Posted by Kerri Rodley in Declutter Your Life, Simplify Your Life | 0 Comments
How tragedy can have a silver lining
Don't dwell on the stuff
“Most of our troubles are due to our passionate desire for and attachment to things that we misapprehend as enduring entities.”~Dalai Lama
The worst is over in Brisbane re the flood peak – however it is the aftermath of the cleanup that is going to be the biggest challenge. I always try to look on the bright side of situations and think of the opportunities that may arise. Whether is be the sheer will of human spirit and complete strangers helping each other, through to family time spent together playing games with the power out and happy memories this may create.
When it comes to loosing everything in a fire or a flood, we have to remember it is just “stuff” – as long as you are alive and you have support from others to continue on, the stuff is secondary (if not heartbreaking).
Here is a great article from Zen Habits “Letting go of attachment from A to Zen”, that I found to be helpful:
If there’s one thing we all have in common it’s that we want to feel happy; and on the other side of that coin, we want to avoid hurting. Yet we consistently put ourselves in situations that set us up for pain.
We pin our happiness to people, circumstances, and things and hold onto them for dear life. We stress about the possibility of losing them when something seems amiss. Then we melt into grief when something changes—a lay off, a break up, a transfer.
We attach to feelings as if they define us, and ironically, not just positive ones. If you’ve wallowed in regret or disappointment for years, it can seem safe and even comforting to suffer.
In trying to hold on to what’s familiar, we limit our ability to experience joy in the present. A moment can’t possibly radiate fully when you’re suffocating it in fear.
When you stop trying to grasp, own, and control the world around you, you give it the freedom to fulfill you without the power to destroy you. That’s why letting go is so important: letting go is letting happiness in.
It’s no simple undertaking to let go of attachment—not a one-time decision, like pulling off a band-aid. Instead, it’s a day-to-day, moment-to-moment commitment that involves changing the way you experience and interact with everything you instinctively want to grasp.
The best approach is to start simple, at the beginning, and work your way to Zen. Read the A-Z here: http://zenhabits.net/zen-attachment/