Letting Go of Attachments

 Around the same time my relationship with God began to change, something else began changing within me.

I started making a conscious decision to surrender my attachments.

My desires.

My need for certain outcomes.

It didn’t happen overnight.

It unfolded slowly over several years.

As I looked back on my life, I realized how dependent I had been on people, places, and things to make me feel whole.

I used to believe that love was found in the excitement.

And happiness was found in the adventures.

In finding the next wonderful experience.

My partner and I traveled together, explored new restaurants, went shopping, and enjoyed discovering new places.

Those experiences brought pleasure.

But eventually, something shifted inside me.

My partner, Jack still wanted to travel, even though his health no longer allowed him to enjoy it the way he once had.

To my surprise, I found that I had simply had enough.

Not because traveling was wrong.

Not because I stopped appreciating beautiful places.

But because I no longer needed those experiences to feel complete.

I surrendered that, too.

The same became true of possessions.

I don’t deprive myself.

If there is something I need or genuinely enjoy, I allow myself to have it.

But I no longer feel driven by the need for more.

Somewhere along the way, I realized that chasing feelings could never satisfy the quiet discontent that once lived inside me.

Only surrender could do that.

As the attachments fell away, something unexpected took their place.

Contentment.

If it were not for the physical pain I have experienced these past several years, I believe I would be perfectly content living a quiet, uncomplicated life.

Perhaps that is one of the greatest gifts surrender has given me.

The freedom to discover that peace is not found in having more.

It is found in needing less.