If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed, or subscribe by e-mail. Don't forget to leave a comment or send an e-mail from the about page. Thanks for visiting!
When I looked back at this series, and saw so many flavors of suffering, for a moment, I was shocked. I hadn’t come up with a huge list and yet any one of these can sink us if they’re left alone. But then I remembered that these states are the resistance, not the norm.
If you’ve ever heard the phrase “sand in the gears” you’ll know what I mean. When someone is stuck in Jealousy, or Doubt, they aren’t living their life, or doing what they are here to do. Letting yourself get stuck in resistance may look like the easy option, but in truth, it just makes everything harder.
Of course, we aren’t taught how to let go of such resistance in our society. We are told that time heals all wounds, and watch as family members stay guarded during the holidays. We see examples of people who are closed off emotionally make decisions for large groups of people. Of course they’re closed off emotionally. Generally speaking, they can’t get where they are without going at least a little numb.
We accept this as the normal state of affairs because there’s not a lot in our society (at least in America) that teaches how to let go of these states. Indeed, we are taught:
- That self-loathing is the mark of a good, productive member of society.
- That the greater the love between two people, so too must there be greater jealousy and possessiveness.
- That it’s better to listen to your doubts than to make a real try.
- That hatred is not good (Yay!), but here’s a bad guy that we want you to hate (Huh?).
It goes on and on. Most people aren’t even aware of the backwards and contrary nature of our society. Those that recognize the resistance they have, don’t really know how to deal with it because (of course) it’s not being taught.
(By the way: Before you get all 1984 on me I wanted to mention that I don’t think that there is some big conspiracy. I just think that we’ve allowed ourselves to be complacent about how we look at the world. The cost of that is that most of us are balls of stress that don’t know anything else and wouldn’t know how to relax if we could.)
What to do?
If you’re reading this, odds are that you already have some idea of things that you need to let go. The good news is that keeping an awareness and remembering what you want will take you a long way. There are also methods for letting go. Some techniques are ancient, some are more modern. I find that I tend to work better with the modernized methods, so I’m presenting them here. Remember: What works for me isn’t important. It’s what works for you.
Meditation. It comes in thousands of forms. No matter what form you learn, I would suggest trying out meditation techniques. Meditation is a good foundation for other techniques, but in my experience it wasn’t very good at clearing out the resistance by itself. (Note: Having almost completed my challenge, I have found that regular meditation does help release.) Using other techniques in combination with meditative practice does work wonders, though.
EFT. The Emotion Freedom Technique is a free and very powerful method for systematically identifying and releasing what is bothering you. This works well with emotions (obviously), and I have also used it for some minor pains and such. At the website there is a free PDF with the instructions on how to perform the technique. When I first came upon this technique I was very impressed. I am no less so now, and EFT remains a tool in my toolbox.
The Sedona Method. I started working with this technique about halfway through the challenge. This technique is both simple and far-reaching. I got the book version as opposed to going to a seminar or getting the audio presentation. Same info, less money 
The simplicity and ease-of-use of this technique is matched only by its quick and lasting results. I’ll go into this more on Sundays’ special-edition article on my experience with the challenge.
If you’re not the do-it-yourself type, there are guided meditations and other programs which can help:
The Quantum Light Breath. I was exposed to this one via Pamm of My Secret Spiritual Dance. I was watching her 30 day challenge and liked what I saw, so I decided to try it out for myself. I honestly didn’t think that I could sit there for an hour (yes it IS an hour long) and breathe. But I did. Wow.
Paraliminals. I’ve written on these before. Very useful things. Guided meditation, NLP, and binaural beats all mixed into one potent listen. There are many different Paraliminals out there, but although I had great results using them to help keep me pointed where I want to go, I didn’t get a whole lot of release using them. A worthy tool, but not specialized for this use.
Sonic Access. Made by the same people as the Paraliminals, and using a lot of the same basic technology, the Sonic Access gets you into a meditative state, and lets you do the rest. As opposed to the 20+ Paraliminals, the Sonic Access is a set of four. I found them to be very effective, both for releasing and for moving me in the direction I wanted. More on that Sunday.
To the people who want to let go:
Don’t lose sight. It’s hard for us to learn to let go, but if you stay with it and keep looking for the right method for you, you will find it. I would venture to say that it won’t happen all at once (what fun would that be?). Keep moving in the right direction for you and let the universe do the rest.
If you would like to read more about resistance and how to let it go, please subscribe to the RSS feed.
***The November 2007 Challenge***
This is the badge for my two goals. There are two “points”: One for each piece of the challenge. (Living up to the “Blogging Promise” at right and maintaining a good, consistent meditation practice each and every day.) The challenge began 11-9-2007 and ends 12-9-2007. Comments, suggestions, and feedback welcome!
