Ever read the book, “Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway” by Susan Jeffers?
It’s a great book to get you into action.
Another book I’m listening to and reading is “Letting Go: The Pathway to Surrender” by David R. Hawkins.
Hawkins encourages us to simply acknowledge our feelings and let them go.
He also encourages us to let go of some limiting beliefs that may prevent us from doing just that, such as: “We only deserve things through hard work, struggle, sacrifice and effort” or “We don’t get anything for nothing”.
Hawkins tells us that “Letting go involves being aware of a feeling, letting it come up, staying with it, and letting it run its course without wanting to make it different or do anything about it. It means simply to let the feeling be there and to focus on letting out the energy behind it.” (pp19-20)
As you let go, ignore all thoughts and focus only on the feeling.
According to Hawkins, “it is the accumulated pressure of feelings that causes thoughts. One feeling, can create literally thousands of thoughts over a period of time.”
For example, think of a time from your past that was painful or something you did that you regret. How many times have you gone over and over that situation, thinking about it?
If you could surrender the underlying painful feeling, the thoughts would disappear and you would forget the event.
I don’t know about you but I find this fascinating. It’s opposite to what I’ve learned previously where thoughts create feelings.
Right now, I’m willing to experiment. I’m willing to acknowledge that I am feeling a great deal of fear. Fear about the future as I transition and the business evolves. This feeling generates all sorts of thoughts, some positive and expectant, some negative and paralysing.
And the important thing to remember, according to Hawkins, is that we want to let go of all feelings, not just the negative ones. Similar to the Buddha’s teachings, it’s about becoming detached.
It also reminds me of a saying I learned when I attended the 10 day Vipassana meditation retreat, “Arises, passes away” in relation to body sensations (you could call feelings) as you observe them and let them go.
How about you? Are you willing to feel the fear (or whatever feeling you are currently experiencing) and let it go?
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