Ilchi Lee

According to Lester Levinson, author and founder of the release® technique, people generally have three ways of dealing with an emotion: they suppress the feeling, express the feeling or avoid the feeling by turning to other distractions. However, Levinson believes, “there is another option for handling the feeling—you can focus on it, fully experience it, and then let go of it.”

Ilchi Lee, originator of the Brain Education System Training (BEST) and author of In Full Bloom: A Brain Education Guide for Successful Aging, also believes that letting go of the negative emotional memories is necessary for a healthy self.

In fact, Lee states, “Negative thought patterns spring from memories of unhappy events that you have clung to in your mind. They exert influence on your brain, leading to unproductive habits of thinking, preconceptions, even biases, all of which all have negative effects on health.”

By focusing on negative experiences, negativity can quickly become habit. It is important to keep very positive images in your mind. The first step to letting go of the negative memories is to recognize them.

The following exercise, emotional inventory, is recommended for becoming aware of your emotional habits. It is one of Lee’s self-reflection exercises.

From Ilchi Lee (Excerpted from In Full Bloom: A Brain Education Guide for Successful Aging)

It is important to recognize what memories are still with you, replicating emotions long after the events have passed. Take a look at the following emotions and identify particular memories that you associate with each.

• Happiness

• Sadness

• Anger

• Fear

• Joy

• Frustration

• Love

• Serenity