Three Quick Quotes From Alan Watts That Helped Me Master the Subtle Art of Letting Go
Lessons from one of the wise thinkers of the twentieth century.
Today, I ran into a childhood friend; she was crying.
She was dressed in pieces of a withered dream that refuses to die: a sequined fanny pack (more flashy than a disco ball), a work uniform, a rock star haircut with pink and blonde Californian highlights, and safety boots for working in a supermarket.
She asked me, “Why do I suffer so much?”
I didn’t want to answer so as not to hurt her. I hugged her.
But I knew the answer: there are dreams that you have to let die so that others can be born.
But it’s not easy. Not even for me, who practices detachment as a way of life.
Because of that, I want to share a few quotes from Alan Watts, which I am reminded of every time I cannot kill an old dream that is killing me.
1. The problematic art of detachment
“If happiness always depends on something you hope to achieve in the future, in reality you are chasing a chimera that will always be out of reach until the future, or we ourselves, disappear.” — Alan Watts.
Being with your mind always in the past or the future causes three things.
- It keeps you from reaping the blessings that life sends you each day.
- It takes away your joy, and you spend the day worried or frustrated, keeping you from being happy.
- Pain, a lot of pain.
It hurts my friend to live between two identities: the person she dreamed of becoming when she grew up and the one she has to be.
Accepting who you are today is not the person you want to become, and it can be more complicated than swallowing glass. — But if you don’t accept it, you don’t flow.
And everything that doesn’t flow becomes stagnant water. And it ends up smelling bad.
2. You can’t put a river in a bucket.
“If you try to put a stream of water into a bucket, it is clear that you do not understand what you are doing, and that you will always live disappointed, because inside the bucket the water cannot flow.” — Alan Watts.
What has not been will not be.
Accepting it, even if it hurts, allows us to continue driving toward the next exit proposed by the highway of life.
That exit may take you to a much better place.
But to do so, most likely, you will have to leave behind everything you wanted to be.
It’s a high price to pay, but it’s worth it.
Holding on to the past is pointless. Wanting to live in a time that no longer belongs to you makes no sense. To refuse to flow with life is to refuse to evolve, which has consequences.
Here are some of them.
- You feel out of place 24/7 as if you were at a party to which no one invited you.
- You experience rejection from your environment because the stage of your life you’re clinging to is over. (I speak from my own experience; I wanted to live like I did at 20 when I was 35, and it is not possible).
- You miss out on all the beautiful things that every era has to offer, and you don’t learn the lessons you must know, which puts you at a severe disadvantage compared to others.
3. Kill your old dreams to have the life of your dreams (even if it seems a contradiction).
“Love is the organizing and unifying principle that makes the world a universe…It is the very essence and character of mind, and it manifests itself when the mind is at peace and whole.” — Alan Watts.
Understanding this phrase changed everything for me.
If love is the principle that transforms and organizes everything, it is the fastest way to make things fall into place in the puzzle of life.
In the end, what we think we want and what makes us happy are two concepts that rarely match. You can’t know what will make you happy until you experience it.
- You want to live in the country, achieve it, and then run back to the city.
- You want to date, you succeed, and then you end up living in a nightmare.
- You want to be rich and famous and then end up alone, bitter, and unhappy.
You don’t know. And you won’t know until you experience it. Besides, life is like a play in which you play a different role each season. And the things that would make you happy in the role of your youth (the past) will not make you pleased in another, more mature stage of your life (your present).
Therefore, it makes no sense to keep chasing faded dreams that most likely will not make you happy in the remote case that you will fulfill them.
It is much better to listen to Watts and let yourself be guided by the compass of love. Let it show us the way.
To do this, you must follow the yellow brick road (those things that make you feel at peace), little Dorothy.
Sooner or later, you will arrive in your city of OZ (A place where you can be happy).
Remember: Life is like a tree that needs to be pruned from time to time to grow new branches (dreams).
A virtual hug
AG
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