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Freedom is Letting Go
Adapted from Why is God Laughing? by Deepak Chopra (Harmony Books, 2008).
Over the years I’ve found that letting go baffles people. They are eager to let go of things that bring pain and suffering, yet by some perverse irony, the shackles refuse to drop away. Abused spouses don’t walk out on their abusers. Addicts reach for more of what is destroying them. Anger, fear, and violence roam the mind at will, even though a person has tried with all his might to renounce them. How do you let go of stuff that is attached to you so stubbornly?
Telling someone who’s stuck to “just let go” is as futile as telling someone who is hysterical to “just calm down.” Negative things stick to us because they are tied to an underlying energy that doesn’t want to move away. Angry people don’t need a specific reason to get angry; they only need a pretext for releasing the pent-up energy that keeps them at a constant simmer. Anxious people are worried inside, not about any one thing, but about fear itself. To be free, you must find a way to let go of all the stuck energy that keeps sending out the same old messages. The ability to let go is more complex than it sounds, but nothing is more crucial.
Your stuck energies force you to be someone who doesn’t exist anymore: the angry child deprived of love, the frightened child who doesn’t feel safe. The past is a false guide to the future, and yet it’s what most of us rely upon. By letting go of stuck energies, you let go of your past. Go deep enough and you can let go of time itself. In that release lies ultimate freedom. All of human history rests in you. Yours is the grief of the world and its sorrows, and its fear and anger. Some might feel despair to hear this truth, but why not feel joy? To think that in liberating yourself you liberate the world. What stakes could be higher?
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8 comments
add your comment »stucked energy happens on on the way of becoming more conscious..its just natural, the virtue is to become even conscious of them and if this happens they will go from alone, one doesn't make to let them go... i think the 2. awareness is guiding me to my possibly developed stucked energies if needed.
most indicating sign ogf stucked energies is when one doesnt know oneself anymore, when all previous strategies of mind and heart have failed... this is the sign of that there is something new, may it even be a new belief system.then one has no other choice than to let go of the old and embrace the new..it will happen naturally when one trusts ones process of the soul.
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Lately I've been releaasing the past and unhelpful and receiving the new and better -- I talk to what ever it is, ex. fear - I feel it, sense it in my mind (you have to be in a meditative state, and I'd suggest asking for help from your guides, I ask for Christ's help). Then I say to the fear, "Fear, thank you for being here, because I know you've helped me in the past, and brought me things I needed, but you're not helping me anymore, and I don't need you. So, I'm releasing you with God's help into the universe. I release you with love and gratitude, trusting that you will be dissolved into the light of God, and that your energy will be used for the purposes of Love." Then, I open my energy pathways, and oh, sometimes I ask God to bring healing into the wounded places of my heart, life and body. Fears and pains, grief and regret, contempt and those, they are usually resulting from woundedness. So, I ask God to come into my wounded places and heal me. I receive that healing with gratitude and love. As I send that gratitude and love, my life is healed even more and I feel it because I am involved in my own healing. So, then I open my energy pathways and allow the energy to be released, and received (whichever way it's coming). Sometimes this takes a few minutes, brings up more blocks, induces a lot of fear, or feels wonderful. Sometimes, it feels like it's all draining out of me, out of my arms, or legs. I allow it to happen., and give thanks. Must go. Peace, R.
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Yes, I agree that it is difficult even very difficult to let go...
Deepak's text is coming from a much higher level of consciousness and find his ideas very inspiring for further growth...for beginers possibly very challenging...but you have to begin somewhere...asking questions and keeping the company of intellegent and clear minds is necessary to further your self development. When you stop asking questions or the questions become less and living in the here and now is more important ...you have arrived...
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Telling someone who’s stuck to “just let go” is as futile as telling someone who is hysterical to “just calm down.”
I find this very true... maybe because I don't know how to explain "just let go".
I also agree with Mary Walsh... I find that breaking free of the normal routine helps 'letting go'.
Imagine letting a leaf float away. The leaf representing whatever u need to let go. Can I use this to explain??
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Wow,does this article hit home today! Releasing stuck energy can be not only healing, but quiet liberating as well. What helps me most with this is to remind myself of who I really am especially when it comes to abusive people, because a good selfconcept has served as a jewel for me in this area. Thank you, Dr. Chopra for the beautiful reinforcer. It is a horrible thing to be attached to something that does not promote wellbeing.
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Monique, there is a little book by Pema Chodron called "learning to stay". It is the best book I've ever read on the subject of being stuck and it is the practice I pass on. The principles aren't new, she just has a good way of talking. It's on CD too and it's not expensive.
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I asked this question yesterday of a friend who is in dispair and this newsletter was posted just in time for me to try and get through to her. Instead of "letting go" she "gives up" and remains in a miserable cycle. Now that we know the problem, hopefully we can all (her friends and family) come up with a way for her to discover how to "let go," and find freedom and happiness.
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To let go of stuck energies, of course that is the way. I was out of town for 3 weeks ...out the country at a lake and feel totally unstuck. I think leaving old patterns ...taking a break from everything helps the body and spirit to get back to its original state. Taking a break from myself...the true meditative state??
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