For it is Easier to Save than Delete: 5 Ways to Help You Hit the Delete Button

The other day I sat at my desk at work looking at all the files saved on my desktop and realized that finding the time to delete files that no longer served any purpose would take some dedicated time and effort on my part. Meanwhile saving files is a snap. Just click save, and voila, another file finds immortal life in the electronic heart of my computer.

Deleting on the other hand means a search for files you no longer need, then a quick peak to see if you selected the correct file, then hit delete. But not so fast; now you need to deal with a caution that reads something like “are you sure you want to delete this file?” Immediately a seed of doubt enters your awareness. Hesitation strikes, if just for a moment. Only then do you execute the final fatal click.
It struck me that life is like that. We seem to copy an endless stream of photos into our mind, as we go about our lives. We hang onto these like possessions, good photo’s and bad photo’s alike. At the oddest moments these photos have a habit of reloading and pushing us into some past moment of pain, loss and suffering. Sometimes we even get a pleasure moment.
But it is the loss, pain and suffering that we seem to want to hang onto the hardest, like some prized family heirloom, or a cheque written to us for over a million dollars. We do not want to let go. We will not hit the delete button.
Yet to escape the distractions of the past, and the worries on the future, usually based on the memories of past events, and to fully live in the now, we need to learn how to hit the delete button. In the end, it is really just a process of letting go, of opening up the grasping hand, offering freedom to all the entanglements of life.
Here are five suggestions for improving your ability to delete.
1. Awareness is the key to finding all the files you need to delete, so my first suggestion is one of observation. Observe the times you find yourself being pulled into past emotions, like anger, or despair, hurt and pain. Keep a list of these in your journal. You don’t need to do anything with these emotions, just make a note of them.
2. Meditation gives you the ability to open yourself up, to enhance your awareness of these unwanted files and to truly explore the landscape of your saved domains. Meditation can lead to insights that help you disconnect from those files.
3. Focus your attention on one file at a time; trying to take on everything at once is overwhelming and counter-productive. Work on the most readily accessible emotions that pull you out of the present. For instance I worked on the phrase “I don’t have time” for several weeks, spotting every time I used those words to make an excuse, or every time I felt time pressing in on me with those words echoing in my mind. As I focused I became more aware of the times I used those words. When you bring something into your consciousness, then and only then can you delete them.
4. Rewrite your script. As you get better at spotting the times a particular unwanted emotion crowds in, start rewriting the script. When I started to say “I don’t have time to do that,” I would rephrase to something like, “I am not willing to spend time on that,” or “if I really want to do it, I will find the time,” or, I really enjoy finding the time to do that”, or, “I have all the time I need to do that,”. The process is gradual but progressive.
5. Practice daily. Stay with the program, and eventually you will find yourself living more fully in the moment than you ever thought possible. Again progress is gradual. You might not notice the changes within you at first, but then like a tide coming in, you will be flooded with awareness.
As the process continues you become aware on deeper and deeper levels, of what lies buried in the dark areas where you have denied access to yourself and your own files.
Eventually there is nothing left to pull you out of living fully in the present moment.
The biggest obstacle to success is the willingness to see the process through. When that caution shows up asking you if you are sure you want to delete that file, answer with a resounding yes!