The Let It Go Method

Sometimes I let things get to me. Sometimes I let people drag me down, I let situations stress me out, I let nonsense turn into something bigger than it really is.

I have a hunch that I'm not the only person who does this.

Lately I've been pondering on why it is that people are so insistent on comparing themselves to other people. Why it is that people want so badly to keep up with others. Why is that, do you think? Because it's all just a big joke that life is playing on us really. The punchline is this: we are all different so it's actually rubbish to try and "keep up" with anyone else. What's right for one of us is not right for the other, and so on and so forth times the amount of billions of people there are in the entire world.

I often think about how much easier life would be for us all if we could just accept our differences. If we could stop fighting about things when in fact, there isn't a right or a wrong. Because what's RIGHT for me could be WRONG for you. And so on and so forth times the amount of billions of people there are in the entire world.

So I've been trying this new therapy. I actually made it up, this therapy, but I haven't put a patent on it or anything so go ahead and use it for free if you'd like. This is what I do:

Say there is something, or someone, that is weighing me down. I've let something someone said really get to me, I can't stop focusing on something hurtful from the past, I watch someone try to drag me down with them, I've stewed in a hot bowl of stress over a situation that is in all accounts out of my control.

What I do is I close my eyes and picture said situation or person or hurtful words, and I turn them into a balloon.

(I find that my balloons are always red, and what does that mean do you suppose?)

Anyway. I turn them into a balloon in my head, while my eyes are closed. I then put my hand out and imagine that I'm holding a string attached to the balloon, pinching my thumb and index finger together in the air. I take a slow, deep breath in and as I exhale....I let go of the string. My finger and thumb spring apart, and in my mind I watch as the balloon gets higher and higher. I breathe slowly and deeply, I keep my eyes closed, and I watch it disappear into the blue, cloudless sky above me.

And the real trick is that once it disappears, that's that. I stop thinking about it, or them. The balloon disappears and they with it. A burden is lifted off my shoulders. I let it go and I move right along with my day, without giving it another thought.

IF I falter and the thought sneaks back into my mind, biding me to let it weigh me down, I turn the bugger right back into a balloon and let it go again.

It sounds silly I'm sure, but just do it and trust me, it works. Focus on what matters and let go of all the rest.

Let's call this the Let It Go Method.

My unpatented advice.