Letting Go & Seizing the Moment

Letting Go and Seizing the Moment

Attachment and clinging creates a feeling of loss when things change out of our control, and we spend time and energy longing for the persons, places, objects, or experiences to reappear, or a sense of inadequacy or failure trying to figure out what we could have done to prevent or modify the unpleasant experiences. In both cases we seem intuitively to assume that we have or could have had control over the external world, and that external world could somehow be made to stop changing so that we could continue to enjoy the circumstances we had found that provide what we are looking for.

This clinging applies not only to things from the past but also to things in the present. Sometimes we get stuck in situations that are not happy but we stay in the situation because it is familiar, and letting go would necessarily involve something unfamiliar and uncertain. This can occur in jobs relationships, locations, and the things we enjoy. So we cling to a spot on the bank of the river struggling to resist the current, not realizing that struggle itself is a source of discomfort and suffering. If we had the confidence to let go and allow new experiences and situations to appear in our lives, we could learn to find authentic peace and happiness with our own mind. There are always other parts of the riverbank to be experienced.

Constantly dwelling in the past or wishing for the future makes it difficult to appreciate what is appearing in the present, and to realize that change is constant. Nothing remains the same. If we are relying on things outside our own mind we will find it difficult to find happiness that lasts.

Letting go of the things we are normally attached to creates the space to look inside our own mind, and constantly create and recreate a new self in the moment as the universe changes. Looking inside our mind we could become more patient, loving, and compassionate for others suffering. We could develop wisdom realizing the dream-like nature of the things we normally see, and recognize the futility of trying to hold on to or control the external world.

In this course we will examine how to let go of the things and situations that are an obstacle to finding real happiness and freedom, explore the transient nature of everything, and consider how to find real happiness in each moment within this changing universe.