Attachment and Suffering This is a lesson and a meditation as well as an affirmation around attachment and suffering.
Happiness and unhappiness,
As well as the art of unattachment.
I say unattachment because many people believe that in order not to be attached,
We are to be detached.
It is a myth.
It is a misunderstanding that detachment actually takes as much effort,
If not more,
Than attachment.
And when I say attachment,
The attachment to an outcome,
The attachment to a response from someone else,
The attachment to a goal that you want to attain,
The attachment to the process or the plan around that goal that you want to attain,
The attachment to an experience and what you hope it will do for you,
The attachment that when you act a certain way,
Someone should respond a certain way,
An attachment to when somebody else acts a certain way,
That you are to respond in the way that you think you should,
The attachment to time and that life will always remain exactly as it is and it will never change.
These attachments create unhappiness.
They create most of our suffering.
Now,
I am not going to pretend that non-attachment is easy or can be quickly attained because it cannot.
It takes practice.
In fact,
The only attachment you want to have is in the practice,
The practice of witnessing yourself when you're in the midst of attachment,
When you feel a certain way,
Think a certain way,
Act a certain way,
React in such a way that you can witness yourself and go,
What am I attached to?
Why am I attached to that?
What does it say about who I am?
Oh,
It says a lot about who they are,
But this you cannot change.
You only have the wheel,
The control,
The ignition for your own self.
Often,
Our need to let go of suffering,
To stop suffering,
To attain happiness creates more suffering,
More often than not.
And so,
When we are able to witness our attachment,
We are whittling away,
Chipping away at our limiting beliefs.
It actually creates our unhappiness.
The progress is subtle,
But it is attainable.
And as you practice this every single moment of every single day,
And I have witnessed this within my own being,
One day you get this aha moment and you find yourself not attached to something in your life.
All of a sudden,
A sister-in-law,
A brother,
A boss,
A coworker,
A child,
A parent,
A sibling,
A spouse,
Something about them just doesn't bother you anymore,
Doesn't faze you.
Now I want to warn you,
There is a two steps forward,
One step back understanding here.
There will be moments when all of a sudden it bothers you again.
Without knowing it,
It is another trigger,
A new trigger,
A different trigger that seems related.
And then,
All of a sudden,
You're back to enlightenment again,
You're back to the aha moment again.
Do not be discouraged when you have moments of ebbs and flows.
They will get better,
Shorter,
And further apart as you practice.
Non-attachment,
Not detachment.
Detachment means I'm going to work on not liking that person anymore.
I'm going to ignore them.
I'm going to pretend that they don't exist.
I'm going to leave them out of my life.
I'm not going to talk to them again.
I don't care what they think.
It doesn't bother me.
That's detachment.
Non-attachment,
You still feel love,
You still feel understanding.
It doesn't mean you want to hang out with them.
It just means it doesn't bother you.
It doesn't affect you.
It doesn't change who you are,
How you think,
How you feel about who you are,
What you are.
It doesn't devalue the essence of you.
Affirmations and meditation.
I am beautiful,
I am wonderful,
I am amazing just as I am.
Nothing will change that.
I am unwavering.
I am solid in the thinking of who I am,
The feeling of who I am.
No one's thoughts,
Actions,
Or reactions can change that.
I am amazing.
I am grateful.
I am proud.
I dream big.
I laugh out loud.
I hug and embrace myself,
The essence of who I am often.
I am thankful.
I love the progress and the evolution of my life.
I always tell my truth,
Speak my truth,
Think my truth,
Feel my truth.
Namaste.
