (children, spouse, work) allows us to get straight to the point. By learning to delegate certain tasks that weigh us down, we free ourselves from the burdens that used to spoil our lives.
By letting go as often as possible, we gradually regain the energy we lost fighting the outside world.
For a more in-depth look at the subject, here’s a very interesting book on letting go:
– “ 50 exercices pour lâcher prise, by Paul-Henry Pion, published by Eyrolles.
