You’re driving on the road and someone cuts you off. You’re ticked off. In fact, you’re mad. You have no idea why the driver cut in front of you. There could be many reasons. It doesn’t matter. You reacted.
You get to your office and you’re still ticked off. You’re now in a bad mood. You go into a meeting where you’re looking at collaborating on ideas for a project that you’re working on. You’re half listening, partly disinterested because you’re closed off from a mood that you can’t seem to shake.
You’re having a tough time separating the events that occurred earlier. You’re not in the right frame of mind to focus or embrace ideas.
There’s nothing new or earth shattering about this scenario. You’ve probably heard this example many times, and yet if you’re still reacting to something; having a tough time letting go, then something isn’t resonating.
When you start to look past your reactions and the need to judge situations, you’ll find it easier to let go. Reactions are based on perception and your perspective. Depending upon how you’re feeling at any given time will be how you perceive things around you.
Case-in-point, when you’re feeling confident, relaxed and open then you perceive people and situations much differently than you would if you were feeling self-conscious, closed and fearful. You tend to treat yourself and others differently.
Let’s equate everything that you do as an energy, a vibration. When you fixate or go to extremes, like being reactive to someone cutting you off in traffic, you’re then pre-occupied by those thoughts. Your heart and mind tend to close off.
What’s holding you captive is your perceived negative thoughts around an experience. It’s almost as if this one occurrence is an excuse to then attach the things that are REALLY ticking you off.
Maybe it wasn’t (just) the person cutting you off. Maybe you were rushed to get to work because you were arguing with your partner, or you had to help your kids get ready for school and they weren’t cooperating. Maybe you feel resentful because you have to go to work when you’d rather be doing something else. It could be any number of things. Something triggered your response.
When you see past your immediate response to the emotions and feelings that appear from the conversations that are going on in your mind, you’ll realize that all you really have is now. Your life is made up of right now’s. Every single moment makes up your life and the experiences that you choose to have.
The reason why you may not be contemplating your response and actions to your life is because you’re too busy reacting to whatever’s coming your way. The drama, if you will, that’s getting in the way of you connecting to yourself. The self that is observing the conversations that are going on in your mind. You know, the incessant chatter.
Here’s where the work comes in.
It takes the realization that you are in fact reacting to things that you’d prefer not to be happening; like someone cutting you off, or messing with your perfectly planned day, or others not cooperating, you get the gist.
I invite you to try this. You don’t need to change your life; all you need to do is decide how you want to live your life. How do you want to be? Then try letting go.
So, when someone cuts you off in traffic, sure, it’s no fun and yet take a deep breath and maybe listen to your favorite song. Let the feeling pass through you rather than it weighing heavy in your heart and in your mind. Release the need to get angry. The only person that your anger is effecting is you and your health.
Once you start to realize how you’re responding to life circumstances and situations, such as someone cutting you off in traffic, you’ll start to see that there will be other areas (probably a lot) of your life where you can start to let go and become more open.
Release your heart, and your mind will open.