the art of detachment

Today's newsletter was going to be about how you can use mindfulness to take back control when it comes to your unhelpful habits.

I was writing for a good 30 minutes in the Gothenburg morning sun.

Down to the last paragraph.

Writing about how since practicing informal mindfulness, I'm more conscious of my binge eating and mindless phone scrolling.

Then I accidentally closed the buffer tab and everything I've spent my time on writing has just been deleted forever.

Before practicing detachment, I'd get frustrated at myself.

Probably have thrown my hands up and slapped my thighs.

Slammed my laptop screen shut.

Called myself an idiot and get stuck on the time I'd just wasted.

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What's detachment?

Detachment has many forms

• Surrendering

• Acceptance

• Letting go

• 'It is what it is'

It's where you acknowledge things for what they are and move on.

Separating things from the fact it is to the opinions you hold of it.

The fact is that the tab was closed.

Being an idiot, wasting time, unable to execute easy tasks etc are all opinions.

At first, this can be a very manual task of analysing.

You might even need to journal it down to see what it means.

Fact = The thing that happened was……

Opinion = My opinions of that fact are…….

The more you practice it, the quicker that it will become your default way of thinking.

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A new way of living

Now that detachment is a way of living for me, my first thought was to just start writing this edition instead.

The fact was that I closed the tab and that no amount of stress I put on myself will be able to bring back that newsletter.

Because of this, I didn't shame myself for closing the tab.

I didn't feel frustrated.

I didn't do anything else, besides realising that I want to write a newsletter now so that I can shut my laptop and enjoy the last day of my holiday.

Expectations are the cause of anxiety.

The present moment is the source of peace.

With so many thoughts running wild in our heads, detachment can free up a lot of mental space for you.

You aren’t here to constantly fight inner battles in your head.

Next time something happens and you notice your judging mode kicks in, see if you can separate it from the fact and what your opinions of it were.

How do you practice detachment?

P.s if you’d like me to rewrite that newsletter I deleted this morning, comment or message me with ‘control’

P.P.S If you'd like a sneak peak of the foundation programme and want to start building your own foundations, you can use this free worksheet here