The suffering begins at the very moment one starts to consider something as, “this is mine.“
The suffering begins at the very moment one starts to consider something as, “this is mine.“
They say that attachment is the basis for suffering.
Once you start to become attached to possessions or people or anything else, you are creating the foundation for some form of disappointment… when or if that element disappears from your existence.
I have been exposed to this philosophy over the course of time, but I have never tried to fully embrace it. Probably my very first exposure to the concept of attachment being detrimental came from John Lennon in the song, Imagine:
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
I don’t know if it’s possible to get to a place of non-attachment, but I believe it is important to understand the dynamics of attachment because there are certainly some times when we are best served to “let it go.”
These moments come at the end of a friendship or relationship, or when some thing you treasure is accidentally broken, lost or stolen. There are inevitably moments in life in which we must come to terms with the fact that something that we are attached to is not permanent, and as a result we are forced to recognize that we must let it go.
I chose to write about this topic today because sometimes in business we become attached to an outcome. As an entrepreneur, there are times when being attached to an outcome can be very dangerous because your opportunity may well be served by disconnecting from a preconceived notion and choosing to pivot in a new direction that is better for your overall business model.
There is a fine line between tenacity that causes one to fixate on a goal, versus recognition that a certain degree of elasticity is required in order that a higher outcome may be accomplished. When we find ourselves myopically focused on a specific outcome, it is equally wise to continue to survey the overall landscape in order that we might redirect our intentions towards even better opportunities.
Following the Zen mindset expressed in today’s aphorism, we are well served to save ourselves from needless suffering by recognizing that we can still be the absolute greatest advocate of something in business by allowing our exposure to everything else to enable us to focus on solutions that are best served for accomplishing our greatest potential. In doing so, we may discover that it may mean disregarding things that we held as most important at the outset of our journey.
Happy Thursday!
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