A few days back, my husband and I discussed a small lilac bush we had planted. It was less than a foot tall and was growing in a new seed grass area. Over the last couple of months, I dutifully watered it. It seemed to be growing well. I could feel the emotions welling up inside of me and the frustration beginning to fill my thoughts.
When I asked him, he told me that the plant had died. I was surprised and quickly went out to see for myself. The grass was neatly cut everywhere. The lilac bush had fallen victim to the lawnmower. In his desire to neatly trim the area, he had ignored the budding little bush. My emotions grew to “how could this happen,” it should have been evident that there was a bush there.
I knew my response was not proportional, yet the momentum seemed evident. I spent a bit of time self-regulating, creating synergy between my heart and my head. I do that with the breath, the heart and appreciation. After a short time, I was able to let it go.
A couple of hours later, we decided to take a walk together. A short piece in it came to me a story I remember back to more than 50 years ago when my dad had cut down a rose bush, and my mom’s anger had resonated for days. And so, the root of the emotions became evident. It had been a very unpleasant disagreement that was as clear as could be. The funny thing is I spoke to my mother, who was in the hospital, about the incident, and she remembered it as clearly as I had. Ps. She is 82!
So why does any of this matter? We hold in our bodies emotions for decades, and we are unaware of many of them until we are triggered. When they are triggered, they can create more chaos than is reasonable. Those emotions over the long term can create dis-ease in our body. We have been trained to hang on to the emotions, good news is that letting them go is not as difficult as you think.
So the next time you feel big emotions welling up inside of you, pause to consider if this is yours or someone else. The most important thing is in letting it go.
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