Releasing is a fantastic tool for unleashing freedom in your life!
It allows you to let go of sadness and limitation, and embrace freedom and happiness. It enables you to drop negative emotion and increase positive emotion.
Releasing allows you to control your feelings, rather than letting your feelings control you.
In fact, I'd consider releasing to be perhaps the most important self-development technique on the planet.
Sound interesting? Well, let's start from the beginning.
Emotions are how we feel.
We feel grief after the death of a family member. We feel anger when somebody rubs us up the wrong way. We feel pride when we do a great job.
Emotions are useful, and help make us human.
But sometimes emotions hold us back.
They cause us to freeze in fear when about to deliver our speech. They cause us to continue being angry toward someone we should've forgiven long ago. They cause us to carry on being addicted to gambling, or bad relationships.
Yes, emotions have a lot to answer for!
But the good thing is that you can control your emotions just as simply as you'd control a light switch. Turning them off is as simple as <click>.
You see, the secret you must realise is this:
You are not your emotions.
That's right. You are not your emotions. And your emotions are not you.
Emotions are just things that you experience.
Rather than "I am angry," a more accurate description might be "I am experiencing anger."
And rather than "I am courageous," a more lucid version may be "I am feeling courageous."
So, emotions are just things you experience. Sometimes they feel good, sometimes they run riot. And you can switch them off as easily as you'd switch off a plug socket.
How?
Through the process of releasing.
Now, releasing is all about letting go of your negative emotions. When you let go of negative emotions, you'll feel lighter and more stress-free. You'll enjoy greater freedom and feel more at peace with the world.
Releasing is always a great idea.
(You can let go of positive emotions too, and you'll typically feel even more positive as a result.)
How can you release?
Firstly, you need to recognize that we're each desperately holding onto our emotions - even those emotions that aren't serving us. We're clenching them, like we'd clench our hands around a pencil or a small ball.
We're holding on to that fear, that grief, that apathy - because we somehow think that it is us, and that we need it.
But when we realise that we are not our emotions, and that we don't need it, we can simply choose to let it go.
That is, we can unclench our fist - and allow that emotion to simply be free, or even drop out of our hands altogether.
Let's try it together.
Think of something right now that you know is a concern for you. It might be a situation at work, or a particular person you dislike, or just some general worry that you have. Make it a simple issue for now, just for starters.
Think of that thing, and notice the resistance that builds up in your stomach.
Then simply ask yourself the question:
"Can I let this go?"
Which is another way of saying: Can you unclench the grip you have around this feeling right now? Can you release the grip? Can you let go of the resistance? Can you just drop the emotion attached to this issue?
As you ask yourself "Can I let this go?" - breathe out, and answer honestly with "Yes" or "No" out loud. It doesn't matter which you answer with, it'll all provide you with an emotional release on some level.
While exhaling, feel the release happening. Feel yourself unclenching that grip. Feel yourself just letting go of that emotion. Notice the difference?
Remember, we are the ones that are holding on to our emotions. We are the ones that are causing them to continue living inside our minds.
Would you prefer to hold on to your negative emotions even more, allowing them to bubble away inside your mind - or would you prefer to just let them go?
Remember, by letting go, we're not agreeing with it, or letting somebody off the hook. We're simply releasing the emotion attached to it. We're granting ourselves greater peace and serenity.
Then, when you're ready, connect to see whether that issue still has any charge.
If it does, repeat the process once more: connect with the issue, ask yourself "Can I let this go?", answer "Yes" or "No" while breathing out, and feel the release.
Loop on this entire process a few more times.
You'll soon begin to really feel very different about the whole issue.
Within minutes, you'll notice the emotion has drastically reduced in size - and may just have disappeared altogether. Right?
Finished? How did that feel?
Let's try it once more. This time, make sure you follow through the entire process. Out loud, too, if you can.
Again, think of a situation which brings up some resistance in your tummy. It might be an annoying person, or a small worry that you have right now.
Get in touch with that sensation, that energy, that feeling. Then ask yourself:
"Can I let this go?"
Answer the question out loud, with a "Yes" or "No," while breathing out. Remember, any answer is fine, they both work the same magic. Just be honest.
As you answer, loosen your clutch on the emotion. Relax into the comfort. Release.
Feel yourself unclenching. Feel yourself letting go.
Releasing feels great. It's like the feeling you get when the doctors call you, after those worrying tests - and say you've got the all clear. It's total relief. That's releasing.
To help you feel the release even further, imagine two doors in front of your stomach opening, allowing all of the negative emotion just to flow out - as you let go. Really feel it happening. Great!
Finished?
Now check how you feel.
If there's still any emotional charge left, no worries. That's fine! Repeat the process until you feel better about the issue, or want to finish.
