Thankfully, the house move will be done and dusted by the end of the week and life will resume some kind of normalcy. However, at the moment I’m still in the process and therefore still processing the experience. Discussing it with a friend this afternoon, we agreed that even when change is what you want, it’s still an emotional experience. Letting go can be tough and the simple act of rummaging through long-held items stirs up complex emotions. As the coach and author, Cheryl Richardson, says “When we say goodbye, we never say goodbye to one person, one event or one thing. We say goodbye to many experiences – the lessons learned, the challenges won and lost, the unfulfilled promises or the unexpected joys. This takes time, patience and a willingness to sift through and experience all our feelings.”
She also advocates fully embracing the ending to create a new beginning, acknowledging the good times as well as the difficult ones. Where we often have trouble is being willing to let ourselves surrender to the sadness that change evokes. Cheryl notes “Sadness simply means that we’re experiencing the loss of something that held significance in our lives. It’s earned the right to pull at our hearts. If you allow yourself to go through it instead of working hard to go around it, you’ll save yourself a whole lot of energy. You can’t feel joy without cultivating the strength to feel pain.”
Take a look at this Oprah clip about the world’s largest garage sale to see just how far one woman took her clutter and the emotions that were stirred up in letting it go. Makes me look like a rank amateur in the pack rat stakes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADGQOxqLKiI
Until normal service is resumed next week – when I have come out of my removal-related coma – take a look at what’s ready to change in your life and acknowledge the complex emotions surrounding it. Even when it’s a positive step, there may still be some feelings of loss around it. Allow yourself to acknowledge your feelings fully so that you can move free and unencumbered into the next phase of your life. When we pay attention to even our most uncomfortable feelings, we don’t necessarily increase them – paradoxically, once they’re acknowledged they tend to subside.
Break through your own resistance to difficult emotions like grief, sadness and loss. If you feel into them deeply you’ll break through to the hope and inspiration that lies beyond them. Remember, the only way out is through. Avoid nothing and watch how easily the shadows can be dispelled. There’s nothing to fear when you know that all feelings are temporary and that uncomfortable ones rise up for the express purpose of being released. Notice them, feel them and move on, trusting that your willingness to look within will be well-rewarded. Allow yourself to walk through the shadows to find your own lightness of being.
She also advocates fully embracing the ending to create a new beginning, acknowledging the good times as well as the difficult ones. Where we often have trouble is being willing to let ourselves surrender to the sadness that change evokes. Cheryl notes “Sadness simply means that we’re experiencing the loss of something that held significance in our lives. It’s earned the right to pull at our hearts. If you allow yourself to go through it instead of working hard to go around it, you’ll save yourself a whole lot of energy. You can’t feel joy without cultivating the strength to feel pain.”
Take a look at this Oprah clip about the world’s largest garage sale to see just how far one woman took her clutter and the emotions that were stirred up in letting it go. Makes me look like a rank amateur in the pack rat stakes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADGQOxqLKiI
Until normal service is resumed next week – when I have come out of my removal-related coma – take a look at what’s ready to change in your life and acknowledge the complex emotions surrounding it. Even when it’s a positive step, there may still be some feelings of loss around it. Allow yourself to acknowledge your feelings fully so that you can move free and unencumbered into the next phase of your life. When we pay attention to even our most uncomfortable feelings, we don’t necessarily increase them – paradoxically, once they’re acknowledged they tend to subside.
Break through your own resistance to difficult emotions like grief, sadness and loss. If you feel into them deeply you’ll break through to the hope and inspiration that lies beyond them. Remember, the only way out is through. Avoid nothing and watch how easily the shadows can be dispelled. There’s nothing to fear when you know that all feelings are temporary and that uncomfortable ones rise up for the express purpose of being released. Notice them, feel them and move on, trusting that your willingness to look within will be well-rewarded. Allow yourself to walk through the shadows to find your own lightness of being.
For the Coach Fabulous archives, go to www.coachfabulous.blogspot.com and for the I Am Fabulous archives, go to www.fabcentral.blogspot.com. You can email me at coachfabulous@iamfabulous.co.uk. All material ©2008 Alison Porter. No article may be reproduced in full or in part without the express permission of the author. (Originally posted 25 Aug 08)
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