Observing the World Around You

Shift your self-perception and cultivate a higher aspect of yourself known as the compassionate witness. Rather than think of yourself as a human being who has thoughts, feelings and behaviors, begin practicing stepping outside of yourself.

I am showing you the way to a new kind of freedom where you witness your life and no longer are a dancer choreographed and directed by others. You have the choice to take on the witness posture in terms of how you view everything going on around you. This includes events in your neighborhood as well as globally significant events. As the witness, you are refusing to identify with what you see taking place.

You are instead being a detached, passive but noticing observer. You are not the event, you are that which is noticing it. When you become the witness to events in the world around you, you remove your self-importance from what you are observing. You do not see it in terms of how it affects you. You simply notice. You are not attached to the rightness or wrongness of it. You have an inner knowing that, in some mysterious way, it is all in order. You are not questioning God in any of it. You simply notice.

Learning to observe the world from the perspective of the detached witness does not, however, mean being emotionless. It simply means being free of immobilizing emotions. Abraham Maslow described the highest functioning human beings in his studies as “self-actualized,” stating that the highest quality they possessed was that they were “independent of the good opinion of others.”

When you no longer need to view the events of your life from your self-centered perspective, or from the point of view of how you should react based on how you will look to others, then you have achieved a measure of freedom. You can extend this witness position toward all of the things that you find so upsetting in the world. The wars will go on and on, independent of your inner turmoil. Being the global witness might actually help to create a collective energy of peace. Certainly your anger isn’t going to eradicate wars.

~Written by Dr. Wayne Dyer

The Law of Detachment

By Deepak Chopra

The Law of Detachment, which is about letting go of our need to control outcomes, our attachment to our desires, and – perhaps most difficult – our need to control other people.

In the Vedic tradition and other spiritual teachings, the path to freedom and happiness lies in letting go of attachment. This doesn’t mean disengaging from life, denying your passions, or living the life of a renunciate. The real nature of detachment is a loving, wise participation in life while maintaining the awareness of an inner core of peace and presence that is our true identity. This is the essence of the Spiritual Law of Detachment.

Why Attachment Hurts

Attachment is based on fear and insecurity. When you forget your true Self – which is pure consciousness, pure potentiality – you begin to believe that you need something outside of yourself to make you happy. It’s easy to think, “I’ll feel good when I have more money in the bank, lose 15 pounds, find my soul mate, pay off my bills, or (insert your current desire here). As you’ve no doubt discovered, getting what you want doesn’t bring security. At a deep level, you know that whatever is bringing you happiness can be lost and therefore has the potential to bring you pain.

The only way out of this dilemma is detaching. You set your intentions and take whatever action is needed, and then relinquish your attachment to the outcome.  Here are a few  powerful affirmations you can use to practice detachment in your daily life.  Choose one or two and practice saying them to yourself throughout the day:

• I consciously commit to flexibility and detachment.
• I allow myself and those around me the freedom to be themselves, without imposing rigid ideas of right and wrong.
• I live my life in a state of engaged detachment.
• I release the need to judge or criticize.
• I express myself honestly while releasing any need to impose my beliefs on other people.
• Whenever I notice that I am becoming emotionally attached to a point of view, I take a deep breath and come back to a more centered place.
• I embrace detachment by choosing to be free from the good and bad opinions of others.

In detachment lies the wisdom of uncertainty . . . in the wisdom of uncertainty lies the freedom from our past, from the known, which is the prison of past conditioning. And in our willingness to step into the unknown, the field of all possibilities, we surrender ourselves to the creative mind that orchestrates the dance of the universe.

• I will put the Law of Detachment into effect by making a commitment to take the following steps:
• Today I will commit myself to detachment. 
• I will allow myself and those around me the freedom to be as they are. 
• I will not rigidly impose my idea of how things should be. 
• I will not force solutions on problems, thereby creating new problems. 
• I will participate in everything with detached involvement.
• Today I will factor in uncertainty as an essential ingredient of my experience. 
• In my willingness to accept uncertainty, solutions will spontaneously emerge out of the problem, out of the confusion, order and chaos. 
• The more uncertain things seem to be, the more secure I will feel, because uncertainty is my path to freedom. 
• Through the wisdom of uncertainty, I will find my security.
• I will step into the field of all possibilities and anticipate the excitement that can occur when I remain open to an infinity of choices. 
• When I step into the field of all possibilities, I will experience all the fun, adventure, magic and mystery of life.

Source: How to Let Go: 7 Affirmations for Practicing the Law of Detachment

Image: The Golden Path-II by H. Koppdelaney at Foter.com

The Fictitious Self

The mind, working consciously and unconsciously, is the cause of my problems. Problems cease only when the self is forgotten, when the “me” is non-existent. The thinker is a fictitious entity, an illusion of the mind. The thinker ceases only when there is an understanding of the whole process. The non-action is to see it in its entirety and therefore have an insight into it. When you once see something as false you can never again go back to it.

~Written by Jiddu Krishnamurti