Learn to Let Go
by Matt Caulfield on August 14, 2009
in Practical Idling
Firstly, sorry this post is late, today I had to pop out first thing to do some chores. I was only meant to be out for about an hour, but one thing led to another, then another and before I knew it, the whole day had been taken up.
As it went on I found myself getting more and more agitated, frustrated and impatient…
Slowing down is about letting go. Letting go of want, of stuff, of frustration, anger and grudges and “I deserve”…
To really slow down you have to learn to let go. There are lots of ways of doing this, but one I have found very powerful (but a bit weird, so bear with me) was taught to me by an old hippy friend of mine (explains why it is a bit weird).
It is very straightforward and you can do it anytime anyway without looking odd (with a bit of practice), but I recommend you do it by yourself until you get the hang of it.
The way you do it is this: When you find yourself in a place of frustration, anger, blame, craving or agitation or whatever mental state you want to let go of. Tense your fist (whichever one feels right) squeeze it really tight and as you tense your fist, image all that pent-up mental state channelling from wherever you are feeling it in your body right now, down your arm into the fist, keep tensing your fist and image all that pent-up emotion in the centre of your palm. Once you have got it all in there (whenever feels right, could be seconds, could be a couple of minutes!) take a deep breath in and as you breath out gently relax your fist and imagine all that pent-up emotion being released and just floating off into the air…
You will feel better I promise (told you it was a bit odd, but I was taught it by a hippy so there you go…)
Have a good weekend!
Matt
If you enjoyed this post, please bookmart it on StumbledUpon, Digg, Twitter, etc. I would really appreciate it 
If only the Incredible Hulk had known this he could have saved himself a heap of torn shirts. Thanks:)
Just focusing on the feeling and ‘seeing’ it dissipate (through this visualization) is definitely a very powerful technique! Thank you so much for this post.
Really nice post. Can really relate to the idea of slowing down. I have done the same thing, have taken the year out to re-plan, and get healthy, includes plenty of meditation and yoga. Keep up the great work. Andy
I guess this might work because in reality it makes you stay away from thinking about the source of frustration for a period of time. Let’s say it calms down your center of emotions. Wouldn’t I be correct if I’d say any routine would help if it had exactly the same effect?
only one small concern i have with this technique…if you were to get angry at another person for something they just did and you were to tense your fist, it could very easily be mistaken for a possible sign of aggression and thereby worsening the problem on hand. far better to walk away first and then do this rather than immediately at that moment.
Thanks for the reminder. This was also my 20th stumbleupon discovery so congrats!!
yeah it works! tried with the picture of my bad-old boss and i feel better, go hippies!