Letting It Go

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.

– Yogi Berra and others

You can do this! You can learn to use this tool for your own growth. Like any tool, you will get no benefit from it if you leave it on the shelf to gather dust. You do need to practice, so go ahead and get started. Are you intrigued by the possibilities? Here are some tips and tricks to insure your success.

If a professional has suggested that you read this, it makes sense to follow his or her suggestions for guided self-growth. If you are curious about what you can do on your own, the answer is basically, experiment! There are no rules.

The best possible outcome is total spiritual awakening and transformation. Using the process can help lead you to a joy-filled life. The worst thing that will happen is nothing at all. Fortunately, this is a very low risk process. Even if nothing much happens, all you will lose is a few minutes of your time.

Probably your experience will be somewhere between these extremes. Here are suggestions to help make your experiments as productive as possible.

Practice Your Way

Get accustomed to using the tool before you need it for something really intense or important.

Just learning about Logosynthesis is not enough to enable you to let go of the toxic stress and anxiety in your life. If you want this process to work for you, you will need to practice using it to let go of small stresses in your daily life.

Toxic stress and anxiety often seem to reinforce each other. It is hard to tell which comes first. Practicing using the sentences in mild stress situations helps you become comfortable using the tool at more distressing times.

Shawn decided to practice the sentences whenever he felt annoyed in traffic. Not only did he calm himself, he discovered an impatient part of himself that got in the way of his goal of getting closer to his family.

When you feel stressed because you don’t have time to meet your own high standards, you can use that as an opportunity to practice saying the sentences and reclaiming your energy from the situation.

Lois was expecting guests for dinner but unexpectedly needed to work late. There was simply no time to prepare the dessert she had planned. She solved the problem by purchasing some ice cream on the way home. Instead of feeling relief she created her own stress by internally berating herself for not taking the time to prepare the dessert the day before. This is a good example of a perfect, low risk opportunity to practice.

She decided that a good target would be “this fantasy that I should be able to predict the future.” She whispered the sentences while she was waiting in line at the supermarket and felt more relaxed.

In a much more stressful situation the next week, when the coach of her son’s team called to tell her there was an important make-up game in another town on the same day that she had promised to celebrate her mother’s birthday, she was more prepared to help herself step away from her stress.

She recognized that she was starting to feel anxious about being exposed to another guilt trip if she tried to reschedule the time with her mother. She used the sentences on the (imagined) image of her mother expressing bitter disappointment at the change of plans. She was calm later when she did talk to her mother who decided to join them for the game.

Use Your Technical Aids

Use the tools you already have to help you.

The sooner you can use the sentences without stopping to read them, the better. You can enter them into your phone so you can read them frequently and memorize them. Be sure to download your free gift listed at the end of this chapter. It contains phone-ready images you can easily photograph.

You can also read the sentences aloud into a recording app in chunks, just like a partner would, so you can just repeat the chunks using your own target.

Keep your photo or recording instantly available to remind you of the process instead of having to search for this book or your notes when you need them.

Let Your Self Take Charge

You can’t control what happens! Get used to it and relax.

There is a part of you, your ego, which is doing its best to run your life based on your past experiences and the stories you tell yourself. That part of you may say things like “I don’t know where the right place within myself is located.” It may also tell you to be sure to remember and repeat the words to yourself—over and over again. Your ego is interested in CONTROL! Its theme may be “I can do it myself!”

That is not what this process is about. This process is about helping your ego let go and engaging the guidance of your Self, the deepest part of your being, the very Essence of you, to care for you and lead you to the life you wish for. Your Self has your best interests at heart but may organize things in an order or direction you don’t expect. Just notice your responses to what happens.

When you say the sentences, don’t expect anything in particular to happen. Just be observant and notice what does happen. You may sometimes experience intense emotions, physical sensations or movements, or deep peace, or absolutely nothing. These responses are simply signals that energy is moving. They usually pass quickly. There is no right way to do this and there are no wrong answers or experiences.

Take Your Time

Your energy moves while the words impact your systems. This may take anywhere from 15 seconds to several minutes or even longer. Your ego may attempt to take control again by deciding that nothing important is happening and urge you do go on to the next sentence. When you cut the process short, you are less likely to gain the benefits of your practice.

If you sit quietly with your eyes closed and just notice thoughts, feelings, memories, sounds, smells, images, sensations, etc., you give your energy time to move back to the place where it belongs. You will learn to notice when the energy flow seems to settle and nothing more happens. Then it is time for the next sentence.