Why Non-Attachment is my Key to Happiness • Andrew Crusoe

As you may have been noticing over the last few months and weeks, I’ve been experiencing a shift of perspective.

Even though it’s a pretty dark time where I am (in more ways than one), my mind continually gravitates back to an idea, well perhaps it’s more of a mindset, that non-attachment really is the key: to freedom, to joy, and to happiness in life.

In the past, I’ve written a bit about being non-attached when you travel, but I think that’s only the tip of the iceberg for what that mindset can do for you. I’ll say it again: non-attachment really is the key to freedom in life.

Of course, Buddhism has had this idea at its core since the beginning. But you certainly don’t have to consider yourself a buddhist to apply this idea into your life.

Take this video, for example. In the episode below of Beach Walks with Rox (incidentally, one of my favorite podcasts), Rox talks about what motivates us in life, but more importantly she addresses the foundational beliefs in us that result in our actions in the first place, suggesting that life is much more enjoyable if you look at it as a playground, a place to experiment. It asks: if you had a worldview where you didn’t feel you needed to prove anything to anyone, how would you live?

Even if you feel like you don’t have anything to prove per se, looking at life as a playground is a beautiful attitude to step into. So go ahead and watch the short video below, and then I have a surprise for you. Watching the video really helps you tune into her energy as she explains the idea, too.

Go Play, Experiment, Grow

Starting to feel what I’m getting at? Life is too short to spend it feeling like a victim or feeling powerless. You have the power. Use it to play and experiment in life. I’ve been saying a lot about how nothing is guaranteed anymore. That’s probably related to certain shifts that are going on in my own life right now, but it’s also incredibly true. It only takes two words to lose your job: You’re fired. It only takes two to lose a relationship: I’m leaving. And it only takes one bad accident to lose your life entirely.

I don’t mean to sound morbid here—only to remind you how fragile things are. Everything that allows you to read these words right now relies on dozens of servers all talking to each other, your computer having power to interpret the data, and your eyes being able to focus on the words. (Not to mention your eyes interpreting the 10¹⁷ photons entering your eyes per second.)

It truly is a small miracle that you’re even reading these words at all, and I am deeply grateful to have the opportunity to serve you today.

But ultimately, it’s all temporary.

This is why the concept of non-attachment rings so true to me. It is in alignment with reality, and the more in alignment we are, the less suffering we experience. Compared to what we traditionally encounter, it represents a profound change in outlook and attitude. Earl Nightingale used to say that “attitude” was the magic word. And once you really, foundationally, realize the transientness of all you can see, it has the power to affect your attitude in incredible ways.

And remember, life’s transientness also means that you have a powerful affect on what your life forms into, as well. And on this point, I believe Eleanor Roosevelt said it best: