The Mindful Attitude of Letting Go by Jon Kabat-Zinn
The Mindful Attitude of Letting Go 7
Jon Kabat-Zinn
What is the Mindful Attitude of Letting Go?
The mindful attitude of letting go or non-attachment is fundamental to the practice of mindfulness. When we start paying attention to our inner experience. Then we rapidly discover that there are certain thoughts and feelings and situations. That the mind wants to hold on to. If they are pleasant, we try to prolong these thoughts or feelings or situations. We stretch them out and conjure them up again and again.
Similarly, there are many unpleasant thoughts and feelings, and experiences. That we try to get rid of or to prevent and protect ourselves from having. Because they are painful, and frightening in one way or another.
Mindfulness training in letting go
In mindfulness training. We intentionally put aside the tendency to elevate some aspects of our experience and to reject others. Instead, we just let our experience be what it is and practice observing it from moment to moment.
We find the mindful attitude of letting go is a way of letting things be. Of accepting things as they are.
When we observe our own mind grasping and pushing away. We remind ourselves to let go of those impulses on purpose. Just to see what will happen if we do.
When we find ourselves judging our experience, we let go of those judging thoughts. We recognize them and we just don’t pursue them any further. We let them be, and in doing so we let them go. Similarly, when thoughts of the past or of the future come up. We let go of them. We just watch.
Practicing the mindful attitude of letting go. If we find it particularly difficult to let go of something. Because it has such a stronghold over our mind. Then we can direct our attention to what “holding on” feels like.
Holding on is the opposite of letting go. We can become an expert on our own attachments. Whatever they may be and their consequences in our lives. This is how it feels in those moments. When we finally do let go. We feel what the consequences of that are.
Being willing to look at the ways we hold on. Ultimately shows us a lot about the experience of its opposite. So whether we are “successful” at letting go or not. MBSR training continues to teach us if we are willing to look.
To Let it Go is Natural
The mindful attitude of letting go is not such a foreign experience. We do it every night when we go to sleep. We lie down on a padded surface, with the lights out, in a quiet place, and we let go of our mind and body. If you can’t let go, you can’t go to sleep.
Most of us have experienced times when the mind would just not shut down when we got into bed. This is one of the first signs of elevated stress. At these times we may be unable to free ourselves from certain thoughts. Because our involvement in them is just too powerful. If we try to force ourselves to sleep, it just makes things worse.
So if you can go to sleep, you are already an expert in letting go. Now you just need to practice applying this mindfulness skill in waking situations as well.
Source- Full Catastrophe Living, by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., pages 33-40
More Mindfulness- https://themindfulcoach.com/
Respectfully,
Heidi & Ross
Please, BookMark. 🙂
G Ross Clark C.C.P.,
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada,
Email- TheMindfulCoach@gmail.com,
Training- MBSRtraining.com