Attachment

Traveling and constantly moving has a major downside; attachment and loss. I have met some incredible people, but I know the time will be here soon for me to say goodbye. It hurts every time , even though I always knew it would be this way. I have met some people that don't want to get to know me because they know I will leave. I understand that. It’s a defence mechanism. I do the same, when I realize that I’m attached, I have to pull away, because I know the pain of goodbye will be too much.

  Buddhists believe attachment is the root of suffering.  Is it possible to reconcile un-attachment with meaningful relationships? Can I truly open myself up to people that will not be in my life for a great length of time? We all know that nothing is permanent, so why do we struggle with the idea?  

 As children, we are taught the idea of ownership and attachment at a very early age. Just try to take a child’s toy away, even if s/he is not playing with it. The sense of loss is immediate; something of mine has been taken away. When we lose someone or something valuable, we grieve and remember the times we had with it or them. This sense of ownership and attachment,  causes us to question ourselves. How are we to go on without the object of our longing? Who are we without our attachments? We are part of that mental image; we are part of our desires and ultimately part of what we desire. Every time I say goodbye to a friend I will never see again, a little bit of me goes with them. The mental images of the moments we had together are part of their conscious memory too; thereby we become part of them. Even a short time spent together was not a waste, but a memory of a connection.