Buddhist Email must come with Detachment
By: Rupen Paul
Tags: Detachment, Life Lessons, Letting Go

I don’t know how as human beings we became so attached. Buddha always spoke against attachment and even went on to say that attachments could be the reason why we end up miserable. I wish I wasn’t so attached as a human being. I love my friends too much to lose them. I love my career too much to give it up for even a day. I love my parents too much to make them unhappy. I am actually so attached as a human being that I sleep with my phone in the same room as me so that if something happens to my family, friends or career, I do not want to miss that important call.

I am working on changing this. I really want to let go and be free. I want to live in the present and find all the tranquility that I can in this moment. Right now as I write this down, I want to feel like I’m doing my best in making someone’s day a little better through this blog.

When we start out in any life venture, we are always doing things that we hope will one day give us results. We want to make our families happy so that they accept us. We want to work extra hours so that it increases our chances of making it in our careers. We want to do sweet things for people we love hoping that at some point we can earn their admiration. But when things don’t come our way that easily, we question ourselves if our efforts are good enough or not. Most of us don’t enjoy the present because we are constantly analyzing ourselves. Jim Rohn calls it ‘Paralysis by Analysis’.

You can sometimes do your best and still see no results. I take care of my family as much as I can but they sometimes still express disappointment in me. I work as hard as I can in my career and still see many days when there’s zero fruition of my labor. I try to be as loving, available and generous as I can with the people that I love only to feel lonely. Maybe we expect too much out of life and don’t enjoy the present moment for what it is.

When Life is good we want it to last for as long as it can. I remember reading the Subtle Art of Not giving a F*ck where Mark Manson says that it’s not possible to be happy all the time. Drug addicts and alcoholics are the ones who are constantly seeking happiness. Sometimes life is miserable and the best we can do is to accept it. Yes it’s a painful moment but like it says in the Bible — ‘this too shall pass’.

As I become older, I’m learning that I am becoming more emotional as a human being. The other day when someone left a really generous compliment on my YouTube video, I started tearing up because all my life I’ve thought of myself as a useless person and finally people were acknowledging the good in me. Yesterday when I was riding to work, I suddenly remembered something sweet a girl told me and again I started tearing up because what she said was so kind. I let myself have these emotions and though it’s such an anti-adult thing to do, I’ve found that it is easier to detach once you’ve expressed your emotions.

When something painful happens again, I will accept the moment for what it is, feel that pain, let go of it and believe that at some point I will find something that makes up for it. I’ve always believed that in life we win more than we lose and I really hope it’s true.