I’m on Day 3 of this 2 week meditation course I’m taking. It’s called 10% Happier; Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics. Dan Harris, who wrote the book 10% Happier, and his mentor Joseph Goldstein are leading the course. There are so many things I love so much about this course already.
It’s so accessible.
Dan Harris, is so down to Earth, funny and real. It’s so easy to be intimidated when it comes to meditation. It feels like meditators are always calm, cool and collected. Dan is so NOT that. 🙂 He’s a type A personality, and tells it like it is, sometimes it’s hard to meditate. His demeanor makes it easier for me to accept myself where I’m at in the process, without feeling like I should already be “better”.
It’s quick, and not overwhelming.
I’ve been meditating for quite a while now. I meditate for longer periods of time. Of late, I have mostly been meditating with my mala (which I love). It’s been really interesting to go back to the basics of meditating, and sitting with it again. It’s almost like a whole new beginning. The meditations are short, so you get into it, and feel good, and end on a good note ~ before you’ve completely lost your focus and can’t find it again. So you end up collecting meditation “wins” which makes you want to come back again the next day!
The short talks before the guided meditation have left me with an aha moment every day.
I’ll write about some of the others, but today I want to talk about Let it Go. Wherever I seem to go I always hear, just let it go. And every single time my question is HOW?!! I’ve even bought books with titles like “how to let go”. I seriously have the hardest time understanding the actual DOING of letting go.
Today in the quick talk before the meditation Joseph Goldstein replied to a question Dan asked about letting go, with the idea that it might be more helpful to think about it in terms of “let it be”, instead of letting go. Because when you choose to “let it go” there’s an action there, something you must do. (which I have no idea how to do!). However, when you just let it be, there is nothing to do. You take note, and just let it be. Which means you create no attachment to the thing you’ve noted.
When you put this in terms of meditation, as thoughts come in your head, or sensations come into your body, you simply take note, and let them be. There’s no action to take, no shooing of anything, just let it be. It’s a remarkable difference!
Today as I sat through the guided meditation some big feelings of sadness came up, around a situation I’m dealing with in my life. Usually I would scurry toward those feelings, and try to “let it go”… take some action to intentionally make those feelings go away. Today though, I simply noted… sadness, and let it be.
Miraculously in a very short time, maybe 10 seconds or so, the feelings had floated on by, and I was able to refocus on my breath. I did not jump into the story about the feelings. I didn’t jump into problem solving the feelings. I just noted, and let them be, and before I knew it they had managed to leave on their own accord.
This struck me so hard because sometimes these feelings can take all day to leave, come on, sometimes they can take days or weeks to leave. But what became really clear to me this morning in my meditation was it was because I am always actively trying to “let it go” which means I end up trying to think my way out of it, which gets me all caught up in it… and I end up getting lost in the middle.
Now who knows, this may have been a one time thing. It might not work all the time, but OMG… what if it does? It definitely feels like something worth trying more often, not only on my meditation mat, but in my life!
What if those times when I’m about to lose my shit because it’s been a 3 hour argument to get the kiddo to actually read 6 pages in her book? What if I was able to simply note my feelings, and let it be?
The more I think about it, the more I realize my feelings get so big and overwhelming (especially when it comes to the kiddo) because of the stories I create in my head… but what if, just what IF… I could just note and let it be?
frustrated. let it be.
overwhelmed. let it be.
sad. let it be.
frustrated. let it be.
I wonder… if I could just let it be, would it all spin so far out of control that I feel like I’m going to lose my mind?
I don’t know, but I’m game to test it out. I’ll let you know how it goes.
What about you? Do you struggle with “let it go”? What might happen if you decided to just let it be instead? Share you thoughts, I’d love to hear them. 🙂
Oh if you’d like to check out the course, you can find it here.
