I wrote about being detached in my e-zine, The Prosperous Writer, this week.
And you now have a chance to share your thoughts on the topic.
Interested?
(See how detached I am?)
If you would like to know what I am talkin’ about, please subscribe in the upper-right-hand corner of the blog to my weekly e-zine, The Prosperous Writer. You will be jumping in with the next issue.
In the meantime, check out the responses from readers who will post links to their thoughts on the topic of the week below.
Hope to see your response to a future prompt!
Comments on this entry are closed.
The topic of detachment is an interesting one to me because I tend to be a worrier. I think more with age and maturity though, I have learned a sense of detachment by realizing that whether I worry about something or not, it isn’t going to change the outcome.
Whether it is staying up nights worrying about whether or not a client will pay me for completed work or about homeless dogs running the street, worrying about it isn’t to make the money come or the dogs find homes. To overcome it, I do what I can to guide the outcome but otherwise allow the chips to fall as they do.
The result of detachment for me has been a lot less sleepless nights and more productive workdays!
I never thought about this. Lots to chew on. It made me think and I have realized my lack of detachment has caused me to not meet some goals.
Thank-you so much for this. I believe it will really help me in the weeks to come.
Kathy
Dear Christina: I do practice detachment, especially since the loss of my husband 7 months ago. His passing made me numb; I felt like I was wandering about alone in an alien time zone. Nothing fazed me except grieving. Since that time, I have learned I will not listen to the ills of the world. His death has taught me that there is nothing more important than life. I shut the radio when something comes on I do not want to listen to. I do the same with TV and watch Netflix movies on my laptop. When others are speaking and I can hear what they talk about like how many pills they take, or who in the neighborhood did something they didn’t like, I nod a cheery ‘hello’ and walk on by. I do not read the daily newspaper anymore except on Sundays. And I skim all the inflated bias and sensationalism and hone in on something that is good and wholesome. I attend church weekly where I hear the promises of the Lord and that comforts me. As I lean into my detachment, I am then open to see the luscious patterns of the clouds and hear the birds chattering because I’m able to follow the sound. Classical music accompanies me each and every day for its soothing notes, which calms my spirit. I read the Bible and good books and search for meaning in all that I touch. My children and grandchildren are my future as I interact to teach them all I have learned. I write poetry for the existential release it gives me, hoping to share with them.
Sometimes it takes something grievous, like a death, to shake us into realizing we have no power over outside things of this world. It is then and only then can we begin to detach from worldly things and concentrate on those things that bring us joy and peace. Joan
Just subscribed to this blog!
Thanks, Susan. 🙂
Welcome, Patricia. 🙂
Thanks, Chryselle. I’ve forwarded your post on Twitter. 🙂
Joan, I’m very sorry to hear about your loss. Thanks for sharing here.
Welcome!
You’re welcome, Kathy. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Aren’t we all? 😉
Excellent points, Kristie. 🙂
I love this topic! I even blogged about it here:http://christinefonseca.wordpress.com/2010/09/12/riding-the-middle-rails/
Thanks for another thought provoking topic, Christina
Joan, I know just what you mean. Having lost my other half four years ago to a drunk driver, I found myself with entirely new understandings of “never” and “forever.” I spent the first two years in a numbed-out fog.
When I finally started to wake up to the fact that the world was still spinning on its axis, even if I wasn’t, I realized just how petty some things truly are. There were so many meaningful things in life I had been missing for so many years. It took detaching from everything in an effort to save my sanity for me to realize how wrapped up I had been in the unimportantness of things I had no control over, and really didn’t need to worry about.
It was as if someone came along and erased a crowded chalkboard. Suddenly I had nothing but open space. I could choose what I put on that chalkboard. I had room (mentally) to write again – something I had not done in years. I was able to steer clear of things that I didn’t really need to worry about. I was able to see the beauty of simple things. I was able to understand that what neighborhood we lived in, what car I drove, what the economy was doing, or even my friends’ and familys’ crisis did not have to become my worries.
While I will never stop missing him, I am grateful to my hubby for giving me this last gift – the realization that I can still be a caring, loving, creative person if I just back up and remember what is really important to me.
Material things and worldly goings-on won’t mean much in 100 years when my great great grandchildren are pouring over my old journals and fingering the fragile relics of what was once my life. What will matter is who I was to their mothers, fathers, grandparents, and great grandparents. What will matter is how my life (and hubby’s life) helped shaped our family history.
Everything else? Detach, detach, detach. It really doesn’t matter. What a freeing life it is to truly understand that. It is by far, the greatest gift my husband ever gave me.
I wrote a short blog about my take on being detached. Check it out at http://writewithtlc.tlcooper.com/
After a week of very bad news – earthquakes, miscarriage, breakups – detachment is a timely topic. I have found it impossible to stay detached, and have written about it here: http://thebreakupbitch.com/2010/09/when-you-cant-detach.html
In usual circumstances I agree with staying detached, but this week, I think my lack of it has helped me.