Meditation for Fall—What Can I Let Go Of?

In Chinese medicine, fall is the time of year where we can best practice the art of letting go. Literally, this translates to the energy of the lung and the large intestine--think exhalation for the lungs and elimination for the large intestine. The main reason we want to let go is really to make way for the inspiration for something new. This letting go can be literal or figurative; it can mean anything from cleaning out the garage to cleaning out your mind. But don't be fooled; it's easy to say "I'm going to let go of anger," it's another to realize that what you're really trying to let go of is feeling angry at yourself for feeling angry sometimes. One way to explore this is to pay attention to the things on your "to be let go of" list and see how they come up for you in the course of a day or a week. "Clean out the garage" can be a tremendous weight on your shoulder if every time you go out to the car you berate yourself for not having cleaned out the garage yet. Maybe it's best to just let go of needing to clean out the garage, at least for a little while. Do that and see how that changes your relationship to yourself, your self-judgement (and your garage). Or maybe "Clean out the garage" really means gather the things in the garage that need to be donated to charity. Letting go in that way--giving things away that you've held on to unnecessarily--can be incredibly freeing for your house and your well-being. So what can you let go of?