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In June of 2006, I began my Letting Go Experiment - a personal project intended to last for one year. I was curious to see how my life might change if I released 365 "things" from my life - one per day for a year. Mostly, I released material things - household items, clothing, books, magazines, tapes and CD's, office supplies, unopened food packages. But here and there, I also released non-material items: habits, thoughts, beliefs, behaviors, and the like. At the end of the first 365 days, I reported on what I had done.
Then, I decided to extend the experiment. I continued to log everything I released from my life for another four months and again published the results in my blog, Letting Go Experiment: Month 16.
The last entry in my daily Letting-Go Log is dated October 31, 2007. But I find that letting go continues to be both a theme and a practice in my life, two years after I began in June of 2006.
In the months between November 1, 2007 and June 30, 2008, I released the following from my life: a few more household items, a couple more magazine subscriptions, a commercialized celebration of the December holidays, 30 additional pounds of body weight (a total of 45 altogether), an entire wardrobe of clothing, sizes 14 through 22 (I am now a 12), except for a few pieces that were altered, some unproductive eating habits, and some prescription medication. And that's not all.
More important than all of these "things", the most challenging and worthwhile things released from my life during this experiment were non-material - all were forms of thought originating in my mind: limiting beliefs, assumptions and interpretations, negative self-talk, fears, resentments, petty jealousies and other negative emotions, prejudices, unrealistic wants and expectations, unproductive habits and behaviors.
What have I learned from this experiment?
1. I have too much stuff! Yes, even after 2 years of releasing material stuff from my life, I still have more than I need, and my physical space is still more cluttered that I would like it to be. A life of material simplicity is still a goal. Imagine how our resources might expand, or be preserved, if we all had this goal!
2. Letting go of excess material stuff also seems to result in letting go of excess and non-productive non-material thoughts and behaviors as well. This is excellent incentive for continuing to let go of the material stuff.
3. Letting go of "stuff" makes room for new (and better) "stuff" to come into one's life. [Read "stuff" as anything of value: people, relationships, things, work, play, ideas, emotions, experiences, thoughts, habits, beliefs, etc.] [Yes, it really does seem to work this way!]
4. Letting go involves what Buddhists call "non attachment". And I have found non-attachment to be a very challenging concept to put into practice - and a subject to explore further in another blog entry.
So, what about you, dear reader? What about the internal and external clutter in YOUR life? If you released some of the non-productive "stuff" in your life - both material and non-material - what room might you create for something new and better to come into your life?
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4 comments:
Hi Connie,
I am amazed at how you've stuck to your letting go experiment and have progressed in every way over the past two years. If I were Opra, I'd definitely have you on my show and in my magazine!
Congratulations, Vicki (Adams)
Connie, thank you for sharing your experiment. It has dawned on me that somewhere along the line, I, too, have released and let go of a relationship that this very day has blossomed (or morphed) into a trusting friendship that is valuable in so many ways. I went thru the process in my own way, by not paying much attention to it recently after grieving and fretting for several years. I wouldn't want to be as disciplined as you, writing something each and every day. Each of us has our own individual style that works for us! Vive la difference. Bless you, Connie, for your work. I AM glad that you are in my life.
With love & light from *Stella*
Hi Connie,
Very impressive! Keep up the good work.
Your results exemplify the power of positive thinking. Just like the Little Engine That Could. You tought you could and you did.
Nancy Black
I am thinking that the Big Letting Go is the letting go of Good Intentions. So much of the stuff that clutters our lives is the physical manifestation of a good intention. It might be that exercise machine gathering dust in the corner of my bedroom, or that size 10 dress that represents a desired body shape, or those unread books that I bought months or years ago. My rule, which I follow with some limited success, is that I do not buy the equipment of a new interest until I have either completed all my current projects and rid my life of all my current uncompleted interests. I will continue to subscribe to the New Yorker and I will continue to throw many of them in the trash after reading only the cartoons. Whenever I Hoover I also throw out New Yorkers, allowing only the latest to remain.
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