Resources on Attachment and Detachment/non-Attachment?

[AnyDream]

Non-attachment is different from emotional detachment...one stems from being in a place of balance, the other from being in a place of huge unbalance. In my life I try to think about non-attachment like it's acceptance of what is, surrending to what is - rather than wishing with all your being that things are different. It does make a difference in your level of suffering - I think of the huge distress & physical pain I experienced when I was having my first CT scans - when I just wanted to climb out of my own skull and run in the opposite experience...compared to now - and I have worked *very hard* on my acceptance/surrender levels in the meantime - I can now calmly sit thru whole cycles of needles and pain and scans but instead of being completely 'inside' and therefore overwhelmed, I now feel like I'm sitting a step back from it - it seems a smaller thing & therefore easier to cope with (ie less emotional pain). I hope this isn't too much of a ramble, it's the most obvious example I can think of in my life because it's quite physical.

BTW I don't think denying your own state of mind is the same as attachment either, I don't know what the Buddhists say about it but sometimes I just need to 'process' in order to get a grip on stuff.

Have you read any Pema Chodron books...she has an excellent one that I've dipped into called "when things fall apart". It might be worth looking her up as she writes in a way that is really easy to understand. Eckhart Tolle covers a lot of the same territory in A New Earth - which, while not Buddhist, might be worth a read too.