Meditation Articles Series

It’s great to be able to blog again after a few weeks absence from Fragrant Heart. And perhaps I can write this blog about what I have witnessed with my mother moving from the family home after living there since she was a young bride sixty-one years ago. My mother loved her old home. She had many fond memories over those years. It had been her first real home since she was a child and one she loved and appreciated. Dad built the home for her and crafted it with fine workmanship. She had raised her children there, and had celebrated many festive occasions with family and friends throughout the years.

Once my mother made the decision to move she stayed focused on slowly getting rid of things she no longer needed, cleaning out all the cupboards, and packing up. She began to visualize how her furniture would be placed in her new home, and finally she said goodbye to her old neighbours and her bridge club.

The Greater the Attachment, the Greater the Pain

A friend of mine says, “The greater the attachment, the greater the pain.” My mother let go all attachment to her old home. It was a great privilege to watch her in that letting go, seeing her moving in her elder years with ease and grace, joy and optimism into a whole new way of life. There was no struggle to go, there was no sadness in leaving. Simply there was no attachment.

Non-Attachment

Holding on to things causes misery. I like to think that I can learn from my mother’s example and live my own life more and more in the same unattached manner. Attachment and fear go together. Attachment to something, or someone binds us in ways that reduce our confidence, independence, and ability to accept change. So often we hold onto things and others because we are afraid that if we let go we will lose something. In that loss we are terrified of being lonely, and empty. Often giving something up when it is no longer appropriate for our well-being opens the Universal door to something else in which we can flourish and thrive. I am happy to say that my mother is indeed flourishing and thriving in her new abode surrounded by caring new neighbours, and a lovely garden filled with trees and shrubs.