Let Go and Be Free
Discover tips on self-healing, overcome a dysfunctional childhood and find happiness.
We are connected. All of us. The world is our home. The division, the fighting, the suffering, the joy, the love, the hope—all of this is our place.
Each day we have a choice. We can get up and act out to take down those around us. We can use our past suffering to fuel our hatred and rage to destroy all around us. We can perpetuate the dysfunction and create another generation of children who are frightened and traumatized by our actions.
It feels good to hold a grudge. At least in the beginning. But then things change over time. When we focus on the grudge, we lose track of the what happened to us.
Oprah Winfrey has said: “Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different, it's accepting the past for what it was, and using this moment and this time to help yourself move forward.”
Have patience with yourself. When you read this, what will your life be like? Will you read this years after the 2020 coronavirus pandemic? Or will you still be dealing with the day-to-day struggles of the pandemic?
Anxiety, feeling unsettled, stress, financial woes, along with trying to overcome your dysfunctional family upbringing.
There are going to be times in your life when you hit a rut. If you’re going along trying something new, it’s hard when you hit a rough patch. Seth Godin has written The Dip in which he states that he believes that successful people look for a rough patch, quit something that they’re trying that isn’t working, and move on to something else. You might wonder why I bring up Godin as he’s written books about marketing and business, but his lesson about failure it critical to our own success in life.
In volume 1 of the Let Go and Be Free series, I recommended the loving-kindness meditation. As a reminder, take a few minutes to say the following several times a day each day:
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be peaceful.
May I live with ease.
The more we resist change, the harder we’re making our lives. No matter what we do, change will continue to take place. The challenge is that it’s easier for us to stick with what we know. The pain we know is easier to handle than the unknown. People are generally afraid of the unknown and change.
How we handle change and respond to it will make all the difference.
The world is chaotic right now and the more chaos that we see, the more that we might be tempted to cut corners or rationalize our decisions.
No matter if we’re dealing with dysfunctional due to a chemical dependency, behavioral issues within the family, or with the world at large: Falling into dysfunctional behavior ourselves is not going to make our lives any easier.
