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For the last 3 weeks, I’ve shared mainly about tools you can use as a practice in your own life to learn to let go of things you may be holding onto including anger, hurt, shame and more especially regarding experiences in our past. Have you picked one or two to practice in your own life?
Now, how about letting go even beyond those specific things,
letting go of guilt, responsibility, and worry about things that are totally
beyond our control. How can we begin to make individual choices that keep us
from holding onto other stuff that isn’t even ours?
Of course many of the tools I’ve shared can be used with all
of the above, but when it comes to things that seem to be completely beyond our
control, it can be really tough to even think about how to let it go or how to
have it not dominate our thoughts and feelings.
Think about what little control we have over so many things
in our life, things outside of ourselves, but things that also sometimes have a
big impact on our lives.
Sometimes our lack of control comes from choices we’ve made
and the consequences of those choices, good and bad. For example, our time, we
don’t know how much time we’ll have on earth or with a loved one or on a job. Practicing
using our time in ways that help us feel good is obviously a good idea. But when we are feeling down or stressed,
it’s easy to “waste” time, to have a “whatever” attitude about how we use our
time, because we may feel like it just doesn’t matter.
Sometimes it may seem that we don’t have much control over
anything, but what we do have control over (if we can learn how) is how we
react and how we feel in general. How do we do that? Practice the tools we’ve shared
over the last few weeks (smile).
So, why am I motivated to write about this now?
I mentioned in part two of my letting go series that I
volunteer at a local juvenile detention center and hang out with these kids
each week. Most of the time, I learn very little about the specific reasons
they are there. In fact, sometimes they don’t even share their name.
Since it’s an option for the youth to participate with me,
it’s always different; some weeks everyone in the wing hangs with me, sometimes
just two or three. Recently I’ve had an opportunity to spend more time with a couple
of girls and learned a little more about them. While it didn’t surprise me
since I know it’s how the “system” works, I was reminded how sometimes we truly
have no control at all and just how important it is for us to build foundations
within ourselves in order to feel better and make better choices where we can.
On a recent visit, I could feel it was a kind of a down day
in general at the facility. Only those two girls chose to chat with me (they
had pretty low energy and a bit of sadness), so I was able to talk with them
about in more detail about their own situations
As they shared some details, I could really see that they have
very little control over their lives, not just in the detention center, but
even at their homes. It also raised my
awareness of what it means to be a teenager on probation.
These two girls I had known in earlier months, both had gone
home, but were now back. Both were ordered back to the center for minor
“violations” of their probation… violations that technically they did not even
do, they were victims (I can’t think of a better word to use here) of
situations that truly were beyond their control!
Because these girls are already labeled as “bad kids or
troubled kids, they don’t even get the opportunity for resolution. Instead,
they get “nope, we’re not even gonna talk about it, “you’re on the street after
curfew, you violated probation.” The
“whatever” attitude can be on both sides, the police because they have to deal
with another “juvie kid,” and the teen now distrusts the system even more and
thinks “whatever, I’m already in trouble, what does it matter what I do next?”
Can you relate to the “whatever” attitude? Not a fun place
to be, but until we begin practicing loving and letting go, we often spend a
lot of time with that attitude.
So, back to the story… one young lady was on the street
after the town’s teen curfew, but she was waiting for a ride from a family
member who hadn’t shown up. She told the police she had been waiting a while,
but it was after curfew, with no luck contacting the ride, the girl was on
probation and a tether, so the police took her to the station. Still no one
came to pick up this young lady, so the police called her probation officer and
she was driven back to juvie on curfew violation and now waits several days for
a court date to decide what to do next or hear her story.
How does that help anything? How does that help her feel
better about herself so she can make better choices?
There are so many things beyond our control and this just reminded
me even more just how important it is to share ideas about self-love and
letting go, because sometimes we are in situations not only beyond our control,
but seemly out of control in general!
The other young lady comes from a home full of trouble, two
brothers were caught stealing, her youngest brother was recently kicked in the
head by their drunk step-dad and she hasn’t been doing well in school, which is
a condition of probation (to have all work turned in and passing classes)… so
violate that because it’s nearly impossible to study or get help at home, and
she is back in juvie.
It’s beyond my control to fix all these issues, I know that
and I’ve let it go. I can be motivated to do more and share more love, but I
don’t hold on to it. I can’t. If I did, I’d be sad and mad about it, I might
get a “whatever” attitude that why do anything since I don’t have control to
fix it all.
Instead, I can feel the emotion and then let it go and
choose what will make me feel better about me
and about making a difference… so
I share this story and my passion about simple practices.
When we build and have a foundation of self-love, we are
less vulnerable to those types of situations that just seem crazy. We become
less vulnerable to the “whatever” attitude, less vulnerable to further
victimization, less vulnerable to making self-destructive choices.
These stories also remind me how important it is that these
simple ideas and tools about practicing self-love, letting go, and forgiveness
be available to everyone, everywhere!
Yeah, that would be a big job for just me.
So I focus most of my work on training people in fields such
as counselors, mentors, teachers, etc. to incorporate these practices into
their work to help their students and clients build a strong foundation. But I also
want every environment, business, organization, prison, church, detention
center, school, etc. to be filled with love!
Yes, I know this is beyond my control, but it’s a great
dream and if each day, I share with just one person or organization, then I’ve
got one more triumph to record in my daily LoveFest practice.
What a great vision: for even police stations and court rooms to be
filled with love. Sure, there are rules and when people break the rules, there
are consequences. BUT what if we added in love, what if we say “Okay, the rules
were broken, we love you anyway. Here is your consequence and here’s how we’ll
help you not make this same choice next time."
Or in the case of the young lady picked up after curfew,
what if everyone was filled with love and the probation officer asked the
police to drive the girl home instead of back to juvie? What if then on their
next home visit, they acknowledge the young lady for doing her best, which was
sitting and waiting for a ride in a safe place instead of walking a long
distance in the dark. Then asking the family how to help them make sure that
doesn’t happen again?
If they are never given or taught the love they need to
build something different, how do we expect things to be different?
Maybe you’ve never been in trouble with the law, but can you
think of a similar situation in your own life where you just did the best you
could in circumstances totally beyond your control, yet, it just didn’t seem to
matter?
Have you ever spent time in that “whatever” mentality?
I have. It wasn’t fun.
So what do we do about it?
Practice.
Practice.
Keep practicing… letting go, forgiving, loving… ourselves
and others… and then sharing the practice.
Maybe you’re reading this article because you want to let
something go and feel more love for yourself or let go of idea of having
control or maybe you’re reading because you are doing similar work – either way
I invite you to join and let me know how I can help you in your goals around
loving and letting go.
I also have a gift for you, available through October
31. It’s a hug you can wear, an “I love
me” bracelet. It’s FREE (free s&h too)! Just visit www.40DayLoveFest.com and complete a
simple form!
Tina Nies is a Certified Life Coach and Vision Board Coach. Her passion is building and strengthening an individual’s self-love as a foundation for success. Tina empowers individuals with a foundation to develop their vision and create action strategies for success as they grow and explore their happiness.In her simple practice self-love, Tina also focuses on raising awareness of the power of our choices. In each moment, the choices we make impact our success and determine whether or not we reach our goals in business or personal life. “Encouraging people to say yes to choices that lead them to their deepest desires and true happiness and no to choices that do not serve their best interests is extremely powerful”
Join Tina in her 40 Day LoveFest: Letting Go, a daily BlogTalkRadio show now through Nov 1 www.BlogTalkRadio.com/
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