Lighten Up By Letting Go

If you want to reach your goals (whether it’s to exercise more, lose weight or something more abstract, such as bringing more peace and contentment into your life), you have to clear out the things that could be literally weighing you down.

Fall is a beautiful season and signals a natural time to let go of things that you no longer need – preparing you for a quiet time of incubation of what will be renewed again when spring comes. It’s a great time to do an internal inventory of what you may need to attend to differently as you settle into the coming months. Like nature, you need to clear out the overgrowth and get rid of things that no longer serve you, things that you are afraid to let go of but have been “weighing you down” for way to long and leave you feeling heavy.

Some examples might be constantly feeling like we’re a victim in life; holding on to judgments of self or others, constant self-criticism, being apathetic, pessimistic, over worrying about the future or staying in jobs, relationships, situations, friendships that clearly weigh us down.

Without trimming and clearing the way, there can be no room for new growth.

So in these crisp fall days that come, maybe find some quiet time to reflect on how you want to be living your life. Dare yourself to dream of the person you would like to be; the health and lifestyle you want to have, the activities you want to do – when you awaken to the life you desire.

Next notice what needs to be trimmed and cleared away – where you might be carrying unnecessary “weight”. Perhaps it’s the heaviness within the area of physical health or fitness, intimate relationship, career or family. Maybe it’s an over accumulation of physical stuff, emotional stress, mental challenges or spiritual disconnect.

Then begin to imagine what your life would look like once you are free of the “weight” you’ve been carrying. Visualize how you would feel, what would you be thinking, believing — what would you be doing that is different from how you are living now?

As you embody this internal picture ask yourself what specific qualities would you need to embrace to be the type of person who could rise up from the weight you’ve been carrying and begin to move powerfully forward? What internal stories, beliefs, self-destructive habits and behaviors would you need to let go of so you can create the life you deserve?

Finally, what specific action steps do you need to take — including something you can do today.

This process of letting go of will help you take charge of your life. Whenever you set out on a new path for growth, change – anything you haven’t cleared out will follow you, so now is the season to begin letting go of anything you need to leave behind.

So choose to lighten up – let go of the self-chosen heaviness in your life. You’ll feel lighter – And by the way actually give your beautiful body the best chance to actually BE lighter.

Nature moves slowly, deliberately, guided by the divine – it simply does what it knows it needs to do and does it. We can learn a lot from this process in our own lives – if we take the time to honor our bodies and our minds – slow down, tune in and pay close attention.