“A simple life is not seeing how little we can get by with – that’s poverty—but it’s how efficiently we can put first things first. When you’re clear about your purpose and your priorities, you can painlessly discard whatever does not support these, whether it’s clutter in your cabinets or commitments on your calendar.”
~ Victoria Moran
I love this teeny-tiny red sun, peeking out from behind the clouds this morning. It doesn’t have to be grand to be spectacular. As yesterday I wrote about letting go, it seemed that this thought echoed loudly throughout my day.
I enjoyed a soft, yet challenging yoga practice with my teacher in a small class. We worked on the joints of the hips, ending in the splits, as best as each of us could, followed by hand stands. She asked us simply to let go of fear. Letting go she said, changes your mind, which changes your physiology, which changes your life.
Upon returning home, I heard from a friend that her ex-husband had decided to remarry “the other woman”. This brought up painful feelings which had been suppressed. She realized she was still attached, but felt ready to let go, and move on with her life.
In his book, “The Noble Eightfold Path: The Way to the End of Suffering”, Bhikkhu Bodhi writes about letting go through right intention and the act of renunciation.
“When one tries to let go of attachment, that is when one will encounter a powerful inner resistance. The mind does not want to relinquish its hold on the object to which it has become attached. For such a long time it has been accustomed to gaining, grasping, and holding, that it might seem impossible to break these habits by act of will.”
“Buddha does not offer repression – the attempt to drive desire away with a mind full of fear and loathing – as a solution to breaking the shackles of unwanted desire that creates suffering. This approach does not resolve the problem, but only pushes it below the surface, where it continues to thrive. The tool that Buddha offers is understanding. Real renunciation is not a matter of compelling ourselves to give up things still inwardly cherished, but of changing our perspective on them so they no longer have a grip on us. When we understand the nature of desire, when we investigate it closely with keen attention, desire falls away by itself without the need for struggle.”
My own experience of mindfully watching desire shows that most attachment rises and passes in 90 seconds. Say for instance that you set an intention to save money, but you walk into a store, and see a shirt that grabs your attention (remembering to guard the sense doors). Instead of fighting the desire, simply watch it. Stand and look at the shirt, watching your thoughts. Notice that there is some level of suffering. I promise that within about a minute, your mind will grasp onto another thought, and the desire for the shirt will be gone.
It’s a beautiful exercise, because once you become clear that this is how the mind works, you aren’t caught in grasping. Again to quote Bhikkhu “Your mind will begin to understand that desire ultimately breeds sorrow and fear, but renunciation gives fearlessness and joy.”
And my favorite quote of all, in his short book, which I come back to time and time again:
“When we methodically contemplate the dangers of desire and the benefits of renunciation, gradually we steer our mind away from the domination of desire.
Attachments are shed like the leaves of a tree, naturally and spontaneously.
The changes do not come suddenly, but when there is persistent practice, there is no doubt they will come.”
So watch today as you may find yourself grasping, to a thought or a physical object. Just being aware now, you have given yourself freedom to let it go, and pursue a simpler, more purposeful life …
Namaste ♥
