Let It Go: My Extraordinary Story - From Refugee to Entrepreneur to Philanthropist

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I love that Peter advocates downsizing your own possessions while you still have the capacity to do so. As he stated in the book, that is really gift to your survivors. I have already had to participate in cleaning and distributing one relative's household. It was a stressful and draining process. I wish that I had read this book prior to that process. Peter lays out how to navigate the personalities that can be involved.

One of the laws of consciousness is: We are only subject to a negative thought or belief if we consciously say that it applies to us. We are free to choose not to buy into a negative belief system."

Let It Go is my first experience with T.D. Jakes, and it's not hard to understand his popularity as a pastor, speaker, author, and media favorite. Within the first few minutes of this audio CD (and I would highly recommend the audio version over the print version), I was completely hooked by listening to his compelling brew of common sense logic, homespun wisdom, and delightfully colorful analogies, all delivered in the richest, most melodious voice .. . (no wonder he's the recipient of a 2004 Grammy award).

What sorts of new opportunities do I want to enjoy in the next phase of my life? What challenges might keep me from making the most of this opportunity? How can I modify my home, my possessions, my relationships and my point of view to make the new life I want possible? Healing from an unpleasant event or loss will be a lot easier if we focus on finding the lesson in the experience. In my case, figuring out what I could learn from the breakdown of my marriage allowed me to heal and even to help others heal by writing “Magnificent…Married or Not.” As Dr. Hawkins says, “In some cases, it seems in retrospect that there was actually this unconscious purpose behind the event, as though our unconscious knew that something important had to be learned and, painful as it was, it was the only way it could be brought into experience.” While I enjoy Bishop T.D. Jakes and believe him to be a very captivating speaker and spiritual teacher, I approached this book with lukewarm optimism. The title, “Let it Go”, left no surprises about the topic. Furthermore a minister’s appeal to forgive those who wrong us, in verbal or written form, is the most original of messages. I was, however, truly touched by Bishop Jakes’ writing. As a person who has and still does struggle with forgiveness, I consider myself an expert at holding a grudge. As such, I was often annoyed and angered by what I consider over simplified and naive arguments encouraging forgiveness. Some things and people, I thought, just cannot and shouldn’t be forgiven. After reading a few books on mindfulness, I got the idea that the secret behind staying in the present is letting go of the past. I searched for practical tips on letting go and found this book.There are myriad lessons and topics for contemplation in Letting Go, but I will share a few of the principles that were most interesting and applicable for me. At some point in our lives, we all need to downsize. This book gives you the tools to get through this process efficiently and as painlessly as possible.

How much do you have because of laziness? Things that you’ve replaced? Obligation? things you bought on impulse? Imposition — like things that your kids have stored in your basement or preschool items that don’t fit in the storage unit or school? To restore our emotional and spiritual health we must exercise forgiveness on a regular if not daily basis."

Apparently, many folks have tremendous emotional attachments to stuff/junk. This book proposes a slow, relatively painless way to divorce such people from their junk. As long as they fit on your table, your job is to come up with whatever treasures best represent the life you’ve lived. I thought the method sounded excessively elaborate and emotional--but probably helpful to many people. I am definitely not saying Peter is wrong; he's spent years helping emotional people/hoarders & their stuff! Fortunately, Peter doesn't go crazy with tons of psychological test questions in this book; I remember seeing 4 or 5 short, easily-graded ones.