The last attitude of mindfulness is Letting Go. It’s important to realize that this is not about suppressing a thought or feeling. Rather, it’s letting yourself be with a thought or feeling.
And how do you do that? First it’s important to know what you are holding onto. Start by sitting quietly. Notice what keeps churning around in your mind. Do you hear judging thoughts? Are there feelings that you can’t seem to shake off? Do your muscles and breathing contract around a thought or feeling? Notice what it is that you are trying to push away, move towards, or change. All of these indicate that you are holding on and not letting go.
To take an attitude of letting go is to let it be. See if you can soften around the thought or feeling. Don’t try to get rid of or hold onto it. Just acknowledge it and relax your contraction around it. That is the letting go. As Jeffrey Brantley says in his book, Calming your Anxious Mind, “Become familiar with the interior sense of contraction, in the body and the mind. Then practice letting go of that.”
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