Letting go can be very useful in everyday life situations, but its use in life crises can be crucial in preventing and alleviating large amounts of suffering. In a life crisis there is usually an overwhelm of emotion. The crisis has tapped into one of our major areas of suppressed or repressed feelings. In this situation the problem is not one of identifying the emotion but how to handle the overwhelm.
(Handling Emotional Crises) Because this is a very difficult problem for most people, some details are needed. There are several techniques to help move through emotional disaster much more quickly, and with a better end result, than allowing it to run out on its own. Recall the usual mechanisms that the mind consciously uses to handle emotions, which are suppression (or repression), expression, and escape. These are deleterious only when they are used without conscious intent. In an overwhelm, it is often advisable to utilize them, but doing so consciously. The purpose of this maneuver is to reduce the sheer overwhelming quantity of the emotion itself so that it can be disassembled and let go of in bits and pieces. … Thus, in this case, it is all right consciously to push away as much of the emotion as we are capable of at the moment. The emotion can be reduced in intensity by sharing the feeling with close friends or mentors. By merely expressing the feeling, some of the energy behind it is reduced. It is also alright in this circumstance consciously to utilize escape mechanisms, such as going out in a social situation to get some distance from the upset, playing with the dog, watching television, going to the movies, playing music, making love, or whatever one’s habit is under the circumstances. When the feeling has been reduced in its sheer quantity and intensity, it is best to start letting go of small aspects of the situation rather than the overall situation and the accompanying emotion itself.
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender: Ch. 3 Pg. 36-37
To find out more about Handling Major Crises, we do have Dr. Hawkins’ office series talk on this topic. It’s life changing!
