Love all But get Attached to None!!!!

“As human beings we all want to be happy and free from misery… we have learned that the key to happiness is inner peace. The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as anger, attachment, fear and suspicion, while love and compassion and a sense of universal responsibility are the sources of peace and happiness.”  Dalai Lama

We get so attached to everything we have, everything we do, we get so attached to our ideas, our way of doing things, we get so attached to places, to the things we have… We get so attached to the people that enter our lives, not knowing that all of our attachments will only bring us anguish, sorrow and suffering. Many of us can’t seem to grasp the idea of non-attachment. I know I could not understand it at first, but as time went by, and as I started to ponder more on this idea and as I started to practice it, I got better at it. I am not saying I am at the level where I can have things, where I can move from one place to another, where I can leave or be left by those I love without feeling sad. I really believe it takes time and practice, but I am definitely way better at it than I was one year ago, and one year ago I was better than I was the year before that.

It will be easier if we could appreciate what we have, if we could appreciate our friends, our family, if we could love all of them without being attached to them. I know it might sound crazy, insane; you name it, but think about it for a second. Nothing in this world lasts forever. You know it and I know it. The people you love, they will leave you one day, the career you now have, one day will be over, and the house you live in one day will no longer be yours. The body you have, your beauty, your youth, they will all be gone eventually, so why not try to accept this fact?

“Can you step back from your own mind and thus understand all things? Giving birth and nourishing, having without possessing, acting with no expectations, leading and not trying to control: this is the supreme virtue.” Lao Tzu

You see, we all want to have many friends, we all want to be loved, we all want to have beautiful things, the more expensive the better, we all want to travel to beautiful places, live in big and luxurious houses etc.  I can tell you that I want this too, I want them all, but this is not the problem. The problem is that most of us get so attached to all of these things, all of these people, all of these places, and once we lose them, and one day we will all go through this, we will be heartbroken, devastated, and the pain will be so hard to bear. For me, this is very dangerous. Let’s say that, if for example, you lose someone you love, a person very close to your heart, a person that you were attached to, what then? You see, the chances are that you will be in a great deal of pain when this will happen.

Unfortunately, there are people who aren’t so strong, people who can’t deal with the pain, and eventually lose their minds, while others, may even end up taking their lives. Isn’t this a tragedy? This is why we need to understand that nothing lasts forever, that people come and go, that things come and go, and that there are days when we have more, while other when we have less. Some days we might be healthy while other days we might be sick. Some days we might be safe and some days we might be in danger. It goes on, and on, and on. We can’t identify ourselves with this world, with what we have and what we don’t have, with what we do and what we don’t do, we can’t identify ourselves with our minds, with what we know, because, when we will be without those things, when we will no longer do the things we used to do, have the looks we used to have etc., we will feel lost, abandoned and empty.

We all have heard the stories of those wealthy people who lost their fortunes, and because of that, they decided to put an end to their lives. This is what happens when you only live for accumulating more, and more, and more, and this is what happens when you identify yourself with all of them. Where is the peace in that? These people will never be content no matter how much they accumulate for they will always look to those who have more than they have and they will feel that they don’t have enough… living with the fear of losing it all.

I personally am working on being content with who I am at the moment, with what I do and what I have, and I will express my gratitude for everything that I have achieved so far, for the wonderful people that are present in my life and for the wonderful people that keep on showing up, for the wonderful person I have become, and I will try to love myself, I will try to love the people who are present and not so present in my life, and I will work on giving up on my attachments to them, because I now understand that this is for my own good.

“Things arise and she lets them come; things disappear and she lets them go. She has but doesn’t possess and act but doesn’t expect.” Lao Tzu.

Now, it is up to you to decide whatever you think it’s best for you.