Fear of letting go

[Anonymous]

I have a fear of completely letting go. Letting go of emotional defenses that have been built up over a lifetime is scary for me. I suppose part of it is fear of the unknown and being comfortable with the familiar even though it may be holding me back. Anybody else have ego anchors weighing them down?

[Anonymous]

Hi, Ted. No, I don’t have this fear. I guess I’ve always wanted so badly to be “clear” that I haven’t really thought about this. After reading your post, I thought perhaps it might come up for me when I’m confronted with really letting these things go, as opposed to just thinking about it. When I do the dissolving process, I haven’t really thought about what I might be dealing with. Bruce has a lot to say about this. I just want to be free of all these blockages. I’ll be interested to see what everyone else has to say.

[Anonymous]

Hi Matt. Thanks for the reply. For me, this meditation circle is the Taoist end game. The instruction and guidance from Bruce is superior and I’m feeling so much energy from the practice, more than from my Qigong and Tai Chi. I’m going to breakthrough the fear, I just know it.

“People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.” -Thich Naht Hahn

[Anonymous]

..hi all, not sure that I’m sensitive enough to feel subtle emotional blockages (I haven’t noticed any). That said, Ted, perhaps be attentive to letting go of that which is easy and holds no fear first. For example, letting go of physical tension and or contraction is about intent and physiological relaxation – the experience may help you begin to let go of the anxiety bound to emotional blockages. Also, you never know in realesing apparently physical tensions you may also be letting go of very subtly bound emotional blockages without concious engagement.

[Anonymous]

Bruce has said previously “if you look inside, they only thing you’ll see is what’s there”. I think it is fair to say that in the process of meditation we will encounter uncomfortable areas (I know I do!). The only thing that I can say is follow the 70% rule, and don’t do too much too fast, but don’t look the other way either.

[Anonymous]

Hi Ted,

I understand what you are saying about being afraid of completely letting go. I have found with myself that quite often with things I have trouble letting go of, there is a demand that I should or shouldn’t be a certain way holding it in place.

It sounds to me that maybe (and I could be wrong) you might have a demand that you should not feel fear because the fear is stopping you or that you must completely let go of all your emotional defenses all at once.

I have found that if I let go of the demand, for example accept that it’s perfectly natural to feel fear when letting go of something I have believed has protected me from harm for many years, but see what happens if I let go anyway. This gives me a bit of space to work with, and as suggested before keeping the 70% rule in mind, things do not have to be all or everything.

Hope this is of some use
Kind Regards
Oskar

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your input Oskar. I think you have nailed it.

[Author]

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