Non Attachment

There are cultures that believe we take all our earthly possessions with us when we die, so tombs are packed with the personal effects of the deceased person.

My personal belief is:

we come into this world with nothing but our bodies,

and we leave this life with nothing but our bodies.

That to me means   the Primary thing we should be looking after, maintaining, enhancing, improving, developing, and be grateful for, is our bodies, which includes the mind and soul. Everything else is transient. Everything else can be given or taken away, lost and found.

Non Attachment to me, means not being 100% dependant on something or someone.

Be willing to let things go.

It doesn't mean I don't need money to pay the rent, it means I am not focussed on money 100% of the time.

It doesn't mean I live in denial and unreality, claiming that no earthly, physical thing has any place in my life. No, it means there is more to life than chasing after physical, earthly possessions.

When all these things are taken away, what is left? Me. My body. My thoughts. My feelings.

Ask someone like Nelson Mandela, who sat in prison all those years.

I am fortunate to live in a country were our survival is not threatened, only our comforts. The “Things” around us are necessary only for our comfort, not our survival. Therefore, we can choose to let them go, release them, refuse to become dependent on them.

Our thoughts will lift us up, or can pull us down.

Our health can make us look 10 years younger, or can make our lives a pain and take us to an early grave.

Our soul and heart can make us feel light as a feather, or, if we don't maintain them, can plunge us into depression.

How many 'successful' old people do we know, who are rich and are surrounded by possessions, yet are too unhealthy to enjoy them?

They would spend their fortune to get their health back.

Remember the old adage:

'Nobody ever said, on their deathbed: “I wish I'd spent more time at the office”'.

When we pass from this life,

We can't take our kids with us.

We can't take our partner with us.

We can't take our money with us.

We can't take our computer with us.

We can't take our car with us.

We can't take our house with us.

We can't take our career with us.

We can't take our reputation with us.

Practice non-attachment, focus on the things that really matter in this life.

I have only scratched the surface here....