The other day, for the millionth time, I unsubscribed from a email list.

When I was first added, I thought, “hey, this will be convenient. I love XXX’s clothes.” (I don’t want their feelings to be hurt, so I won’t name the company.) “I will know when they are having their best sales and can jump right on it.”

But that was many months ago. I have sworn off buying any clothes online – I found myself making too many returns – so their mailings are no longer useful to me. I thought I unsubscribed a few weeks ago, but the emails kept coming. I started getting irritated. I then said to myself, “Why are you so mad? You started this. They obviously didn’t receive your last unsubscribe message. So send another one and move on!”

I then realized that we have a lot in our lives that we need to “unsubscribe” from: old habits…old thoughts about ourselves….old messages from well-meaning teachers who thought they were helping….old ideas about other people. If we don’t become more aware of those habits, thoughts, messages, and ideas, they can really wreak havoc with our happiness.

We don’t need to hang on to every notion we’ve ever had about the world. So take some time to review your mental “in box” and unsubscribe from thinking that no longer serves you.