If we are trying to establish a new habit of any sort, trying not to do something is a recipe for quickly depleting our

willpower. It requires constant vigilance because instead of focusing on what we do want to happen,

we're focusing instead on what we don't want to happen. If instead we let go of what tempts us,

we acknowledge that it exists, we see it,

and then choose to cultivate an environment that supports the new habit, we no longer are expending

finite energy. Much like moving with the current of a river, we are flowing with life

instead of trying to battle against it.

We cannot control the river. So we choose how we will travel in the water by situating our chosen

floating device. In this case, it could be what we put in our kitchen cupboards or in our closet,

in our home in general, or at our office to support the nourishment we have chosen consciously to welcome into our lives to live well.

Awareness of how our willpower cannot always be dependable based on life circumstances that will become more drained or more

quickly drain on certain days. We strengthen our skill of letting go by not ignoring what we

cannot control. Seeing, noting something and letting it go rather than battling against it is how we practice awareness

and mindfulness and we strengthen this ability to do so through meditation. When an unwanted

thought arises, we see it rather than suppress it. We let it go without engaging with it. Let's strengthen that muscle of letting go.

Go ahead and find someplace comfortable to sit. Rest in your gaze on someplace in front of you.

Begin to breathe naturally,

in through your nose and out through your mouth.

Feel the weight of your body as it rests on your chair on the floor on the bed on the bench

wherever you have situated yourself keep your breathing steady and deep.

And pay attention to how your body feels in this moment

while slowly breathing in

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