What can we let go of?

I hope you all had a nice weekend. Last week I was having a conversation with an incredibly wise friend and we were talking about the power of perspective.

She is in the process of organizing and purging as she has been through several moves in the last few years and found herself bringing lots of stuff with her from place to place without using it. I shared my experience as well of my experience 18 months ago cleaning out a home after 12 years. Deciding what to get rid of and what to hold on to can be an emotional process. It is sometimes sentimentality but often fear of regret that stops us from letting go of items that we no longer need. 

She and I were joking about how we get rid of so many things we never think of again but the mind will ruminate over the one thing we threw out that we later missed; hers was a dresser that she thought was too bulky to use and mine was ironically a portable heater (while logical that I wouldn’t need it in Florida) it still would have come in handy a couple of times this winter in our detached office that has no heat.

This conversation stuck with me throughout the week as I was thinking about how we do the same with our worries and fears. Whether it’s physical items or our thoughts, we can make the conscious choice about what to hold on to and what to let go of. Just like the stuff we regret giving away, we tend to overly focus on the worries that come true rather than notice all the time we spend on fears and worries that didn’t. 

With that perspective and wisdom we then have the opportunity to create a balance of attention between the majority of things we don’t miss or worries that don’t come true and the few regrets or fears that become reality. 

Our asana practice is a great place to practice re-calibrating the mind. When we notice how much energy we spend on the physical discomforts, we can choose to focus more on what on the mat allows us to feel lighter, stronger and happier.

Both on the mat and off it is important to notice, honor and learn from the things that don’t go right or feel right and the regrets we have. From there this practice offers us the power of a broader perspective that also includes the many positive outcomes in our lives and the things we have let go of that have allowed us to declutter our lives, our bodies and our minds.