ATTACHMENTS :: #TBGREFLECTS
Attachments. They keep us constantly occupied, feeling āsafeā, and often prevent us from new experiences or disguise the truth of our transient life. Iāve just recently come to terms with how attached I really am. After years of telling myself that Iām not attached to anything, Iāve slowly found that I feel so close to social media, my parents, home comforts (read: tea and lattes), and yes, my husband. These things make me feel safe, protected andĀ in-the-know. Coming to terms with this and accepting it has definitely helped me to be more aware of what Iām doing and lead a more focused, meaningful and productive few weeks.Ā
Weāre constantly being reeled into the buzz of news, popular culture, or viral content that just the thought of slowing down, reflecting, emptying ourselves, is bizarre. I canāt even remember the last time I felt at ease and empty when I prayed. I always feel like my head is going 100 miles an hour thinking about an email I need to respond to, some work I need to finish off and wait, itās already been 20 minutes since Iāve checked my Twitter?!Ā
Itās no wonder the Qurāan and the Guru Granth Sahib are filled with verses reminding us of death *dun dun dunnnnn*, the final abode, where weāre all inevitably going to end up. The reminder of death makes us realise attachments are distractions. It makes you think really, the only reality of our lives is death. Itās the only truth we know. And yet, todayās world focuses on driving us away from remembering death by telling us we need to be following this inspirational fitness account or buying this lipstick because it suits our skin tone.
A couples of weeks ago I was speaking to a friend and told her how I feel like thereās a heavy weight always resting on my shoulders ā that I have to somehow keep up with the world, with trends, with people, with my family, with emails and messages. And she told me to just turn my iPhone off. Thatās it? Yep, thatās it. That goddamn 64GB nugget is so powerful, itās like a world in itself, and I always feel like a freaky gravitational force is pulling me toward it. I now know that āforceā is called my comfort zone. Turning off my phone had me feeling a bit weird and also like, āNow what?ā. Donāt get me wrong, I got on with my day, but I finally eased up knowing Iād opted out on email notifications, messages, and those goddamn family group-chat notifications. It was good. I felt focused and present.
I could focus in my prayers, on my work, on my conversations with my family. It was like a completely different zone. I try to do this regularly now and, although I get anxious before I turn my phone back on and am forced to situate myself in an internet world again, it does help me feel better, calmer and more relaxed. Iām in control of the information I absorb. Not the other way round. Ā
Reflecting on the past year, I definitely feel like Iāve lived too comfortably, surrounded by things that make me happy and at home. Remembering death (and letting it scare the crap out of me) makes me realize attachments arenāt healthy, or particularly useful. They are distractions ā and so my husband and I have decided to move to a remote place to study Arabic for three months.Ā
One of my intentions for this journey is to definitely to become more detached, rip myself away from the comfort zone and constantly remember the temporary reality of our life and relationships in this world.
Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to find out in the next few days where weāre off to :)Ā
