Awhile back I discussed Eileen Flanagan’s book, The Wisdom to Know the Difference. If you’d like to learn more about her, visit her website at www.EileenFlanagan.com.

Therese: What are five clues you should be letting go of something?

Eileen:

1. You find yourself repeating the same complaint to different people.

We all get frustrated from time to time, but it’s not good for our mental or spiritual health to wallow in frustration. I remember once I got irritated with another mother at my kid’s nursery school after she did something that inconvenienced me. I complained to the first mother I ran into, and then the second. When I heard myself repeating the story for the third time, it hit me that I was making myself more agitated, not less. I was also putting poison in the community well. Someone had made an honest mistake, and I needed to get over it.

2. You’re churning over in your brain what you wish you (or someone else) had done.

You can’t change the past. Period. If you can’t stop thinking about something that has happened, reframe your internal conversation