Letting It Go

Giving Up Suffering

Then there was the work I was able to do by myself! I’ve known for years that “suffering is optional,” which means that we don’t need to focus on existing discomfort and tell ourselves stories that make us even more uncomfortable. However, I never expected my license to suffer to be revoked. Once I learned how to use Logosynthesis to release my own anxious feelings I simply could not justify letting them continue to bother me.

It usually works this way for me. When I am preparing for bed the unresolved stuff of the day tends to surface. One evening while brushing my teeth I kept going over and over the ways I could have responded differently to a fairly nasty conversation with a man I barely knew. Since it was over and unlikely to cause any further problems (other than those I created myself) in my life, I decided it would be nice to stop thinking about it now instead of lying awake and obsessing about it later.

This would have been easy to say but hard to do without my new tool. I used the sentences focused on the belief that I should have acted differently. Suddenly I had a very clear picture of myself at 10 years old in a new school being teased by a girl named Betty. Now we would call that teasing bullying but that concept for teasing was unknown 65 years ago.

The kind of vivid picture I remembered contains an amazing amount of information: the things we remember as well as all the other things that are present but out of our immediate consciousness. That kind of picture creates a powerful focal point for this work.

I used the sentences again (aloud, but garbled, I was brushing my teeth) focused on this memory. I found that my worrying about what I could have, would have, should have said earlier in the day completely disappeared. I was relaxed and went to sleep.

You Can Learn To Do This

I have created this book to give you enough information for you to use this tool yourself just as I did. As you develop your skill you will be able to use it when you are feeling stuck, stressed, anxious, overwhelmed, depressed, or otherwise upset. It will help you to relieve your distress, reclaim your energy and get on with your life.

You’ll also learn when it would probably be a better choice for you to ask a professional therapist or coach to help you resolve these issues. You will find a list of helpful resources at the end of the book.