Temporal Attachment

We can think of attachment as it relates to people of things. However, we can also be attached to time. 

Think about a situation you are in right now. It may feel like this situation will always be the way it is in the present time: our suffering or joy, our relationships, or our possessions or lack thereof. We want (or we do not want) the experience to end and we often think it will not end. For example, we are afraid that are current suffering will continue forever or we worry that our joyful experience will end.

In Ross Rayburn’s book, Turning Inward, he discusses one of the bridges that we can create through introversion; the bridge of temporal detachment. This bridge can allow us to shift our mindset to a higher perspective to become aware that while a situation may feel like it will continue forever, there was a time when it did not exist and there will be another time (in the future) when it will not exist anymore. Changing our perspective in this way can disrupt the hold that the situation has on us and in our lives. We can have more hope. We can let go and be free from this (temporal) attachment.  

We will learn that our suffering, depression or anxiety, will not last forever. We can become aware that a joyful experience will end at some point, but we can feel the gratitude of this experience and be hopeful for the next experience. 

 

 

 

 

Reference

Rayburn, R. (2024). Turning inward: The practice of introversion for a calm, joyful, authentic life. New York, NY: Hachette Book Group, Inc. P. 62-63.