Episode 19: Why Can't I Just Let Go? - a podcast by Frank Anderson MD MPH and Lisa Barry

Why Can't I Just Let Go?

We always hear the phrase – “Let it Go”. We are asked to let go of old habits, ideas  or demands and expectations that we impose on others that aren’t working.

It's a paradox- the part of you that’s trying to let go is the same part of you that’s holding on -which means you could be holding on and letting go at the same time!

Sometimes, “letting go” looks like "just putting it out of your mind"-but there’s a big difference between letting something go vs burying it or suppressing it which just creates more problems for yourself.  Yet trying to let go creates an unsolvable problem that sets one up for failure. Wanting, forcing and grasping can bring the opposite of what you want!

Letting go is not really something you can do, but happens organically when you are completely open to accepting what’s happening in the present moment and not necessarily looking for something outside of yourself. As long as you’re holding on to something it doesn’t go anywhere, but once you let it be - it can dissolve- it can drop off. 

The invitation here is to try something different. In these podcast episodes, we use Meditation as a mindfulness tool to open to something deeper, and in the opening to something deeper you may find that the very thing you are trying to let go just falls off -it’s not the same energy as trying to let go but in retrospect, falling off looks like letting go! Meditation is a tool for the discovery of your truest deepest self.

It’s opening to a deeper awareness that is going to allow the letting go happen without you trying Once you start identifying as awareness then there is really nothing to hold on to and nothing  to let go of -it’s a different way of being so that striving or that yearning will be less and there will be less suffering for you and others.

Awareness allows you to feel yourself rather than think yourself 

Perhaps “Let it Go” is better said as “Let it Be” and when you let it be, those attachments and demands lose their energy.

 Of course, your mind will say if I do this – who will I be, how will I get what I want, how will I get anything done?

The answer to this question is within you- practice mindful awareness and maybe once you connect to your deepest and truest self THE THINGS YOU WANT WILL BE DIFFERENT-Or just maybe you will already have found what you’re looking for.

Try the guided meditation in this episode for a week and see what happens. Being open to what is, loving what is, starting at a place of peace, love, joy and generosity may shift the dynamic. If you can't live without these feelings, bring that to awareness as well.

Further episodes of Exploring Awareness

Further podcasts by Frank Anderson MD MPH and Lisa Barry

Website of Frank Anderson MD MPH and Lisa Barry