Cut off the Thinking

Recently, I was overwhelmed with stress. I didn’t understand at the time what was causing a pain that I could only equate to heartburn; however, since I have never had it is only what I imagined it could be. It lasted three days, and on the third day, I went to my acupuncturist. As she was taking my pulse, she asked questions about the past several days and asked if anything was weighing on my mind that was causing stress.

Which, of course, there was.

As my mind raced while on the table, I thought about setting boundaries or just cutting this person out of my life; my very acute acupuncturist said, as if reading my mind, we don’t have to cut people off; we have to cut off the thinking about them.

Her English is not excellent, but I did understand what she meant. As is true for all people, the person was not going to change; I only needed not to give their way of being any more power than my well-being. At this point, I had already allowed it to drain me sufficiently.

I have always been hyper-sensitive to things: situations, emotions, food, medicines, and my environment, so it is no surprise that I internalized my stress. After years of understanding how our bodies take on our emotions, I knew better about holding on to the thoughts and behaviors that did not serve me; I write about the Let Go weekly. Regardless, I unconsciously allowed it to happen.

It was a wake-up call for me that life is a constant. Just because we have worked on something for years doesn’t mean we never have to work on it again.

The lesson has been twofold.

First and foremost, thoughts are things. Everything we think becomes our reality. So, the emotions of frustration, disappointment, and anger I felt colored my world for several days. Instead of stepping back away from the situation and acknowledging that my friend was not doing anything but being who she was. It was my sole responsibility not to allow what I was uncomfortable with, to set better boundaries, and to communicate more clearly in the future. My emotions were amplified because I had unwarranted expectations that things would be different, and it was through these expectations that my disappointment catapulted me into an unduly stressful emotional state.

The second part of the lesson is never to stop learning. The Let Go is a practice that requires continual mindfulness and consciousness. We don’t do it a few times, and magically, we are woke. It is a continuous exploration of self.

Once I was back in my body and away from my heightened emotions, I saw it was all about me: my reactions. When my acupuncturist succinctly said, ” Cut off your thinking about it, ” it was as if I was snapped back into my world of seeing. I realized I had allowed myself to get worked up, which gave me pause to focus on where my work was.

Nothing is forever, just as thinking of never or always will most likely prove us wrong.

Life is an ongoing journey of self-actualization if we are mindful enough to see it and humble enough to accept our participation in whatever comes our way.

My friend is still a dear friend; she has no idea about the emotional and physical turmoil I went through as I processed my feelings. She was just being herself.

I have expressed some boundaries for the future without the need to go through the blow-by-blow of the past.

The past is gone. Nothing can be altered except by changing our thinking about it.

I am wholeheartedly grateful for the intense pain I created in my body that compelled me to see my acupuncturist, who calmly and quietly suggested  I alter my thinking.

If you change your thinking, your reality will change. It is a simple equation. Anything can be created or made real if imagined. The Let Go is a pathway to a happy, balanced, and loving life if we practice continually. Of course, as I recently witnessed, there will be lapses, yet that was also a gift.  It highlighted dramatically where I had stepped away from my inner knowing so I could return with a more robust and transparent vision of where I needed to be.

The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.

-Oprah Winfrey