October 5th
What does it mean to have attachments, to our image of ourselves and people and situations around us, to our beliefs and ideas, to trying to be right, to wanting security, to wanting life to work out in a particular way?
Attachment keeps our vision very near ourselves, but not in the present, and creates tension and holding in our bodies. When there is attachment, we hold an image of ourselves at the center of everything and we see the world always in relationship to that image. As long as that image exists, we cannot be accurate in our perceptions or honest with who we are, for our biggest investment is in protecting and defending that image. Being right becomes more important than being honest with ourselves and that requires a lot of energy and results in held and tightened bodies.
When we are aware and therefore accepting of the fact that the image we hold of ourselves is what causes all separation between us and the world around us, we can no longer maintain that image or use so much effort in trying to be right. When we see how very judgmental we are and how that creates excess tension throughout our whole lives, why would we hold onto that, when life would be so much easier, lighter and more joyous without all that tension?
As long as we maintain and protect an image of ourselves, our lives will continue to be filled with tension, anxiety and negative thinking, but when we understand what it means to have self-imposed images and the resulting tension, our vision of the world expands. In that moment of awareness of the limitations we have forced upon ourselves, there is a shift in energy and we experience life as expansive, limitless, boundless and abundant.