4 Basic Steps to Letting Go

1. Awareness. Before you can work on anything you must be aware. Issues enter into awareness in many ways. So, start with what you already know, what you are aware of. This can also be named "pay attention." Whatever you are aware of is where you begin. Enhanced by: Meditation
2. Understanding. Use awareness to stay focused on the issue. Don't berate yourself for having a problem, don't condemn the problem or label it, simply watch and pay attention. Learn exactly what the feeling, notion, habit, or thought is. Gather as much information as you can. Feel deeply. Experience fully. You can't get good information when you label, constrict, or limit knowledge. Open up and see all there is to see. Enhanced by: Research, Study
3. Objectify. If you continue to kindly pay attention, you will begin to objectify your understanding. You develop a sense of humor about it. You speak and think about it as a mere fact. "Oh, so that's how I do that!" "This feeling is arises when ever I ______!" You might find yourself laughing when you notice how and when you express or do this thing. It is no longer a horrible habit or a faulty feeling, it is simply that funny thing that you do. You are outside of the thing, seeing it as something attached to you, but not of you. Enhanced by: Meditation, Sharing
4. Let Go. Now you can let go. You see the attachment as something outside yourself. You see how it is activated and where, exactly, it is attached. Like a balloon on a string, you simply open your hand and let go.

This is not easy and will not happen overnight. You will have to repeat a step until you feel the next one coming into you. This is not a thought process. It is an experiential process. No shortcuts. No instant karma. No particular time table. Some issues will take a life time.

Choose a type of meditation that benefits you. Find teachers that make sense and help you advance. All good paths lead to the same outcome. Choose the path that is right for you.

Start anytime. Start now.

You can start a new life anytime. You can begin right now, where you are, without any special knowledge or materials. 

• Pay attention to your breath. Become still and focus on your breathing. Experience the air entering and leaving your body. Do this as long as you can, whenever you can. I've done it while driving, while getting my blood pressure tested, and during meditation. This deceptively simple process can bring big changes.
• Turn off the labels. Stop labeling everything you see. Try walking and looking at your surroundings nonverbally, without having a running dialogue. Experience everything as if it had no name. As if you were a child who did not know what the names are. The label dampens experience and limits your awareness to a circumscribed level.
• Meditate. The simplest form of meditation is to sit comfortably, soften your gaze, and focus on the out breath. That's all there is to it. This is good practice for everyday living because it will heighten your awareness.
• Accept what is. Whatever is happening now, wherever you are, wether alone or with someone, you are exactly where you are meant to be. See your current circumstances as a gift. Embrace the universe. Stop and look around. See your reflection in the computer monitor, notice the dust being blown by the heating system, smell the odor of your space, hear the wind rushing through the trees, feel your skin holding in your intestines.
• Release your expectations. Expectations, like words, limit your experience. You will only see what you expect to see. What if you had no expectations, were not attached to any particular outcome? How would your situation change?

You can do any of these practices almost anywhere, almost any time. They are simple and free. You don't need a new year or a Monday to begin. 

Start now.