It was a cold autumn evening. An impressive elderly psychotherapist with a small gray beard sat in a wicker chair and looked out of the window of his office. There were few clients that day and I just wanted to sit and enjoy the moment. Suddenly, the laptop standing on the table near the window began to jingle. This is an e-mail. Usually a lot of letters from clients arrive in the mailbox; there is simply no time to respond to these letters and they remain unread. Today was a special evening full of silence and peace; on such an evening, perhaps, one can respond to a kind person. Wrote by a young guy who could not get rid of the constant tension. Anxiety and constant stress were the young man’s constant companions. At times, it was difficult for him to fall asleep, and dark thoughts entered his head. The boy asked: how can he relieve this endless stress and begin to live calmly? - Psychotherapy is the best way in your case, my friend. I can sign you up for this Thursday. – The therapist answered. “I don’t have the opportunity to come to the appointment.” How can I achieve relaxation and calm? I worry about every little thing and can’t relax, nothing helps. Apparently, a lot has accumulated inside... - What exactly has accumulated? - I don’t know... Probably fear, shame, hatred, anger, resentment... - Okay, I’ll give you a technique that will help relieve this tension. It's simple: all you need to do is get all the garbage out of your head. Forget about everything: who you are, what you once knew, saw, heard, thought. There's just nothing. Now you are like a white sheet of paper. What is important to you now? - Nothing, because there is nothing. - What about your life? The one who looks at this sheet? - My life? What kind of life is this if there is nothing? A white sheet, nothing happens, it’s kind of boring. - That’s right, it’s a white sheet, you can draw whatever you want on it. What will you draw? - I will draw: a house, a wife, children, a car, the sea, the sun, nature, people, animals... - Great, what is important to you now? - All this is what I drew. - Who drew this? - Of course I am, what a stupid question? I don’t understand what you want to tell me. - You drew all this, you can take a new piece of paper at any time and draw again, and if you want, then again and again, as much as you want. Your problem is that you are grasping at what has already been drawn, and not at the opportunity to draw. The true value is in yourself, in the ability to create your own world, the world around you. The tension that you carry with you. This is the fear of letting go of the old, your past. There is a lot of what you don’t like, what makes you feel bad: fears, resentments, shame and disappointment, but you still carry it around with you everywhere. You created all this and it is now important to you. You can take it all and throw it away whenever you want. No one is standing over you and holding your hand. - It seems that I have begun to understand! How to throw away everything unnecessary? - Take a white sheet of paper. Write down everything you want to get rid of, draw it, crumple it up and throw it away and never come back to it. - I did it. - And how? - It seems that it has become a little easier. - Now take a blank sheet of paper and draw what you want. In fact, your whole life now is a white, blank sheet of paper as it has always been…