One day the Buddha was sitting with his monks. A distraught farmer approached. “Monks, have you seen my cows?”

The Buddha said, “No we have not.”

The farmer continued, “I am distraught. I have only twelve cows, and now they are gone. How will I survive?”

The Buddha looked at him with compassion and said, “I’m sorry my friend, we have not seen them. You may want to look in the other direction.”

After the farmer had gone, the Buddha turned to his monks, looked at them deeply, smiled and said, “Dear ones, do you know how lucky you are? You don’t have any cows to lose.”

Detachment

Once upon a time, there was a young monk named Tenzin who lived in a monastery nestled in the mountains of Tibet. Tenzin was known for his exceptional skills in meditation and his unwavering devotion to the Buddhist principle of detachment.

One day, Tenzin was walking through the forest when he stumbled upon a beautiful bird with vibrant feathers. The bird was injured and unable to fly. Tenzin felt a deep sense of compassion for the bird and decided to take it back to the monastery to nurse it back to health.

As days passed, Tenzin spent all his time taking care of the bird. He would feed it, clean its feathers, and talk to it. He became so attached to the bird that he forgot about his duties at the monastery. His fellow monks noticed his absence and grew concerned.

One day, the head monk called Tenzin to his chambers and asked him why he had been neglecting his duties. Tenzin explained that he had been taking care of the bird and that he couldn’t bear to leave it alone.

The head monk listened patiently and then said, “Tenzin, you have forgotten the true meaning of detachment. You have become attached to the bird and have lost sight of your responsibilities. Detachment is not about avoiding love or compassion, but about letting go of attachment to outcomes. You must learn to love without attachment.”

Tenzin realized the truth in the head monk’s words and decided to release the bird back into the wild. As he watched the bird fly away, he felt a sense of peace and detachment that he had never experienced before.

From that day on, Tenzin continued to practice detachment in all aspects of his life. He learned to love without attachment and to let go of outcomes. He became a wise and respected monk, known for his deep understanding of the Buddhist principle of detachment.

“The root of suffering is attachment.” – Buddha

Why is detachment so powerful?  Detachment is a spiritual practice that involves letting go of our attachments to material possessions, external validation, and even our own thoughts and emotions. By practicing detachment, we create space for inner peace and clarity, allowing us to connect with our true selves and the world around us.

Detachment reveals the great paradox of life: In order to acquire something, you have to relinquish your attachment to having it.  You can only loose what you cling to.

“Detachment is … Not lack of love, but a lack of dependency. Not lack of passion, but a lack of attachment to permanency.  Not lack of security, but a lack of anxiety in uncertainty.” – Drishti Bablani

Your home should be a living space and not a storage space. Before us lies two paths, which will determine the future landscape of our planet.

The hoarder will pluck every flower in the field, the minimalist will stop, enjoy them, water them and help them grow ever more plentiful.

“If you believe it will work out, you’ll see opportunities. If you believe it won’t, you will see obstacles.” – Wayne Dyer

“May you be firm, but never inflexible; may be you proud, but never boastful; may you be strong, but never forceful; may you be gentle but never weak; may you be truthful, but never unkind; may you be brave but never foolish; may you have more than enough, but never be greedy. – David Scott

When you are evolving to your higher self, the road is long and lonesome, but you’re simply shedding energies that no longer match the frequency of your destiny. The hardest walk is walking alone, but it’s also the walk that makes you the strongest.”

“A meaningful silence is always better than meaningless words.”

“Not everyone you lose is a loss. Sometime to find peace, you have to be willing to lose the connection with the people, places, and things that create all the noise in your life.”

“The ones who notice the storms in your eyes, the silence in your voice and the heaviness in your heart are the ones you need to let in.”

Worry often gives small things a big shadow.

“Never Reply when you are angry, never promise when you are happy and never make a decision when your sad.”

“Take risk… If you win you will be happy, if you lose you will be wise.”

“I have found that if you love life, life will love you back.” – Arthur Rubinstein

“When the world screams “Give Up,” hope whispers, “Try it one more time.”

“One of the hardest decisions to make in life, is to know when to “walk away” or when to try harder.”

“Sometimes good things fall apart, so better things can fall in their place.”

“At some point you just have to let go of what you thought should happen and live in what is happening.”

Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves. Carl Jung

“Life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced”

“While we are alive, everything is possible. You’re not too old and it’s never too late.” David Scott

“You know you’re on the right track, when you are no longer interested in looking back.”

I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness because it shows me the stars. Og Mandino

Life is so much simpler, when you stop trying to explain yourself to others and just live your life and do what works for you.

“True detachment isn’t separation from life but the absolute freedom within your mind to explore everything with no limits.”

“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment, until it becomes a memory.” Dr Seuss

“People know your name, not your story. They’ve heard what you’ve done, but not what you’ve been through. So take their opinions of you with a grain of salt. In the end, it’s not what others think, it’s what you think about yourself that counts. Sometimes you have to do exactly what’s best for you and your life, not what’s best for everyone else.”