Attachment to Things - Personal Practice

I've spoken of non-attachment in the past, however, this past week I was reminded how important it is to practice non-attachment and to allow myself to be in the here and now.

I know attachment to "things" does me no good.  But I still found myself attaching.

I actually became physically ill at the thought of letting go of something I had owned for the last thirteen years of my life.  

This "thing" was such a part of my life!  It had comforted me when I was ill or sad.  It held many happy and unhappy memories! 

When I realized it was time to let this "thing" go, I did my best to hold onto it.  

I stressed about making space for this thing, even though there was no space to spare for it.  I even found myself loosing sleep re-evaluating the layout of my home trying to find space. 

Mind you, I didn't want to disrupt the other things.  I like them as they are!  It's my attachment that was driving me to accommodate a "thing" that has no purpose or use for me any longer.

Then I was challenged to let the "thing" go.

I found myself justifying having this "thing", even though I knew my justifications sounded silly.

I was even going to spend more money in order to hold onto this "thing" which served no purpose.

This attachment was strong!

Then I realized it, I was attaching.  I was holding onto my memories so hard that I wasn't allowing myself space to create new memories, I wasn't allowing myself to be in the here and now.

I knew it was time to let this "thing" go. 

I'm not gonna lie, I savored the last moments.  My heart was heavy.  I hugged this "thing" and shed a few tears before it left my life.

Then I let it go.  

I watched this "thing" leave my life for good.

In it's place is a new "thing", which is needed.  

All-in-all, I'm super excited about recognizing my attachment and equally excited to be a step closer in my practice of non-attachment.  

After all it was just a "thing".

Attachment to Things - Yoga Lesson

Non-Attachment is a challenge for most of us.

It's easy to attach to some ideal, someone, or even something.

Is it healthy for you to be attached?

Or, does attachment effect your ability to be in the here and now?

What about attachment to a "thing"?

What good does attachment to a "thing" do for you?

Why not take a look at your attachment to "things"?

Maybe challenge yourself to give up some "thing" you are attached to?

See what happens when you let go of a "thing".

Make It The Life You Always Wanted! - Personal Practice

Why is it that most of us deny ourselves what we truly want?

We make excuses for not doing what we really want to do.

We dwell on our routines and tell ourselves that if we step out of them we may not be our best selves for the upcoming day, but in the back of our minds there is this vision we each have, it's who we truly are and how we see ourselves living our lives.

The vision we have of ourselves is the bits and pieces of what make up the best of us.

Recently I've found myself thinking about my life and all the things I thought I'd have accomplished by now.

But the funny thing is, many of the things I thought I'd have accomplished are not the things I truly want.  They are things I thought I should want.  They are things that do not match my vision of myself.  

The vision I have formulated along the way of the ideal way to live my life, is better than the things I use to think I needed.

Which raises the question of why it's so hard to be honest with yourself and what you truly want.

I've been practicing saying to myself what I want, and it's not easy!  Some days are harder than others as I do tend to let myself get sidetracked by all the so called "shinny" things.  That's why it's a practice I guess.  

So a good mantra is to remind myself to go out into the world and make my life the one I've always wanted!  This mantra, for me, makes it easier to ignore the "shinny" things.  :)

Make It The Life You Always Wanted! - Yoga Lesson

When you think of your life, what do you envision?

Is it some "shinny" thing, some person, some place that you think will make you complete?

Or is what you envision for your life, bigger than some "shinny" thing?

Is there a big picture that has wide and sweeping brush strokes that has many moving parts?

What ever it is that you envision, go out and do it!

Make your life mean what you want it to!

Make It The Life You Always Wanted!

Be It - Personal Practice

I don't know about you, but I spend a lot of time thinking about the things I should do.

I think about exactly what it is that I have to accomplish before I'm allowed to let myself think about what it is I truly want.

I make excuses and procrastinate.

I compare myself to to my past self and my future self.

I think about the "what if's".

I spend time searching for answers to magically appear.

But I know what the answer to my "it" is.

I just have to have faith in it.

My it comes back to the practice of being present in this moment, trusting myself, letting go of someone I thought I was, and someone I thought I should be.

My it is my journey.  

So off I go into the world to Go Be It!

Be It - Yoga Lesson

What is it you want?

What is it you spend your time thinking about?

Whatever it is that is holding you back, let it go.

Believe in yourself!  Refrain from second guessing yourself!

Go Be It!

Time - Personal Practice

Time tells all things, or so I've heard.

Okay, so i've experienced it too!

Gosh, I can't tell you how often I want to speed up time to accomplish a goal or see how things will turn out.

Along the way i've been lucky enough to have friends that remind me to look up, stop, breath the fresh air, smell the flowers, etc...

Unfortunately, for a long time I needed the other people in my life to remind me to be in the moment, I couldn't do it on my own.

I had been known to stay so focused on the outcome I forgot to experience the journey.  

This bad habit wasted my precious time as I didn't see things as they actually were in the moment.  I saw only what I wanted to.

Then somewhere along the way I'd reach my goal and look back and find I struggled needlessly.  In reflection I noticed that I often tried to force outcomes and learning experiences could have been less tedious if I'd been present along the journey. 

The struggle was of no value because only time could tell me what I wanted to know.

I had to learn to enjoy the journey and accept what was happening in the moment.  

Enjoying the journey also meant accepting when things would not work out as I had planned.  Those have been some of the hardest lessons to learn.

This week I've found myself getting ahead of myself.  I still struggle with wanting to know all the answers now.  I find myself wanting to force an outcome.  I see where I get frustrated if my expectations are not met.  Getting ahead of myself is still part of who I am.

However I can say, thank goodness I started my practice of being in the moment years ago!  Thank goodness I still want to and do practice.

I'm grateful for being able to step back, temper myself, and assess where I am in time in relation to something.

Being in the moment makes all the difference!

So I continue to practice by allowing time to tell me what I want to know.

Time - Yoga Lesson

What does time mean to you?

Is time something you have plenty of or too little of?

Where do you see yourself in relation to time?

Has too much of it passed or do you see it fully laid out before you?

Time has and will tell you what you want to know.

You just have to let time run it's course.

In the meantime, be in your moment!

This moment is all the time you have.