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Letting Go of Story

An excerpt from Peter Russell’s
Letting Go of Nothing: Relax Your Mind and Discover the Wonder of Your True Nature

The other side of letting go of emotions is letting go of the story behind them. Again, the first step is to let the story in, to become conscious of what we’re telling ourself. This is not always as easy as it sounds. We often assume that our view of events is the truth rather than our interpretation of them.

A good starting point is to pause and explore whether what you believe to be true really is so. Open to the possibility that it may be just a set of assumptions you have made. See if you can step back, question your interpretations, and be open to seeing alternatives.

If you are angry, for example, you might ask, What am I telling myself that makes this person wrong? How, in my opinion, should they have behaved? How do I judge them for having acted that way?

I also find it helpful to ask whether I would accuse myself of this. How often, when someone is angry with us, do we feel their anger is unjustified? If only they understood us better and why we behaved as we did, they wouldn’t be so angry.

So try putting yourself in the other person’s shoes, and consider what might have led them to behave this way. How might they have been seeing you? Did they have other things on their mind? What in their past might have led them to this?

The more we can inhabit another person’s point of view, the more we can understand their behavior. If we understood them completely, we’d realize they were behaving exactly as they “should” have — given their situation and everything that came before. Our belief that they should not have behaved this way is another part of our story.

Holding on to our stories only serves to create more suffering and discontent. I was recently visiting a neighbor when a friend came by. Almost the first words out of the friend’s mouth were, “I still can’t forgive him for what he did.” She was clearly still aggrieved and upset, even though the event in question had happened six months earlier. She was holding on to a story about what had happened, and that story still triggered bad feelings — which only reinforced her story. My neighbor simply said to her, “Oh, I’m sorry for you,” meaning I’m sorry you’re still not over it, “that can’t be nice.”

When we continue holding on to a grievance long after the event, the only person we hurt is ourself. As the Buddha is purported to have said, holding a grievance is like taking poison and hoping the other person dies.

If you find yourself doing this, the first step in letting go is to become aware of the suffering you’re creating for yourself. If you pick up a hot coal, you will let go of it as soon as you feel the pain. Similarly, with holding on to some judgment or grievance, the more you can become aware of the price you pay for holding on — the emotional pain, tension, disturbing thoughts — the more motivated you will be to dig deeper, to see what is going on inside and how you might let go.

Emotions often have more to do with our past than our present. A friend not giving us the attention we feel is our due or criticizing our appearance can touch on painful experiences from earlier in life and trigger reactions out of all proportion to present circumstances. Maybe we felt ignored as a child or had parents who were overly concerned about how we appeared in public. Our automatic reaction might be to storm off in a huff or to retaliate with a criticism of our own. Alternatively, we may act out with something apparently unrelated, such as swearing at the dog or indulging in comfort food.

When you notice unwarranted reactions like these, pause, take a breath, and notice what you’re feeling — at this stage, not the story so much as what is going on in your body. Notice where it is tight, feel any unease or discomfort, and observe any impulse to act out. If you can allow these feelings to be there as they are, you may find they begin to soften and not dominate so much.

Then, when they have subsided a little, look at any story you may be telling yourself. Maybe there’s some truth to it, but how much have you added? Have any events in your past led you to respond this way? Maybe there are issues you need to explore in order to find some resolution or healing.

Perhaps some childhood trauma lies behind your reaction. The more you understand what is going on, the less likely old wounds will trigger you in the future.

Emotions are impulses to “move out” in some way; they want some form of expression. So with a strong emotion such as anger or rage, it can be helpful to let it out. But rather than venting on a fellow human being, you might take it out on a pillow or a punching bag. Or, a less violent option, you might express to others what you’re thinking and feeling, in a safe context — talking to a good friend or a therapist, perhaps — allowing the thoughts and feelings to be there without embarrassment or fear of judgment.

Even then, we might hold something back, fearing others might judge us. Or possibly because we wish to keep part of our life private. In such cases, writing to ourselves about what we are feeling can be a good way to vent our emotions. Simply write down whatever comes (four-letter words and all), without any judgment. Let it all in. Afterward you can tear it up or even burn it if you wish. It’s expressing it to yourself that is important.

Peter Russell, author of Letting Go of Nothing and From Science to God, earned degrees in theoretical physics, psychology, and computer science at the University of Cambridge in England, where he studied for a time with Stephen Hawking. He studied meditation and Eastern philosophy in India and later conducted research into the neurophysiology of meditation. He coined the term global brain with his 1980s bestseller of the same name (100,000 copies sold), in which he predicted the internet and the impact it would have on humanity. He lives in Northern California. Connect with Peter at www.PeterRussell.com.

Excerpted from the book Letting Go of Nothing. Copyright © 2021 by Peter Russell. Reprinted with permission from New World Library.

