The More You Give It Away, The More It Comes Back

" Suddenly you find you have the power.

This enormous access of energy.

But it’s not power that came to you because you grabbed it.

It came in entirely the opposite way. " -Alan Watts

Precious words of wisdom that come from my favorite philosopher of all time: Alan Watts. His words have such an incredible power on me. They are not merely words; but rather profound revelations on how the universe works.

It’s fascinating how we seem compelled to approach life in the wrong way. We cling onto things. We are so attached with our sense of identity, with our sense of security. We are even willing to put our relationships with others in jeopardy simply because we are too obsessed with this ego of ours.

We spend a great deal of time complaining that the world is such a terrible place and that things never go the right way, or "our ego’s way", and while the world ought to remain one of suffering, we could change the way we perceive it if only we decided to look at things in a different way – perhaps a new way.

Alan once masterfully pointed out that " Problems that remain persistently insoluble should always be suspected as questions asked in the wrong way. "
That’s where our shift of perspective needs to happen.
We need to reverse our way of thinking.

The More You Give It Away, The More It Comes Back

It works in the same way as a boomerang. Give it away, and it’ll come back to you.
Give kindness away, and it’ll come back tenfold.
We are miserable because we are so obsessed with the idea of clinging onto things.
We relentlessly pursue all sorts of things: happiness, love, success, approval, admiration, company, you name it.
Yet the more we pursue them, the more we lose our grip on those things we so dearly desire.

We mistakenly believe that to obtain the object of our desire, we need to run after it in a great rush. We’ve never perhaps wondered that maybe by letting it go, it would come right at us.
Happiness and Love doesn’t come to those who look for it with their flash lights in the dark. It rather comes to those who put their energy where it needs to be put: on the discovering of their real Self. Happiness and Love may then come around as a result of having cultivated it inwardly.

Have you ever heard of the Buddhist vacuum cleaner?
It comes with no attachments.
The more we are attached to things, the more we put a great deal of efforts and energy to make sure they stay, and by doing so we inadvertently push them away.