{"id":2639,"date":"2013-07-01T03:00:51","date_gmt":"2013-07-01T07:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lettinggo\/?p=2639"},"modified":"2013-06-27T18:52:52","modified_gmt":"2013-06-27T22:52:52","slug":"the-courage-to-be-free-of-negative-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2013\/07\/the-courage-to-be-free-of-negative-states.html","title":{"rendered":"The Courage to Be Free of Negative States"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Your original Self doesn\u2019t come loaded with worry, regret, fear, resentment, or, for that matter, any other self-limiting states that can grow where darkness gathers.<\/p>\n<p>Self-limiting thoughts or feelings have power over us only when we are tricked into believing that we need something we don\u2019t. When we let this happen, we begin to look at familiar negative thoughts and feelings as old friends; and though we want to be free of them, we still call on their powers to help us. We look to them to guide us, as when we walk and talk with worried thoughts, or when we embrace angry emotions for their short-term strength. But truth tells otherwise.<\/p>\n<p>In and of themselves, negative states provide us with nothing of value. Instead, they make victims of all those who seek their counsel. A short example will help prove this last important point and reveal how we are deceived into acting against our own best interests.<\/p>\n<p>When life falls apart, or threatens to come unglued, it seems almost natural to carry around some desperate, stressed, or depressed emotional state. But why cling to something that makes us ache? The answer is surprising, but evident, once we\u2019re aware of what\u2019s actually taking place within us.<\/p>\n<p>Negative states tell us that we must feel as we do.<\/p>\n<p>In some strange and unseen way, the weight of a dark worry serves as proof that we have \u201cno option\u201d other than to buckle beneath it . . . to fall down, feel betrayed, or prepare for a fight.<\/p>\n<p>To awaken, reclaim, and possess the courage we need to be free, we must remember this great and timeless truth: Real life can no more act to pull us down than the rising sun can burden the spring flowers that wait to bathe in its nourishing light.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Your original Self doesn\u2019t come loaded with worry, regret, fear, resentment, or, for that matter, any other self-limiting states that can grow where darkness gathers. Self-limiting thoughts or feelings have power over us only when we are tricked into believing that we need something we don\u2019t. When we let this happen, we begin to look&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":232,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574,8],"tags":[159,223,37,1664,13,152,79,28,135],"class_list":["post-2639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-freedom-2","category-negative-states","tag-courage","tag-dark-states","tag-fear","tag-independence-day","tag-negativity","tag-regret","tag-resentment","tag-stress","tag-worry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Courage to Be Free of Negative States - Letting Go with Guy Finley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2013\/07\/the-courage-to-be-free-of-negative-states.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Courage to Be Free of Negative States - Letting Go with Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Your original Self doesn\u2019t come loaded with worry, regret, fear, resentment, or, for that matter, any other self-limiting states that can grow where darkness gathers. Self-limiting thoughts or feelings have power over us only when we are tricked into believing that we need something we don\u2019t. When we let this happen, we begin to look&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2013\/07\/the-courage-to-be-free-of-negative-states.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Letting Go with Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Guy-Finley-260924340633\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-07-01T07:00:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-06-27T22:52:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guy Finley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@guy_finley\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Courage to Be Free of Negative States - Letting Go with Guy Finley","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/2013\/07\/the-courage-to-be-free-of-negative-states.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Courage to Be Free of Negative States - Letting Go with Guy Finley","og_description":"Your original Self doesn\u2019t come loaded with worry, regret, fear, resentment, or, for that matter, any other self-limiting states that can grow where darkness gathers. Self-limiting thoughts or feelings have power over us only when we are tricked into believing that we need something we don\u2019t. 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His ideas cut straight to the heart of our most important personal and social issues - relationships, success, addiction, stress, peace, happiness, freedom - and lead the way to a higher life. Finley is the Founder and Director of Life of Learning Foundation, a nonprofit Center for Spiritual Discovery. He is the acclaimed author of \"The Secret of Letting Go\" and more than 45 other books and audio programs that have sold over two million copies in 26 languages worldwide. His work is widely endorsed by doctors, business professionals, celebrities, and religious leaders of all denominations. Through Life of Learning Foundation, Guy has presented over 5,000 unique self-realization seminars to thousands of grateful students throughout North America and Europe over the past 20 years and has been a guest on over 700 television and radio shows, including national appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, and NPR. The Foundation's popular Key Lesson e-mails featuring inspirational quotes by Guy are read each week by a hundred thousand subscribers in 142 countries. Guy speaks four times each week on inner-life principles at Life of Learning Foundation's home in Merlin, Oregon. These meetings are ongoing and open to the public. For more information about Life of Learning Foundation, Guy Finley, and their life-changing messages, visit guyfinley.org. \"Guy Finley is...one of the leading experts at the forefront of human potential.\" -Nightingale Conant \"Guy Finley has helped millions live fuller, more peaceable lives.\" -Barnes and Noble","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.guyfinley.org","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Guy-Finley-260924340633\/","https:\/\/x.com\/guy_finley"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/author\/gfinley"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/232"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2639"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2641,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2639\/revisions\/2641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lettinggo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}