If you don't feel any progress at all, don't worry either. Just let go of trying to get results. Sometimes you're too busy "watching" to really experience.
And if you answer "No" during the process and don't feel yourself able to let go, don't worry about that either. Every step, no matter how redundant it may feel, helps take you closer to emotional freedom. Just release on it and move on.
And that's it, really.
Releasing is the quickest and easiest method for letting go of troublesome emotions.
It's the hidden process behind almost every therapy out there - from psychotherapy to tribal drum therapy. Except here we're just releasing the emotions directly, rather than fluffing up the process.
There's no need to spend years sitting on a couch, going into your "back story" and analyzing precisely why things happened that way. Here, we just release - and move on.
It really is as simple as that.
Just connect with the emotion and ask yourself: "Can I let this go?" - then breathe out, answer "Yes" or "No," and feel yourself letting go.
Easy!
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Further Releasing Methods
There are other ways of releasing, too - all based on the same core "letting go" principle.
One of the most popular is the three questions method.
This was popularized by the late Lester Levenson, and is now taught in the Abundance Course (www.releasetechnique.com) and The Sedona Method (www.sedona.com).
This technique is based on the following premises:
1. We don't know that we can let emotions go
2. We don't want to let go of emotions
3. We always put off letting go until later
So, this method of releasing works by addressing each of these questions - allowing us to cycle through, and slowly let go of the emotions that are holding us back.
Here are the steps:
1. Think of the situation, and connect with the emotion you'd like to release.
2. Ask yourself: "Could I let this go?" (yes/no - answer out loud, honestly)
3. Move on to ask: "Would I let this go?" (again, yes/no)
4. And then: "When?" (now/later)
5. Feel that release - then check to see how the situation feels. If there's still some emotional charge, go back to step one and loop again: you'll find some issues are layered like onions, and are released over multiple passes. Or if you feel stuck in the actual process itself, let go of wanting to feel stuck, and start again - or rest for a while.
Another popular releasing method is the welcoming technique, popularized by many releasing teachers, including Chris Payne with his Effort-Free Life System (www.effortfree.com).
Here are the steps to follow for this technique:
1. Lower your head and place your hand on your chest or stomach. Get in touch with an emotion, or a situation that has an emotional charge for you.
2. Notice the intensity of the feeling in your body, and rate the intensity from 0 to 10.
3. Welcome the emotion, much as you'd welcome a friend into your home. Welcoming doesn't mean you agree or forgive the emotion, just embrace it, accept it, welcome it. Allow it to be there, instead of pretending it doesn't exist. Feel the welcoming.
4. Now get in touch with the emotion again. How does it feel?
5. Rate the intensity again, from 0 to 10. Keep going until it comes down to 0. If you feel stuck, ask yourself if you could let go of trying to change being stuck - or simply continue later.
Releasing teacher Lester Levenson (whose work is now continued through The Abundance Course and The Sedona Method) also used to suggest that individuals try letting go of wanting control, approval and security too. These are general terms that can help you release on emotions right across the board.
You know, releasing is about letting go of emotions. It's about detachment.
It's what the Eastern world calls letting go of our attachments and aversions.
In the Western world, this releasing process is essentially the equivalent of saying:
"F**k it!"
(A wonderful argument set forth by John C. Parkin in his book of the same name.)
Try each of these techniques yourself, and start using whichever suits you best. But remember to try them.
Releasing isn't just for reading about. It's experiential.
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Conclusion
Releasing is a powerful method for gaining greater emotional freedom.
It helps you realise that you are not your emotions - and thereby allows you to release all of the limiting thoughts, emotions and feelings that have held you back in the past.
You'll become happier, enjoy more self-empowerment, and simply be more free when you discover releasing for yourself.
Take time out to go through all of your issues, negative emotions, and the people in your life - releasing on each in turn. You'll feel the benefits immediately.
Just keep asking yourself "Can I let this go?"
Practice it as often as you can - and do it all the time. Even when you're talking to somebody, you can release there and then, in that moment. It's simple and it's easy.
To learn more about releasing, I'd suggest one of the following books:
� The Sedona Method - by Hale Dwoskin - www.sedona.com
� The Abundance Course - by Larry Crane - www.releasetechnique.com
� The Secret of Letting Go - by Guy Finley - www.guyfinley.com
� Effort-Free Life System - by Chris Payne - www.effortfree.com
� Happiness Now - by Bradley Thompson - www.happiness.fm
� F**k It - by John C. Parkin - www.thefuckitway.com
Discover releasing for yourself, embrace it in your daily life - and I promise you'll never look back.
Even if that releasing is as simple as saying "F**k it!" just a little more often.
Labels: inspiration, lester levenson, self-development
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