Let It Go: Burn, Bury, Rip, Repeat

By Joanna Arettam

Let go of anger, grief, sadness, and creative blocks of all kinds. Make way for peace, contentment, and a sense of purpose and creativity. Bummed out? Ticked off? Hemmed in? Tied down? Choked up? Take this book and write it down, then tear it up, or soak it in water, or burn it. And let it go! Let It Go helps get rid of those negative feelings to make room for what makes us happier, healthier, wealthier, and wiser. It’s elemental — in order to give up bad habits for more healthy ones, we need to let go. Let It Go uses simple, fun rituals involving the four elements — fire, water, air, earth — to render negative issues harmless by altering them and releasing them forever. Let It Go is a simple book with a profound message and a unique format. Joanna Arettam helps readers identify the enemies they wish to vanquish. Through examples, exercises, anecdotes, and inspirational quotes, she gives us permission to let go of what’s holding us back. Transformation is the theme of part two. In the back of the book are perforated pages called "Contracts for Transformation." Write down what we wish to let go of, how we wish to transform it. But writing is just the beginning. Tear these pages out of the book and burn, bury, soak, or scatter them. The physical world can absorb those negatives and transform them into positives. For example, let go of anger by writing a list of things that makes you see red on a "Contract with Earth." Bury the contract in a pot of loamy soil and into that small vessel of earth place seeds of a plant that will grow to yield a beautiful crimson flower!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Red Wheel
• Release date: Jan 1, 2003
• ISBN: 9781609250430

Joanna Arettam

Joanna Arettam is a painter and writer who writes widely on lifestyle, self-help, and spirituality matters. She was formerly an editor at Glamour magazine. She is the author of Dharma Beads.

Book preview

introduction:

How to Give Up Your Hair Shirt for a Cashmere Wrap

Turn your stumbling blocks into stepping stones.

—Anonymous

Are you feeling bummed out?

TICKED OFF? HEMMED IN? TIED DOWN? CHOKED UP IS THAT HAIR SHIRT GETTING ITCHY?

Are you suffocating under heavy covers?

You know the feelings I'm talking about—the ones you reflexively hold close to yourself the way a toddler clings to a fuzzy blanket. The difference between the toddler's binky and your own is that the former is a soft fabric woven in a comforting color and design, and the latter is a spiky, knotted mass of fear, anger, resentment, unhappiness—you name it—woven with recurring, often destructive, patterns.

Nothing comforting there! And you've been clutching that emotional blanket for years.

You're not alone. We all become attached to something abrasively familiar. Better the enemy you know than the one you don't, my grandmother used to say. Well, it's time to meet your psychic, internal foes and eliminate them from your life.

Our mantra, and our modus operandi, is Let it Go.

Know What You Want to Let Go

Part One of this book is to help you identify the enemies, because you can't eliminate them if you don't know what they are. Fear, anger, mistrust, we'll find out what you're holding onto. Once you learn to recognize the uncomfortable threads in your emotional blanket, you can pull them out one by one. When they're gone, that scratchy fabric will be transformed into a radiant mantle of calm, the psychic equivalent of a soft, cashmere wrap.

Change it into something new. Transformation is the theme of Part Two. Here we turn to the four elements—fire, water, air, earth—and to rituals and contemplative actions that allow you to alter your issues and render them harmless before releasing them forever.

Key to this transformation is writing your intent, for the simple act of acknowledging what you want to change reinforces your will and sets in motion the action that will make it so. At the back of the section you'll find Contracts for Transformation—ritual pages for you to write on before transforming them.

You cannot know

what you do not feel.

– Marya Mannes, They

For instance, if anger is one of your issues, write a list of the things that make you see red. Bury the contract in a pot with loamy soil; then, into that small vessel of earth place the seeds or bulb of a plant that will grow to yield a brilliant crimson flower. It's much more civilized than having a tantrum.

It's even more than an assuaging gardening interlude. It's a physically transformative act that allows you to take control and make change in your life. Is there a better way to see red than in the petals of a flower you have cultivated yourself?

Let It Go! offers many such ideas for transformation and change (and acknowledges that some of the most powerful rituals will spring from your own intuition). The idea, of course, is to let go of the negative emotions that have held you back so that you can make way for new, affirmative energies that attract and welcome what you want to have—and who you