How To Learn to Let Go And Why It’s Good To Your Health

In contrast to this, letting go (of failed projects, failed relationships, or whatever else) feels like a vital strategy for maintaining emotional health.

Why It's Good for Emotional Health to Let Go

First of all, it’s psychology. When we hold onto past hurts or disappointments, we stay stressed, like permanently stressed. Needless to say, this negatively affects both mental and physical health. Psychologically, when you learn to let go, you support your health:

• reduce anxiety
• lower the risk of depression
• increase the overall life satisfaction.

Research shows that individuals who practice forgiveness and release resentments are more likely to enjoy deeper personal relationships. This is because letting go can reframe your perspective and transform how you view yourself and the world around you. It can help you to develop a more positive and resilient mindset.

Next, it’s largely about self-esteem. Clinging to negative past experiences often keeps you in a perpetual state of self-doubt and victimhood. As opposed to it, releasing these feelings empowers you to make healthier choices and foster stronger, more positive relationships. In interpersonal dynamics, letting go of old conflicts and misunderstandings clears the way for more honest and supportive interactions. You can thus engage with others without the burden of past biases or grievances.

Finally, letting go opens the door to new opportunities. Free from the weight of the past, you view new challenges and adventures in a new light, free from preconceived notions or emotional baggage. This is essential for personal growth, creativity, and innovation. It teaches you to be more spontaneous.

How to Learn to Let Go: 5 Quick Steps

1. Play Games Where Outcomes Depend On Luck

Let’s start with the least obvious step. Games, especially those where chance plays an important role, can be therapeutic. They teach you to manage frustration and setbacks in a controlled environment. They show you that not everything and not always depends on you and your actions.

For example, when you play those mini games at JackPoker, you may develop a calmer attitude (use the superJackBonus code to get cool perks like free cash, free spins, and rakeback). You can accept the fact that not everything you do should be viewed as a big deal. Some things are just not serious.

2. Acknowledge and Express Your Feelings

Now, the thing is that you cannot let go of what you don’t understand. So you feel something’s wrong, you try not to think about it but it has nothing to do with letting go.

The first step should be to acknowledge your feelings about the situation or person. They may be pretty unpleasant (or even present you in an unpleasant light). Nevertheless, do permit yourself to feel whatever emotions arise. Then, it may be wise to try to process them somehow:

• write them down
• talk to a friend
• express them through art.

If you learn to process your emotions, you’ll automatically learn to release them.

3. Decide to Let Go

Of course, you often let go of something without even considering it much. That happens. Othertimes though, it must be a conscious decision. This decision may be hard to make but do remember that it is, first and foremost, a commitment to your mental health. Remind yourself of the benefits of letting go:

• less stress
• more freedom
• better mood.

4. Focus on the Present and Future

It’s really puzzling why we, humans, are so inclined to be stuck in the past. We may be stressed about the events that took place months, even years ago. That’s the pattern that needs to be changed, of course. 

To let go means to, among all else, shift your focus from past events to the present and future. To anchor in the now, try meditation or yoga. To focus on the future, plan activities that excite you and set inspiring goals.

5. Practice Forgiveness

Many people think that forgiveness is about others. That is, someone has hurt you, you’ve felt bad, and now you are ready to forgive them. But that’s only one scenario. More commonly, we have difficulty with forgiving… ourselves. It seems to us that forgiveness means condoning wrongdoing in this case. It doesn’t. Instead, it means freeing yourself from the control of past pain.

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As you see, letting go can be incredibly helpful, even healing. You now know how to learn this useful skill. You don’t need to complete all the steps, of course. Even if you choose one or two, that should still work.