an explanation of what it means to "let go"

Ok, I come from E. European, to be precise - Balkan - background, and letting go is NOT their strong point. They simply never let go. They keep track of every little bad thing that was done, and they keep grudges. And for a very long looooong time!!! My family was rich and influential before the communists took over after WWII. Even 40 and more years after the WWII, my family talked about it as if happened yesterday and almost every sentence started with "before the war" or "after the war." They just could not forget that they lost their property, status, freedom, etc. So I grew up in a household that *mentally LIVED* IN WWII.

So, I never learned how to let go. I have never seen anyone do it. (Recently I have.) Since I lack some fundamental training in it, I had to really study it.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LET GO?

Hawaiian ho'oponopono teaches letting go. The just is: let me step out of your way so that you can get to your highest good, and me too.

So I know it intellectually and on some level, and I practiced it and it works. Never really done it very deeply, though.

What forced me into studying it is the monstruous encounter with The Born Again Ignorant. It was a huge blow to my sense of reality. I could not comprehend that something exists like that, that there is something that looks like a human being walking around but practicing and believing in all that nazi stuff. It is incomprehensible to me that someone would BELIEVE in and PRACTICE discriminationm and even feel proud and justified. It is not a human being. And I spent time with that?? I felt like I stepped into shit and got dirty all over.

So my mentors said to let it go. It was all like Greek to me. I had no clue what exactly is involved in "letting go."

SO, here is me, an alien trying to decipher the words "let go." WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO LET GO.
So, here is my research findings so far.

First, not letting go is a synonym for keeping grudges. It means complaining, and complaining means blaming. Blaming means no self responsibility, spiritual impotence and ignorance. It means not believing in God.

Second, not letting go means mulling over in one's head - over and over and over and over and over and OVER again - the same old complaining bitching thoughts, and completely forgetting about God, about Oneness, about Love, about Greater Intelligence, about everything and anything Higher.

Not letting go means being disconnected from God and completely lost is self centerdness.

IT IS LIKE FEELING WITH YOUR TONGUE THE TOOTH THAT HURTS. YOU KEEP ON TOUCHING IT WITH YOUR TONGUE, AND FEELING IT HURTING. This action doesn't help at all, just increases the pain. And it is a very sick enjoyment.
And a distraction - you are unplugged from God and plugged into a very enticing soap opera drama, with YOU as the main actor and audience. Very flattering.

SO THAT IS HOW YOU LET GO: STOP TOUCHING THAT ACHEY TOOTH WITH YOUR TONGUE.
JUST *STOP*. THEN FOCUS BACK ON GOD.

This whole issue is related to the undisciplined lazy mind that likes to indulge in pleasures of dubious quality. I wrote about that in an earlier post.

So that's how you let go: when you start thinking the same thing over and over again, you just say: OK, I thought about this already, and I am DONE. Let's move on to something else. What is the productive useful thought I need to be thinking now? Let me see - let me review that music practice, think how to organize my closets, think what to cook next, etc. Have I been aware of God in this last minute? Let me focus on God again.

And that's it.

Example: you start thinking: how could this person believe in such crap, how could he/she behave like that, how could I have been so stupid to step into that shit, how...
And then you realize - hey, I have been thinking this for 5 mins already and I am getting a headache and tight abdomen, and it is not solving anything. STOP.
What do I need to be thinking about? I need to be thinking about how to advertise my business more effectively, manage my apartment, prepare my next lecture, write a grant proposal for increasing number of women in sciences and engineering, etc. Those are things that are going to better me and everyone else. And, I need to focus on God.

And then you do it. I think about what to teach, who to hire, where I'd like to go next, how to improve my business, should I join BNI or not, etc. Then I think about God. That is always a good and necessary thought to think about.

So that's the recepie for success - just bring back the thoughts to God.
That's all.

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Just this paragraph is written much later, on 9/12/2009:
What happened after I focused my attention on God is that I started doing things which are good for me. I changed jobs, environments, people. Met so many wonderful people. I feel properly used - they treat me well, I have something to give them, and I do. Suddenly life is new and schiney again. I am busy with worthwhile projects, giving, that truely make me happy. That's a secret to happiness.
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PS - sometimes we have very good reasons to be tempted to not let go. For example, my family. They were rich merchants and close to the king before the WWII. They were the ruling class and had everything. When WWII came, and all their good life was over.

No wonder that they were upset. Esp. because they were able to defend themselves and make their influence grow under several earlier wars, incl. Turskish wars and WWI. During WWI, the whole family (as well as whatever was left of Serbian army) walked on foot in winter, hungry and injured, through high mountains, for many months, escaping the Austrians. Finally they came to the island Krf, where they were nursed back to health and then jumped back into the fight and kicked Austrians out. And got their country and property back. Of course, destroyed by the war. But at least - theirs. They nursed it back to health and prosperity. Then WWII comes and all of it is gone again. This time, even worse - they are made into poor people without any rights, furthermore, they are harassed.

Bummer! No wonder they were pissed off.

But then comes a point where things need to be let go. Energetically, this is always required.

Sometimes in works in physical. After some 55 years, the family that moved in and just took over my family's house finally had to give the house back to the owners. Yes, in communism they just made someone else move into your house. The intruders lived in it, for free, for 55 years. Finally that house is returned back to my family. My cousin got it. They had to wait about 10 years, suing in court to get it back.

It is difficult task, to let go energetically and not let go of wealth and status physically, for years. It's hard! Even a saint would have to work at that one.