Heavy stuff is what I call the forceful, the dark, the cluttering, the confusing, the painful, the grief-filled, the stuff that’s just… heavy.

And if you’re carrying some of that around, you know it’s like walking with weights on your shoes sometimes, especially when it’s fresh in mind. If you’ve got the heavy stuff at home, it’s like a minefield with things unhandled that need to be purged and explored and eliminated.

With all de-cluttering, it’s a matter of confront to some degree. I know in my Catalyst Camp each year,  it’s a breakthrough when, finally, despite the temporary jolt of overwhelm that can pop up, the clutter becomes apparent everywhere, even where it was stuffed away and hidden and maybe even beautifully organized.

I’ve done the same with emotions and ideas, sort of stashed them away, turned them into artful stories that garner lots of attention, and even verbalized the lessons and the gifts of struggle.

But you know what? You can fluff up and prettify and express gratitude and sort things into gorgeous boxes and color coded masterpiece files… yet, I’ve found, if you’ve got emotions that are unhandled buried in that prettified, glorious stuff that are being denied, it’s still just as heavy. Prettier, easier to talk about, OK to show to friends and neighbors… but it’s still a weight.

And those weights- no matter the package they’re wrapped in- are what keep us from growing in real ways.

I’d be lying to say that I have a simple time with letting things go all the time.

In some ways, it’s simple for me. I can eliminate “stuff” like nobody’s business. I can live with very little. I’m happy without the noise of excess stuff-stuff. I feel my way through life most of the time.

I’ve become very good at releasing the past. I have all sorts of ways to let things go.

But then… there’s the bigggg emotional stuff.

We’ve all got it.

Everyone. Pretty much.

After reading a book aptly named Letting Go by David Hawkins I was able to finally articulate the confusion I’ve run into with letting things go in the past: Thoughts.

Thoughts can be the most tangled mental clutter. Rules, advice, judgements, lists, rational ways of being, what we’re told, what other people tell us.

Thoughts are all based on our perceptions.  They’re not “objective” and these thoughts can run in circles.

Feelings, though, are feelings. 

Feelings have a truth to them that is the weight of everything.  You can try to stuff a feeling away, deny it, color it with new words, express your gratitude for it, tell stories about it…

But unless you can feel it, it won’t really get lighter.

Just like at home, if you don’t open the junk drawer and see all the junk, it won’t go away on it’s own just because it’s out of sight, even if you talk about it and have very good reasons to keep it all there.

That’s the power of surrender that David Hawkins realized in his research. It was an action that sages and philosophers have written about for ages.

Surrender.

Let yourself feel the emotions of everything without the thoughts in the way.

If it’s overwhelming, get some help. Or lots of help.  I needed to get help to work through some of the heaviest stuff and I am so glad that I did.

Feeling everything can see you through to the other side of the feeling where things are lighter and the world becomes bigger.

It’s a beautiful and simple way to actually confront things.

No rules, no logic… all feelings.

I’ve done “releasing things” before in many different ways, on many different levels, but the very simplicity of just feeling everything without the words and thoughts and justifications and noise opened a door to so much possibility.

Try it and you might be surprised how simple it can be to start to tap into feelings that were hidden in noise. It really helped me to do this at the beach. All kinds of nature and quiet can be awesome for any form of emotional tapping-in and releasing because the Earth can help to transmute all kinds of emotion into more grounded and peaceful feelings.

While you’re at it: take a bath in salt or a swim in the ocean if you’re blessed with one nearby. It’s like hitting the reset button on your body’s energy systems.

If you’ve got big feelings with too much velocity to confront on your own, lots of help you may need is available all over the place, just a google away.

Wishing you so much peace and calm and deep breaths and feelings of freedom!

xoxo Dana

P.S.: The Love Camp is coming (!!!) to transform life with so much more love! It’s the ultimate in Feng Shui to multiply your manifesting magic.

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