When we are stressed out about something, rightly or wrongly, people often say we need to “Let it go”.
Here’s the problem with that.
It’s not enough to just want to let it go, we have to recognize it as something real. We have to look at it, and understand where it comes from, how it makes us feel, emotionally, and in our body, understand it’s origin.
Ideas hatch from feelings, physical and emotional, past experiences, things we’ve hard, read, or seen. We can dig into that and discover the roots, and from there gain the insight needed to truly let it go and move on, but not before.
Mindfulness teaches us to look more deeply, beyond the surface, and understand why. So we can REALLY let it go, rather than stuff it in a deep, dark recess, knowing it is just under the surface, waiting to show up again.