The Art of Detachment: Becoming open to change

Recently, I've been thinking a lot and talking to some people about the concept of how detachment can lead to greater clarity and happiness in our lives.

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, detachment can be defined as any of the following:

1. The action or process of detaching, separation.

2.The dispatch of a body of troops or part of a fleet from the main body for a special mission or service.

3. Indifference to worldly concerns, aloofness; freedom from bias or prejudice.

The concept I feel most drawn towards is the third one - indifference to worldly concerns and freedom from bias or prejudice.

Let's look at the first part of the definition.

Indifference to worldly concerns

I recently watched a video of a lady that on her wedding day said she was given the best advice she could ever have received. She was told to start keeping a diary. And she did. For over 26 years.

During those years that passed, she started looking back at her writing and came to one important realization about life: Don't sweat the small stuff.

Her perspective in life changed over the years as she saw how insignificant the "bad" things in her life had impacted her many years later.

Those "worldly concerns" - your kids breaking something, not having a fancy dress, being jealous of your friend, not having the house totally cleaned and MANY MORE - were not really events or things that she needed to be anxious, worried, angry, etc. about.

She learned to detach her identity, feelings, and worth from the worldly concerns around her and focus on what was important to her: The relationships she formed with people and the service she provided through her passion.

She strove to reach for something bigger than herself and these "worldly concerns".

Practicing this detachment from worldly concerns led her to having the freedom to become the very-best-version-of-herself by helping her focus her time and energy on what really mattered.

Freedom from bias or prejudice

When we let go of our "self" - our ego - and start seeing things from an outside perspective (looking at the bigger picture rather than trying to be at the center of the picture), we might discover something new about a person, situation, or thing we might have been blinded to by letting our "self" get in the way.

Maybe it is fear that is blinding us: We are scared of failing and having other people think we are useless or that we are pretending to be someone we are not.

Maybe pride is the one getting in the way: We think we can go through it alone and do not need to ask for help. We become arrogant, uptight, and emotionally unavailable.

Detaching ourselves from those biases and prejudices - of how we see ourselves, of how others see us, and of how we see others - can help us become better human beings by giving us the opportunity to grow.

To find these opportunities, you have to have an open-mind and be curious about your environment.

This mindset will lead you to grow by helping you to change.

And there-in lies the catch. Change.

Change is scary, uncomfortable, unknown, and unstable.

But change is what allows us to grow.

When we are able to embrace the art of detachment - of not needing to have everything that we want, the way we want it, and when we want it - you open yourself up to a new energy around you: Hope.

Through hope, we find the strength to keep going amidst the changes and challenges of life.

Through hope, we become a light in the world.

How are you embracing the changes and challenges in your life?

Are you making a VERY big deal out of it?

Or are you looking at your choices through another perspective?

Trust the process. Live the commitment.