The secret of letting go

[Gem]

The burdens we hold on to can be dead weight in our lives, and anyone who has carried a burden in life will know the feeling: 'I want to let it go, but I can't'.

We know in ourselves that it does no good to carry old weight, but everyone comes with baggage, and just like a tree doesn't drop fruit until it is ripe, the crosses we bear have to mature before we're done with them.

If it is a choice and just let it go - that isn't a burden.

If it is a burden, it's ingrained deeper. The mind ruminates on it, be it a grudge, a betrayal, an injustice, shame or whatever it is that weights you down. Usually the mind flounders in confusion and anguish because it doesn't understand it properly.

It's a mess that keeps churning until it starts to unravel and make more sense to you, and with that wisdom gained, it just seems lighter, and you no longer care much if you carry it or leave it behind. It's not thrown aside, because going through it was transformative and profound, but at the moment you get it, appreciate it for what it is, and leave it to be as it is easily, is the moment you release it. It will most probably remain part of you, but no longer weighs on you. You see it all clearly, and you are free from that burdensome affect.

[Miss Hepburn]

A thread on this seems very needed. Good.:)
I have my 'method' that started in Jan 2006. I practiced it for 2 weeks like homework,
an experiment and then never stopped!! LOL

What a relief ---no cares - freedom!! (My friends were very happy! And still are.)
I had a LOT of burdens back then - worry, fears, anxiety, regret are heavy burdens!
All gone.

[Native spirit]

I was told many moons ago that what ever you carry on your back
is a dead weight that should be left for someone else to Discard for you
A guide if you believe in Jesus leave it at their feet.
You will never be free unless it is gone,
And with freedom comes growth


Namaste

[LYACMT]

Live like a child who will be very happy with a lollipop and forget about the unhappy thing even one minute ago.

[Gem]

I think the simple solutions are fine, but realistically, if you can just drop a burden (snaps fingers) just like that, it wasn't really a burden. If you are burdened and you want to drop it, but for some reason you can't, then we're talking about something that is really a drag. The question is, if you can't choose to drop it (snaps) just like that, how do you move from being unable to being able to let it go?

My theory is, don't choose to drop it. Choose to let it be just as it is. because letting it be is just the same as letting it go.

Sounds crazy. I know. But if you think about it, changing from carrying something unwanted is like hauling a brick along with you. It takes effort, and you only make that effort if you think the brick is important. If you then change and don't care about the brick, it can stay or it can go, who cares, the effort it takes won't be worth it. You'll stop trying to carry the thing because, whatever, and it will drop.

How is it possible to carry it along if you don't do anything about it at all?

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by Gem

I think the simple solutions are fine, but realistically, if you can just drop a burden
(snaps fingers) just like that, it wasn't really a burden.

Oh, really?
We disagree again.
The power of Grace is profound.
I may be wrong but as a Buddhist have you not said you don't believe in God?
(So many years and posts I'm not sure...correct me if I'm mistaken.)
I believe you have a Buddhist approach...I have a 'following the advice or instructions of Jesus approach', tho, I am not Christian.

[Guillaume]

Originally Posted by Native spirit

I was told many moons ago that what ever you carry on your back
is a dead weight that should be left for someone else to Discard for you

Yes! I agree with that!
Lately also, I had this impression or life lesson that we all carry something for someone else, what is a dead weight for me can be the food or a message for someone else.

So, sometimes it feels like others put weights on us, or we feel drained by others,
but that's also our role as part of a group, some people want/desire answers
and they need to be delivered in some way.

[SaraTherase]

It seems we all have our crosses to bear. I guess it all comes down to can we change something from bring a burden into a blessing? People would argue that you can change it with thought as everything is mind over matter but even that itself could take alot of effort, consistency, concentration, energy and time..if only I could just let it go! the only thing with that is technically the burden still exists if it's physical or material. Perhaps this is where hope and faith enters..

[iamthat]

Originally Posted by Gem

If it is a burden, it's ingrained deeper. The mind ruminates on it, be it a grudge, a betrayal, an injustice, shame or whatever it is that weights you down. Usually the mind flounders in confusion and anguish because it doesn't understand it properly.

Let us not forget the power of forgiveness.

If we carry the burden of grudges, betrayals or injustices then that suggests a need to forgive others.

If we carry the burden of shame then that suggests we need to forgive ourselves.

All too often the burdens we carry come from resistance. We tell ourselves that someone else should not have done whatever they did. We reflect on our own actions and believe we should not have done whatever we did. We resist the reality of what did happen because we think that it should not have happened.

Forgiveness happens when we let go of our resistance. Whatever happened happened. We do not need to carry it around with us.

And as we drop our burdens we become more empty. As we become more empty we realise that nothing happened and there is nothing to forgive.

Peace

[JustBe]

Originally Posted by Gem

The burdens we hold on to can be dead weight in our lives, and anyone who has carried a burden in life will know the feeling: 'I want to let it go, but I can't'.
If it is a choice and just let it go - that isn't a burden.
You see it all clearly, and you are free from that burdensome affect.

Yes.

I’ve noticed in my life processors, the burdens I carried were often a bigger process. Often too, my mind was at the forefront of such times. So this kind of entangled mess spiralled into so much. Walking through such processors often requires a step by step process, especially if it’s going to be, a bigger transformation than we’ve known previously.

Of course I’m a predominate feeler so the feeling aspect for me leads me through more deeply. I know when my minds taken over the reins it can be a very long process. But that too was learning.

I think many people don’t realise fully what burdens mean deeper. In life there are very valid and real circumstances that create burdens to our lives experience, but the more that burden weighs on us, the less energy we have to find light through dark times.

Again it’s all about what we carry deeper that forges this kind of life approach..