The Art of Letting Go

When it comes to managing stress and anxiety, there are few things more important than realising that you are not the voice inside your head.

Our inner narration is really just our minds’ way of making us feel more comfortable with and in control of the world around us. If we experience something that doesn’t fit the model of the world as we’d like it to be, we internally verbalise, judge and complain about the disturbance. The mind is always trying to process our experiences in a way that makes them fit neatly into our views of the past and our dreams for the future, and what we end up experiencing is a mental model or presentation of the world, rather than the stark, unfiltered experience of reality itself.

When it comes to managing stress and anxiety, there are few things more important than realising that you are not the voice in your head. You’re able to notice when you are thinking and judge the quality and content of your thoughts, so you must be distinct from them. You are the witness – the consciousness that notices the voice talking.

Letting go of inner turmoil involves the conscious (and continuous) remembering of the fact that - no matter what the voice in your head has to say - it is still just a voice talking, and you (the real you!) are the one listening. Step back and view it objectively. You don’t need to think about or change it – just notice it. Remember that you are the subject and your thoughts are the objects. After time you will come to realise that many of them have no relevance to the present moment. They are simply making you feel better or worse about the unfolding of reality.

Most of us have become conditioned to leave our centre of objective awareness and get sucked into the energy of our thoughts and emotions at any given moment. When we concentrate on this mental chatter, it becomes charged with energy and power, growing in importance and demanding even more of our attention. Significant stress can be caused by a passing thought or emotion that somehow becomes the centre of our inner (and eventually outer) worlds.

KNOW MORE

The profound teaching of letting go is detailed in Michael Singer’s seminal work, The Untethered Soul (New Harbinger Publications, Inc., 2007). If you’d like to delve into a deeper exploration of your relationship with your thoughts and emotions and find real freedom from them, it’s an invaluable source of accessible wisdom and practical suggestions.

While you may feel that you wouldn’t struggle with anxiety-provoking mental chatter if you could just change things in the outside world, it’s safe to say that few have become truly at peace by simply rearranging their external circumstances. The mind will always find ‘the next problem’ to focus on. The real solution is to let go and take the seat of witness consciousness.

Come to know yourself as the one who watches the inner voice that is never content. Watch yourself be anxious, without trying to analyse or fix it. Just be aware of what it going on inside and remember that you are the one noticing both the events and the thoughts and emotions they evoke. When you feel your consciousness start to get drawn into a distressing thought or emotion, practise the art of letting the real you – the witness – take a step back and relax and release behind it. Relax your shoulders and the space around your heart, letting the disturbance simply come up and pass through you. It takes only a moment of conscious effort, and it will pass.

This simple yet profound practice will get easier over time, and eventually you will spend most of your life comfortably seated in witness consciousness. Until then, play with the habit of letting go and falling behind the sense of being bothered. Just keep consciously choosing to no longer become involved in the melodrama of the mind. You will be pulled time and again, and each will be another opportunity to learn to relax and release.

As you begin to find yourself living from this place of letting go, the stuff of the world that once bothered you will cease to be a problem. It will just be something you watch. It will keep changing, while you – the vast awareness behind it all – remain the same.

Support your commitment to the spiritual practice of letting go by nurturing your body and soul with these anxiety-busting self-care rituals from Holistic Health and Wellness Coach Ashleigh Harrison:

*Enhance your body’s ability to support you in letting go by nourishing yourself with a wholefoods-based diet. Avoid coffee and alcohol, and add powerful superfoods like maca, camu camu and cacao (if you’re not sensitive to its stimulating effect) as well as adaptogens such as ashwagandha and reishi (if you’re not experiencing autoimmune issues or taking blood thinners). *Find exercise that’s right for you. This can be according to your body type, preference, energy levels or biological rhythms. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, and finding exercise that you enjoy is the best way of making sure you move your body regularly to support the flexibility of your mind. *Be on your soul’s side and learn to say no to people and places that don’t serve you. Take some time out for self-care. This can be anything you enjoy doing – whether it be going for a massage, taking a morning stroll, buying yourself flowers or staying in to apply a face mask and watch your favourite movie.

ASHLEIGH HARRISON

Ashleigh offers health coaching and anxiety management workshops in Cape Town. She has overcome her own diagnosis of generalised anxiety disorder with food, lifestyle and attitude interventions, and is passionate about helping others do the same. Visit her profile on www.holistica.net or www.novaturient.co.za to learn more about her multi-layered approach to healing, her holistic coaching service and her upcoming workshops.

by Lara Potgieter