Detachment

[jamie_779]

Hi all,
I have been practising for a while now and I have been reading up on detachment, as I think constantly chasing after the good is causing me some difficulty. In particular, my romantic relationships suffer as I tend to obsessively call, message, spy on social media etc. looking out for the next "hit" of feel good hormones.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to bring this to a practice? Or any resources they could share?

Cheers!
Jamie

[JonW]

Hi jamie_779,
A little more info about your practice would be useful. What kind of meditations do you practice? Do you have any kind of structure to your practice? When you learned about mindfulness in the first place how did you respond to Turning Towards...meditations?
All best,
Jon

[jamie_779]

Hi Jon,

I tend to focus on mindful breathing, body scan and loving kindness. I don't really have a structure as such and I am not very experienced with the Turning Towards meditations.
Thanks for the reply

[JonW]

Hi Jamie.
Going back to your question...
That behaviour is all on auto-pilot.
My advice would be to pay close attention when the urges arise to 'call, message, spy on social media etc.' Notice your breathing, your body sensations, thoughts that arise. Jon

[anatta]

From your way of writing about yourself, I gather that you have started seeing your feelings, motivations, thoughts, actions objectively as done in mindfulness practice. Carry on with the practice. There are no short cuts.
- Keep noticing the what CAUSES leads to what RESULT / EFFECT
- You cant suppress your attachments and force yourself to be detached. It automatically happens when wisdom arises (when there is insight on impermanence/suffering/non-self of the conditioned phenomena).
- Sometimes when an impulse arises, I remember the 'snake' and the 'fire' image. See if this article with the images helps to momentarily remind your self
truth-ada.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/q-can-i-go-on-enjoying-whatever-i.html