Insider Tips for Letting Go Like Buddha
One of Buddha’s final tests before he reached enlightenment was facing his negative emotions straight on and winning the spiritual staring contest. Buddha’s final leg of his inner journey wasn’t easy; facing our nasty side never is. As much as we may want to think ourselves out of a bad mood, painful story or ranting rage, we can’t. The game of Life isn’t wired that way. Buddha didn’t slice through his negative emotions through thinking; he started – and completed – his journey through a combination of meditation and mindfulness.
Letting go (and “letting god” as some like to say) means giving up our stories and failures, successes and grudges. If we don’t cultivate our spiritual selves, things might continue on as usual but when something bad happens (it always does), all bets are off. What you own doesn’t seem to matter when you get sick. Your high-ranking job title means nothing as you bury your beloved. A big house feels empty when it’s filled with loneliness.
Every day people encounter spiritual earthquakes that destroy who they thought they were, what they thought was permanent or how they defined themselves in the world. Buddha too faced age, sickness and death. But he made a choice that ultimately was his first step toward enlightenment. He chose to face what scared him and let go. Buddha’s journey of a thousand miles started with a first step more than 2500 years ago.
Happily, we can take that same first step and make the choice to let go like Buddha. How do we start? You just did. Suffering always puts us on the spiritual path because there’s nothing worse than meaningless suffering. We want our pain to tell us something, show us a silver lining, make us better than before. When we use our dark times to rouse ourselves to wakefulness rather than hitting the spiritual snooze button, we’re on the road toward an enlightened life.
A solid second step is to recognize that impermanence surrounds us. “Well, I know that!” you might think but look at how we fight to control the situations and people in our lives. On top of that controlling behaviour, we don’t want to grow old, get sick or lose – ever. And because we’re kind and self-cherishing people, we don’t want any of that bad stuff happening to the people we love, either. Like it or not, change marches on and it marches right on over us. That doesn’t mean defeat. It just is. Accept it.
Meditation teaches you how to let go of grasping, clinging thinking. By letting go like Buddha, you’ll free up a lot more mind and heart space and make room for kindness, humility and compassion; eternal qualities that help you in this life and the next.
Bill Harris (star of The Secret, love it or loathe it) has spent 30 years developing state-of-the-art meditation technology at Centerpointe Research Institute. In our opinion, Bill offers the most informative and interactive website out there. We love Bill, his Holosync technology and his free meditation CD!
Letting Go & Letting God Meditation – WOMEN in RECOVERY
July 14, 2012 by
Copyright 2022 @ A Celebration of Women™ The World Hub for Women Leaders That Care