Finding Freedom Through Release

Finding Freedom Through Release

I love going through my closets and gathering items to donate. Every time, I would find clothes that were too tight to fit into or I discover ones I thought I would wear and just never did. This year is a little different. Thanks to losing a substantial amount of weight, many of my clothes are now too big.

One by one, I tossed my garments onto the donation pile. As the pile grew, I was stopped by the thought that maybe I should hold onto a few pieces, just in case I gain the lost weight back and need to wear those clothes again. I realized that I harbored doubt that I had made a lasting change, that the image I see in the mirror does not yet match the one in my mind’s eye.

But there is no real reason to hold onto clothes that no longer fit, especially when I need to make room in my closet for the ones that do.

How perfect to have that realization during Lent. This is the time of year to release and reimagine, to fast from behaviors and ways of being I want to leave behind and feast on the ones I wish to adapt.

As I learned when I was going through my closet, it’s tempting to hold back, to distrust I won’t be able to maintain the new, smaller size I worked to achieve. But as I thought about it, I realized that kind of thinking shows up in other ways too. There have been times I wanted to forgive but felt too justified in holding on to resentment to let go completely. Other times I have wanted to be generous but held back, fearing I wouldn’t have enough for myself. I spent years wanting to be healthier while remaining unwilling to be consistent with the habits that would make it possible. I doubt I’m alone in that.

Lent: A Time of Reinvention

Of course, for any improvement to last, meaningful change must first happen in consciousness. That’s what makes the discipline of the Lenten season so powerful. During Lent, we go within to cleanse ourselves of unwelcome habits that keep us stuck in habits and behaviors we want to change. As we practice denial, we create room in consciousness for a new way of thinking, which is what leads to adapting desirable behaviors that finally stick.

Now that Lent is underway, I invite you to find what you wish to improve, the permanent changes you want to bring into your life. Use these weeks of deep introspection and cleansing to search yourself, those areas where you feel tempted to hold back—forgiveness, generosity, acceptance—and surrender them in prayer. Work with affirmations to build new ways of thinking that will fill your consciousness and ultimately change your life.

When you do that, you will no longer need to worry about backsliding. You won’t be tempted to hold something back just in case. The changes you make, the improvements you work for will last because you didn’t just change your habits, you changed yourself.