How to Free Yourself of Attachments and Live Lighter
A recent podcast got me thinking about attachments.
“An attachment is like a monkey on our back,” the podcaster said. “It’s something we carry around with us all of the time. It’s something we’re always worried about; am I rich enough, do they love me enough, am I popular enough, do I have enough?”
Material things and intangibles like power, success, fame, and love aren’t bad in themselves. But when we are attached to them, they consume our mind, distracting ourselves from daily life and from our happiness.
Attachments affect us all. So how do we break free of them?
The podcaster suggested an interesting solution.
To break the hold of an attachment, we can act in the extreme opposite direction for a period of time. “If you find yourself attached to any created good,” he said “you have to run in the opposite direction if you want to be free from it.”
So what is it you’re attached to? Take a minute to look inward and observe.
Are you attached to money? Then start actively giving it away for a while.
Too attached to your image or buying new clothes? Then give away clothes and wear the same thing on a rotation.
Is the number of likes on your Instagram feed what revolves in your mind? Is your mood influenced by how many people viewed a picture or left a comment? Then delete social media apps from your phone for a week (or two) and make a point to call several people.
Too caught up in nice things? Then live in radical simplicity and poverty to try to free yourself of the attachment.
These changes aren’t meant to be permanent. Eventually, you will want to save money, but more clothes, or connect on social media again. But when you do, you’ll be able to act from a place of detachment.
What we’re attached to has a hold on us. By acting extremely in the other direction, the hold loosens. Living actively against our attachment is like saying, “Okay, every single monkey off my back right now.”
And when we do this, our lives become remarkably easier and freer.
“You find you actually start paying attention to the simple and beautiful things all around you. You find yourself lighter, freer, and happier.
You’ll discover that what truly matters and what truly makes you happy is right in front of you in the simplest things all the time,” the podcaster said.
Let’s take a step toward more intentional, lighter living by examining our attachments and acting against them. What is it you’re attached to? Act against it today. Your life will be richer for it.