I recently saw a psychic who was pretty accurate. During the reading, she told me something that totally blew my mind, however, and I'm having a hard time sorting it out. She told me that I'm not really from this planet - that I'm from another star system, and this is my first incarnation on Earth. She said that I'm a walk-in who entered this body when I almost died as a small child. Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather! She said that this is why I have lots of psychic experiences and am interested in psychic and spiritual matters. This freaked me out so much that I went to another psychic and asked her about it, and she confirmed that it's true! Is this possible? Have you ever seen this before?

- Barb

Dreamchaser:

Oh boy, here we go!

First of all, no one is from Earth; everyone is from a different planet. Now, some people have the belief that we all come from some other star system, and that is where our souls began. There is even some study that suggests our bodies are composed of the same materials stars are made from, which supposedly validates the idea that we originally came from the stars and/or other planets.

I have been told by a UFO and alien expert that my son is from another planet, and since he chose me as his mother in this life, I must be from there as well - wherever THERE is. I think that what you believe about this subject is what you believe.

Obviously our souls didn't start on planet Earth. We all know this, for we had to start SOMEWHERE. When they have to come up with a name for our Source, most people say we came from Heaven, but where is this Heaven place? Everyone looks UP when they refer to Heaven, so I don't think it's all that far-fetched to believe we all started on a planet that is out there somewhere.

I have also had experiences with people who say they are walk-ins. I won't speak against another reader's reading, so if you were told you are a walk-in and you believe that, then that is that.

For our readers who have no idea what we're talking about, a walk-in is a soul on the other side who doesn't want to go through the whole process of being a baby and growing up through childhood in order to experience human life. That soul would like to just jump into a body at a certain age and go from there.

When a person that is living on earth REALLY wants to die or leave this planet, sometimes that soul and the soul of the walk-in will make a deal. The soul will leave the body, and the walk-in will step into the body and take it over. When this happens, the body keeps on living but everything seems different.

On top of all the ideas above, when we have a spiritual awakening, everything seems different. You see the world differently, you feel differently, you like different things and pretty much EVERYTHING about you is different.

So please, my dear readers, do not assume if you are changing completely that you are a walk-in. Also, when a person has a spiritual awakening, that person naturally becomes very interested in spiritual matters and paranormal phenomena.

Barb, the bottom line for you right now is that you are healthy, happy and whole. Am I correct? You like what is going on in your life, and you feel good about yourself.

I say sit back and enjoy the ride. Use your gut to gauge what is good for you versus what doesn't feel right. Know that if you are happy, you are in the flow.

I wish you continued growth and knowledge!

*****

Astrea:

To recognize an alien so readily, those psychics you visited must be a lot more knowledgeable about alien phenomena than I am. I have interviewed people came from different star systems in THIS life, but I haven't seen many who have had past lives in other galaxies.

In thirty years of doing readings, I think I've only met two people who could say that they came from another planet or a galaxy far, far away, and that this was their first human incarnation, though I suppose it's possible that could be part of your own past life history.

Walk-in energy is usually very scattered and dramatic. It doesn't seem likely that any walk-in would seek someone with alien energy, for in general, walk-ins are lazy and don't want to make much effort in order to experience being human. So if you do have alien energy, it would be harder for a walk-in to feel at home on Earth in your body.

Instead of being a walk-in from another planet, you could have an entity trying to take you over, but again, those spirits generally try to pick an easy target - otherwise it's just too much trouble. Also, if you have a spirit trying to walk in and take over, that entity would strongly discourage you from getting one (let alone two!) psychic readings. Further, a psychic would have to be pretty clueless not to spot something like that right away.

Such an entity would certainly not want someone to know it was there, and after the psychic pointed it out to you, it would almost surely want to leave you. As a rule, no matter where they came from, attached entities do not like to be outed. People who have amnesia sometimes had walk-ins leave unexpectedly. (You know who and where you are.)

Has anyone ever suggested to you that you could be an Indigo or Crystal child? Many of those folks say that they come from other galaxies and star systems, so that could explain the psychics' feelings about you.

Most Indigo and Crystal children are born with their brains on such a different wavelength from their parents' and prior generations' that I could see how a psychic might mistake your personality for being alien. These children are born with an unusual sense of peace and love that many humans don't seem to have in their DNA.

Are you a more peace-loving person than most other people around you? Do you have a desire to change or save the world? Without knowing your age or exact birth information, I can't tell for sure, but from reading your question, I got from you an overall sense of peacefulness with life that most human beings have yet to develop.

If you are one of these children, then you have a big job ahead of you, and you need to get busy! I'm hoping to see some wonderful changes in the world during my own lifetime, so I wish you the very best of luck!

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.