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What is letting go of the uncontrollables and unchangeables?
What are the negative effects of not letting go of the uncontrollables and unchangeables in life?
How is letting go of the uncontrollables and unchangeables a control issue?
What is the irrational thinking which leads you not to let go of the uncontrollables and unchangeables in life?
How to improve letting go of the uncontrollables and unchangeables in your life
What is letting go of the uncontrollables and unchangeables?
Letting go of the uncontrollables and unchangeables in life is the:
Admitting the obvious truth--that you are not responsible to affect a change or correct a problem which is beyond your competency, power, authority or responsibility.
Releasing over-responsibility--giving permission to yourself to be free from an overresponsible sense of obligation, duty or requirement to make everything "perfect" in your life and the life of others.
No perfectionism--allowing yourself to rid yourself of the perfectionistic need to control every aspect of your life so that nothing goes "wrong" in it.
Getting rational about what you can and cannot do--becoming realistic about what is and is not your obligation or duty to correct, change or control.
Allowing yourself to be able to say "no" or "I can't" when faced with insurmountable problems out of your reach.
Confessing faith in God or a Higher Power of your choice--openly declare that God or your Higher Power is stronger and a great source of power to whom you can hand over these things out of your control.
Accepting your powerlessness over things and handing these things over to your Higher Power.
Realistic acceptance of loss--after fully grieving a loss admitting that there is nothing left to be done but to accept the loss and hand the loss from this point on over to your Higher Power's care and love.
Surrender--extensive problem brainstorming and testing alternatives with the final conclusion that you can do nothing to change the circumstances of the issue and that it would be saner and more realistic to free your energy up by surrendering and letting go of the issue and handing it over to your Higher Power.
What are the negative effects of not letting go of the uncontrollables and unchangeables in life?
If you are unable to "let go" of the uncontrollables and unchangeables in your life, you could:
Become so obsessed with the need to solve everything on your own that you run the risk of physical and emotional exhaustion.
Never attain personal serenity and peace by accepting the human condition at work in your life.
Never establish an effective means of "handing over" to your Higher Power the "too big to solve" issues in your life and thus become bogged down in "chasing your tail" in these issues.
Never be at rest, always having these issues stirring up your emotional resources and energy.
Become anxious, stressed, insecure and depressed over these issues so much that your personal effectiveness lessens at home, work, school or in the community.
Become obsessed with these issues so much that they are the only topic of conversation or focus of attention you have in your life.
Be driven by the sense of failure, not being "good enough" or guilt for not fixing the issues and become depressed and very hard in your self-assessments until you believe that you are the failure who is out of control and needing to be changed into a perfect, all powerful, infallible being.
Become competitive with your Higher Power as the source of wisdom and light in the lives of those whom you are so desperately trying to control, fix and change.
Try to replace God by referring to yourself in terms only appropriate in describing your Higher Power because of your belief that you have the power to solve the unsolvable situations in your life. Because of this inflated ego and incapability of solving the unsolvable, your self-esteem and self-worth take a beating.
Exacerbate low self-esteem by becoming so obsessed with the sense of shame, guilt, failure and incompetence in not being able to solve your unsolvable problems.
Loss everything of importance by making such great sacrifices to save the things beyond your control that you lose everything in your life which gave it meaning including: marriage, money, success, business, jobs, children, relationships and even your life.
How is letting go of the uncontrollables and unchangeables a control issue?
Letting go of the uncontrollables and unchangeables in your life is a control issue because:
It de-powers the external locus of control issues in your life and helps strengthen your internal locus of control.
Saves your sanity--unless you let go of those things over which you are powerless, you run the risk of burning out your emotional and physical energy, enthusiasm, spirit, resources and reserves. Letting go is an act by which you release your need to control every situation, person, place or thing in order to ensure that your sanity is not threatened.
Not a power play--instead it is an open admission that you do not need to exercise power and control over people, places, things or situations which are not amenable to such efforts.
Enhances self-control--since it frees you up to gain self-control over your own life without guilt or fear of reprisals by those people, places or things which you have let go of.
Unhooks you--since you have not let others' intimidation, manipulation, over-dependency or helplessness "hook" you into being a "fixer," "caretaker" or "rescuer" of that which is not amenable to being fixed or helped.
Freedom from Idealism--often due to your idealism and irrational belief system about how perfect things should be that you get trapped into unhealthy efforts to solve things which are not solvable and by letting go you gain the ability to free up and focus on yourself, the one thing you can control and change.
Detachment oriented--letting go involves detaching from persons, places or things which have had emotional "hooks" on you and threatened your overall well-being.
Gives power back to the source of our power--by recognizing that there is a Higher Power to whom you can let go of those things which you are powerless to control or change is an act of self-control and a step towards self-healing by getting out of the power struggled with your Higher Power..
Self-Healing--through admitting that you are not omnipotent, infallible, omniscient or superhuman, you can allow yourself to take control over yourself once you let go of those things holding you down in a quicksand of non-coping, self-pity and "sick" behaviors.
What is the irrational thinking which leads you not to let go of the uncontrollables and unchangeables in life?
* I must solve every problem that comes my way.
* Only I can solve these problems.
* If I don't solve these problems, I will be seen by others as a failure or no good.
* I need to fix all of these things perfectly and as soon as possible.
* There is no one else available who is going to help me solve these problems.
* All those people need to do is to follow what I've told them to do.
* This place would be ideal if it would only do what I want it to do.
* These things wouldn't be so bad off if they had been left to me to take care of by myself.
* They don't know what to do and they need me to tell them.
* They can't do anything right without me. If they lose or fail, it will reflect badly on me.
* What would others think if things didn't work out the way they were supposed to?
* I've only known crisis, chaos and panic in my life so why should I expect any peace, calmness or serenity if I leave them to take care of themselves?
* I must make everything better around here or else I'll go crazy.
* If I let go too soon, things might change and I'd be sorry for releasing them too prematurely.
* If I let go of them, I might lose them.
* If I stop trying to fix and change them, they would no longer need me and leave me.
* There must be a way to turn them around and I can't give up yet.
* What if they blame me for not taking care of them if they fail or fall flat on their faces?
* I'd rather sacrifice myself than have them blame me later for not helping them.
* They are so irresponsible they would never do it on their own.
How to improve letting go of the uncontrollables and unchangeables in your life
In order to let go of the uncontrollables and unchangeables in your life, follow the words of the Prayer for Serenity by Reinhold Niebuhr:
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardship as a pathway to peace. Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it, trusting that You will make all things right if I surrender to Your will so that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with You forever in the next.
By letting go of the uncontrollables and unchangeables in your life, you allow people, places and things to be responsible for themselves, which takes a tremendous burden off you. By freeing yourself of this huge burden, you will appreciate life more for what it is. You will have the energy and strength to pursue your own interests. You will be able to relax and have fun.
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