2272: If You Want to Be Light You Have to Let Go by Courtney Carver of Be More With Less on Mental Freedom

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: This is Optimal Relationships Daily. If you want to be light, you have to let go by Courtney

[00:00:06] [SPEAKER_00]: Carver of Be More With Less dot com. Hello everybody and welcome once again to Optimal

[00:00:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Relationships Daily. I'm Greg Audino and this is one of our weekly bonus episodes in

[00:00:17] [SPEAKER_00]: which in lieu of an article about relationships, I actually share previously aired audio with

[00:00:22] [SPEAKER_00]: you from one of the other shows in our network. And today we will hear an episode

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_00]: of Optimal Living Daily narrated by Justin, our narrator on that show. And of course he

[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_00]: will offer his own commentary at the end. So sit back and relax as we get into the post

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_01]: now and optimize your life. If you want to feel light, you have to let go by Courtney

[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_01]: Carver of Be More With Less dot com. Maybe it's time to let go. Things build up.

[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_01]: They get heavy. When we forget to let go, we feel heavy. Even though you may not

[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_01]: be carrying your stuff around in a backpack or a suitcase, you still carry it. You carry

[00:01:04] [SPEAKER_01]: the weight of your stuff in your bones, your mind and your heart. Stuff like clutter in

[00:01:10] [SPEAKER_01]: your home, just in case stuff in storage, harsh words from a loved one, regret and

[00:01:17] [SPEAKER_01]: guilt. The heaviness can look like exhaustion, frustration, sadness, anxiousness, manileness.

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_01]: When you keep holding on to everything, it's hard to figure out what's weighing you down.

[00:01:30] [SPEAKER_01]: We each carry our own heavy things like worry, fear, pain and bad habits, but we all share

[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_01]: the burden. It's not just you who suffers from the weight you carry through the world.

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_01]: It impacts your work, relationships, health, and everyone around you. Even though letting

[00:01:46] [SPEAKER_01]: go can feel scary and uncertain, it also feels light. You can feel the lightness

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_01]: immediately and other people will recognize it too. They will sense that there's something

[00:01:57] [SPEAKER_01]: different about you. It's hard to ignore when someone feels light. Seven ways to let go

[00:02:04] [SPEAKER_01]: feel light. Number one, when you let go of physical objects, your home feels light.

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_01]: Start with the easy stuff like duplicates, things that you don't use or enjoy, and

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_01]: the stuff that has no purpose in your life or your home. Box it up, set it aside,

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_01]: and notice the light in your home. Number two, when you let go of what you don't like about yourself,

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_01]: your body feels light. Maybe you don't like your weight, your wrinkles, or something else

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_01]: about your body. Our negative self-talk around appearance is heavy. Look in the mirror and

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_01]: smile. Throw your scale away. Really see yourself in the body that has been through

[00:02:44] [SPEAKER_01]: so much with you. Notice something you love about yourself and refuse to compare

[00:02:50] [SPEAKER_01]: or measure it. Let it go and feel the light in your body. Number three, when you let go of anger

[00:02:58] [SPEAKER_01]: or resentment from the past, your heart feels light. Letting go doesn't require fixing things

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_01]: or setting the record straight. You can just decide that you are going to stop punishing yourself.

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_01]: If you need a ceremony, write it down and burn or tear it up. Forgive yourself.

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_01]: Forgive others even if they don't think they need forgiveness. Say goodbye to the hurt you cannot

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_01]: resolve and notice the light in your heart. Number four, when you let go of fear of the future,

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_01]: your soul feels light. The path ahead is uncertain and that's never going to change.

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_01]: Release your fear of how things will unfold by getting rooted in the present.

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_01]: Show for your life today and you'll be better equipped to handle your

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_01]: tomorrows with grace and ease. Take a deep breath, let the fear about what might happen go

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_01]: and notice the light in your soul. Number five, when you let go of items on your to-do list,

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_01]: your mind feels light. Maybe you can do it all but you can't do it all today.

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_01]: Let go of the long lists and focus on a short one with a handful of items that you can

[00:04:04] [SPEAKER_01]: accomplish in one day. You have to choose between crossing things off your list

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_01]: or living with clarity about what's most important to you. At the end of the day,

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_01]: once you've let go of all the things that need to be done, notice the light in your mind.

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Number six, when you let go of perfection, everything feels light. The opposite of perfection

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_01]: is freedom so when you let it go, your work, health and relationships rise from that freedom

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_01]: and lightness. Let there be typos and failures in your work, let there be disagreements with

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_01]: people you love, let there be lazy afternoons of movie marathons and doing nothing. Give yourself

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_01]: permission to be a work in progress and feel the light in everything. Number seven,

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_01]: when you let go of the need to be right, your relationships feel light. When did being

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_01]: right and fixing people replace true love in your relationship? Let go of being right

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_01]: and focus on what makes you smile. Give your friend or lover or partner a big hug, remember

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_01]: what you love about the two of you together and notice the light in your relationship.

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_01]: When letting it go, start with one thing. Remember how long you've been holding on

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_01]: and give yourself some grace in the time it will take to let it go. You didn't hold

[00:05:25] [SPEAKER_01]: on with the intention of suffering but you can let go with the intention of feeling happy,

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_01]: free and light. When you're overwhelmed, tired or stressed, the solution is almost always

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_01]: less. Get rid of something, lots of some things, let it go. If you want to feel light,

[00:05:46] [SPEAKER_01]: you have to let go. You just listened to the post titled,

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_01]: If You Want to Feel Light, You Have to Let Go by Courtney Carver of Be More Last.com.

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you to Courtney. If you knew here, yesterday's episode was a good one that goes

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_01]: along quite well with number two. That was where she said, when you let go of what you

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_01]: don't like about yourself, your body feels light. Eric Teplitz in yesterday's episode talked

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_01]: about something called kind sight and how it's difficult to be compassionate towards

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_01]: ourselves in the moment when it's quite easy after the fact, like years later if you were reading

[00:06:26] [SPEAKER_01]: an old journal entry. So definitely check out yesterday's episode if you want to hear more about

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_01]: that. Something else we talk about pretty frequently on this show is productivity in

[00:06:36] [SPEAKER_01]: general. To-do lists, goals, getting things done, bullet journals, those are good things

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_01]: but Courtney brings up a great point. That stuff is really stuff and it clutters our

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_01]: brains. Now I'm not encouraging laziness or not doing what we really should be doing but some

[00:06:55] [SPEAKER_01]: compassion for ourselves there too would go a long way because like she said, we can't do everything

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_01]: today. And one last thing I'll mention, perfectionism has been an ongoing thing for me to deal with

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_01]: personally and I've definitely come a long way with that. I used to edit out every tiny

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_01]: mouth noise in this podcast for the first few hundred episodes. Once optimal finance daily

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_01]: and optimal health daily started, it became more difficult to put that kind of attention towards

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_01]: the tiniest of details and now we're making something like 17 episodes a day and I've really

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_01]: had to let go of perfectionist tendencies if I want to listen to all this content otherwise

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_01]: nothing would ever get done. And I can agree 100% with Courtney everything feels lighter now.

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_01]: So if you're anything like me in struggle with wanting everything a certain way or as perfect as

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_01]: can be and just spending all that extra time getting things so perfect, definitely try to

[00:07:52] [SPEAKER_01]: take a step in the direction of acceptance and simplifying allowing failures and learning

[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_01]: experiences all that fun stuff because life will feel lighter. So with that have a nice

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_01]: and light today hope you're having a great morning or afternoon or evening whenever

[00:08:08] [SPEAKER_01]: you're listening to this and I'll see you tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.