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What a Qigong lesson about letting go is teaching me about food, healthy living, aging and making space for what matters.
This week I’ve been taking part in a five-day Qigong challenge with Lee Holden focused on letting go, something traditionally associated with fall in Chinese medicine.
During one of the sessions, Lee used the image of trying to add more water to a glass that’s already full.
His point was about making space. When we’re already too full, there’s no room for anything new to flow in.
That image has stayed with me.
It made me think about how often we approach healthy living by asking what else we need to add.
A better eating plan. A new exercise routine. More steps. A gym membership. A morning routine. Another book. Another podcast. Another list of things we’re supposed to be doing.
We keep pouring more water into the glass.
And I’ve begun wondering whether sometimes the more useful question is:
What could I let go of?
Making Space
When I asked myself that question, the first thing that came to mind had nothing to do with food.
Comparison.
I’ve spent more time than I’d like to admit comparing myself to other people and quietly competing with them. Who’s doing better? Who’s in better shape? Who looks younger? Who has figured something out that I haven’t?
I’m becoming more aware of how much energy that takes. And how much comparing keeps my attention focused outward—on what everyone else is doing, choosing and accomplishing.
The older I get, the less interested I am in measuring myself against someone else. I’d rather turn some of that attention inward and get better at trusting myself and my own inner wisdom.
Maybe letting go of comparison is one way of making room for that.
Letting Go of “Diet” Food
I’ve been involved with WeightWatchers and weight management for decades, and my approach to eating has changed a lot during that time.
One of the things I’ve gradually let go of is a lot of “diet” food.
At this age and stage of my life, I’d rather have a little of something I love than a lot of something I don’t.
There was a time when eating something I really liked could easily turn into eating too much of it. I’ve gotten much better at recognizing when I’m satisfied and stopping there instead of eating until I’m overstuffed.
That has given me a freedom I didn’t have when I was younger.
I don’t need the enormous low-calorie substitute nearly as much when I trust that I can enjoy the real thing and stop when I’ve had enough.
It’s taken years to get here.
Perhaps that’s part of letting go too—releasing some of the rules and strategies that helped us at one point but no longer serve us in quite the same way.
I’ve written before about the importance of finding your own way of eating for lasting success and simplifying your weight loss efforts. Both feel even more relevant to me now.
Letting Go of Perfection
Letting Go of Perfection
Perfection is another thing I’ve been learning to loosen my grip on.
The perfect day of eating. The perfect exercise routine. The perfect week. The perfect number on the scale.
Trying to get everything right can make healthy living surprisingly exhausting. There’s always something else to monitor, fix or improve.
I’ve come to appreciate a slower, steadier approach that makes room for progress instead of perfection. Do what you can today. Begin again when you wander off course. Allow life to be imperfect.
And it’s an idea I seem to keep needing to remind myself of again and again.
Some Things Simply Don’t Fit Anymore
I’m seeing this far beyond food.
I’m in a stage of simplifying and downsizing. We’re selling a house and moving into a smaller cottage that better supports the snowbird life we’re living now.
That means deciding what comes with us and what doesn’t.
I’ve been fascinated by the connection between clutter, weight and well-being for years. I even wrote about Peter Walsh’s ideas in Can Decluttering Help You Lose Weight?.
And once again, I’m experiencing something I’ve noticed for years:
I feel lighter when I let things go.
Less to store. Less to maintain. Less to organize. Less to think about.
There’s a spaciousness that comes from clearing away excess.
I’m thinking about this in other areas of my life too.
I’m still working on letting go of my tendencies to people please, procrastinate and tie my self-concept to how much I’m accomplishing.
These are much bigger things to let go of than an extra set of dishes.
Fewer Choices Can Be a Kind of Freedom
I’m also discovering that I don’t necessarily want endless choices.
More foods. More diets. More exercise programs. More clothes. More information. More possibilities.
Every additional option asks us to make another decision.
I’ve experienced this with food. Over time, I’ve settled into a fairly predictable collection of breakfasts, lunches and dinners that work for me. I still enjoy trying new things, but I don’t need endless variety at every meal.
I’ve talked about this before in The One Thing for Weight Management. Having some simple defaults frees up time and mental space for things besides thinking about food.
I’m finding the same thing elsewhere.
A smaller wardrobe. A smaller home. A handful of meals I love and make often. Movement that feels good enough that I actually want to do it. Fewer rules about how I’m supposed to eat and live.
At first, fewer choices can feel limiting.
But then the mental noise begins to quiet down.
There is a well-known idea called the “paradox of choice”—that having too many options can make choosing harder and leave us less satisfied with the choice we finally make.
I’m beginning to appreciate the freedom in enough.
What Else Could I Let Go Of?
This may be what I appreciate most about Lee’s glass metaphor.
It has me looking at healthy living differently.
Maybe I don’t always need another strategy.
Maybe I need to let go of something.
An old food rule.
An unrealistic expectation.
A complicated routine I’ve outgrown.
The belief that one imperfect meal means I’ve blown the day.
The idea that somebody else knows what’s right for me better than I do.
The need to keep up.
The need to please.
The need to prove something.
Even the idea that healthy living should take up so much of my limited time and attention.
I’ve spent much of my life learning about food, weight, movement and healthy living. I’m grateful for so much of what I’ve learned.
These days, I’m equally interested in discovering what I no longer need to carry.
Letting go can initially feel like giving something up.
But as I clear away some of the excess—in my home, my eating, my expectations and my thinking—I’m beginning to experience it differently.
I feel lighter. More spacious. More energized.
I’m curious, What are you ready to let go of? Leave me a comment and let us know.
I have a feeling we could learn a lot from one another.
