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Do you have a mental attachment from something from the past?
By Reino Gevers — Written on May 22, 2020
Humanity, during these times, is confronted with the collective anxiety of a world that has passed and is no more.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a defining moment in our lifetime.
Can you learn how to move on and leave the past in the past?
It would be an understatement to say that "We are living in most interesting times," as 19th-century British statesman Joseph Chamberlain once stated.
Chamberlain went on to say in a speech back in 1898, "I never remember myself a time in which our history was so full, in which day by day brought us new objects of interest, and, let me say also, new objects for anxiety."
Today, the term is often used ironically to describe times of crisis and uncertainty.
As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote, "Change is the only constant in life."
Many of the ancient Buddhist and Taoist scripts teach us that while constant change is a certainty of life, it is the mental attachment to what has passed and is no more that is at the root of most sadness, anxiety, and grief.
An unexpected crisis situation, whether on a global or personal level, always jolts us out of the accustomed routine lockstep.
We often hear from ourselves and those around us: "It was all going so good and now everything is different!"
But if we are really honest with ourselves, rapid change seldom comes like a bolt from the blue.
Defining moments of life — such as the breakup of a marriage, the loss of a job, or a health crisis — is preceded by unheard faint whispers that only turn into that loudhailer when we find ourselves in the midst of tumultuous change.
For example, you're feeling an ache or pain in your body that you've never felt before. Yet, you postpone your doctor's appointment over and over again, deluding yourself that it will go away by itself.
The gradual erosion of a relationship with small unspoken hurts and needs become pent-up frustrations waiting to explode.
The COVID-19 pandemic was just waiting to happen.
We have been warned many times by scientists that viruses breed in places where one species is kept in crowded spaces (like factory farming).
We have steadily eroded natural ecosystems in an exploitative unsustainable economic system.
Nature does not take revenge, but we are seeing merely the consequences of our own actions. Nature’s way is cyclical, restorative, and sustainable.
Those species that have survived for millennia have learned to adapt to the natural changes, fluctuations, and transitions of the environment.
We need to learn and adapt to nature and not strive to conquer it — that is the path to doom.
Evolution, transition, and transformation is life’s program.
When translating this to a personal level, it means finding meaning by becoming that person who you were born to become.
When you look back at personal crisis situations from the past, they were often blessings in disguise.
It is those defining "flat on the ground moments" that elevate you into authenticity, personal growth, and higher consciousness.
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Reino Gevers is a life coach and author. He has chronicled the experience of pilgrims in his book Deep Walking for Body, Mind and Soul. For more information, visit his website.