In a nutshell, detachment is the ability to let go. To allow people and circumstances to be as they are without the desire to control them. To simply accept what is. This doesn’t mean that you become complacent and un-caring, it means you think and act from a position of non-attachment.
By openly accepting what is and responding to it from a non-controlling position, you’ll find newfound freedom as well as unexpected new opportunities and experiences.
The Way It Works
Attachment is nothing other than a need for security. By attaching (or clinging) to a desired outcome, we are trying to control the situation. This need for control comes from a desire to keep things predictable. Predictability is safe. Unpredictability is unsafe (and scary).
While you could pose a good argument for attachment, here’s the downside – stagnation.
Another way to look at this is that attachment is a clinging to the known (the familiar, the predictable). What is the known? The known is the past. So in effect, attachment is a clinging to the past and wishing to recreate it in the future. There is no evolution or growth in this.
In seeking security (recreating the past), we are basically cutting ourselves off from a whole range of possibilities for new things to manifest in our lives. We are closed, blocked, not open to allowing new (unpredictable/uncertain/scary) things to happen.
“Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear.” - George Addair
This is why detachment is so important.
In order to manifest new people, new circumstances, new situations into our lives, we have to relinquish the need to control, to let go of the past and to embrace uncertainty while learning to live in the present moment.
So how do you do this?
Basically, detachment requires trust. The same kind of trust you need to jump from a diving board into a pool of water. You have to trust that the pool will be deep enough to make your entry safe. This type of trust I’m talking about comes from knowing your true self. In knowing who you truly are, you will find ultimate safety/security.
By coming to know your true self, you align with the Universe. You acknowledge that you are spirit in physical form. You can feel safe in knowing that you are not alone, that you are a manifestation of something timeless and vast. You have the power of the Universe supporting you.
Allow yourself to embrace uncertainty and experience the exhilaration of knowing that anything is possible. Replace fear with excitement. Know that the more uncertain things may seem, the greater number of possibilities await you.
“Uncertainty is the fertile ground of pure creativity and freedom. Uncertainty means stepping into the unknown in every moment of our existence. The unknown is the field of all possibilities, ever fresh, ever new, always open to the creation of new manifestations.”
~ Deepak Chopra