By Remez Sasson
(Part of the article is excerpted from the soon to be published book, Emotional Detachment for Better Life.)
- Are you quick to get angry?
- Do your moods go up and down often?
- Are you easily affected by what people say or think about you?
- Can an insignificant incident destroy your whole day?
- Do you allow situations and people to affect your moods and behavior?
- Do you lack inner peace?
Imagine how free, relieved and happy you would be, if you could stay calm and poised in the midst of whatever is happening in your life. Think how much physical, emotional and mental energy you could spare, if you were able to avoid becoming upset, angry or moody.
Emotional agitation, anger, and hurt feelings, cause stress and unhappiness, and lead nowhere, except to more pain, suffering and broken relationships. They disturb your mind, disrupt your concentration, and prevent you from focusing on the matters at hand. If you wish to enjoy inner peace, it is imperative that you try to gain at least some degree of detachment.
Too much emotional involvement with matters that do not concern you, or are not important, take too much of your time, energy and health. Excessive emotional involvement agitates your mind and feelings, and prevents you from experiencing inner peace.
Emotional involvement leads to attachment, to fear of letting go, and to avoiding changes. If you wish progress in life, you need at least some degree of emotional detachment, otherwise you let people and events, your thoughts and your past, tie you down.
There are certain things we can change in our life, but there are also things that we cannot change. If we keep worrying about them we lose our peace, but if we accept them, they stop being important, and we stop worrying about them. What we cannot change and cannot influence no matter what, should not be of concern to us.
There are so many things that attract and distract our attention, taking a lot of our time, energy and attention, leading to tiredness and exhaustion. All this leads people to desire some peace and quiet, but though it might look strange, people often avoid quietude, and dread a quiet environment, preferring the noise, the constant activity, and hustle and bustle of daily life. They do their best to avoid any moments of quietude, of being with themselves, feeling uneasy in such situations.
You don’t need to be a monk to find solitude, nor do you need to be a hermit to enjoy it.
