How To Live A Lighter Future

Mindfully Letting Go Of Your Attachments So You Can Feel Free

The biggest positive changes in your life will come from noticing an invitation to grow and trusting yourself enough to accept it.

Everyone has growth opportunities that arise within them that, if addressed, will make them grow into more of who they want to be. These things don’t have to be huge, either. They’re often subtle, and just because they are small doesn’t mean their impact isn’t big.

Fortunately, we’re equipped with an incredible gift to work with these little places where we’re stuck: our natural self-awareness. It’s a powerful tool. We simply have to learn how to point it in the right direction. 

If you start paying closer attention to your arising thoughts, feelings, and intuitions, you’ll notice subtle signs of attachment stored in them. What are these attachments? Old defense mechanisms, methods you’ve used to bolster your ego, and reactions that were coded during tough situations. As I noted earlier, these little attachments are small, but they can have a big impact on your mindset. And when your mindset changes, so does your way of seeing yourself and the world.

For example, you could be in conversation with a friend and have an impulse to respond to what they are saying in a denying or sarcastic way. While this isn’t the end of the world, if unaddressed, it reinforces your reaction to reach for a negative place within yourself and express it outwardly. Doing this will weaken the connection with your friend (as they will subconsciously close off when they feel your words) and make space for the essence of negativity to live inside of you. 

The more we notice these attachments arise inside of us and choose to let them go, the more compassionate, peaceful, and connected we will feel.

Feeling that way shifts our mindset in a positive direction, which makes our experience of life significantly lighter. And feeling lighter is good. It’s called enlightenment for a reason.

So, how do we practice this? 

As you go through your day, gently use a portion of your awareness to monitor what’s flowing through your mind and body. You don’t have to stay locked in on every detail, but keep an eye on what arises as you move through your daily experience. 

When you notice an impulse arising that feels off, take note of it. This can feel like a subtle heaviness, slight inner tension, tightening in the stomach, an increase in adrenaline with the ego coming forward, and so on. This feeling is your nervous system communicating that the arising impulse is out of alignment with who you want to be. 

As that feeling arises, slow down and take a breath. Taking a short breath creates space inside of you and in the flow of your actions. That space is where you have the chance not to react but to use your mindful awareness to choose to respond differently in the present moment. 

Responding differently can look like: 

– Letting go of the comment and not saying anything at all. 

– Deciding to say something positive instead of negative. 

– Considering why that negative impulse arose in the first place. 

– Asking a supportive question instead of commenting.

Conversations are just one of the places these attachments exist. When we tell ourselves stories about what’s happening in life, they are typically littered with anxieties, problems, and self-critical thoughts. 

You can apply the same practice from above to these kinds of arising attachments. Notice when you feel them. Take a breath. Recognize them as a story instead of reality, and choose to let them go and move forward with positive action. 

We can look at these arising attachments as teachers. They are growth opportunities. Not annoyances, but signposts that guide us on our way to coming into alignment with our higher selves.

When we trust ourselves, we can take charge of who we want to be in the present by acknowledging these opportunities, accepting the gift of their guidance, and taking action to liberate ourselves from the weight of our past so that we may flow lightly into our future. 

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