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Loosening attachments enables us to focus on a greater purpose
If you will forgive the potentially disturbing observation that I make as a clinical psychologist, I will assert that like any addiction, our habitual pursuit of financial sufficiency, professional control and personal comfort is a substitute for the difficult task of wrestling with our eventual death.
Without having resolved as adults the question of our eventual demise, we block ourselves from making a full commitment to life, and especially toward a purpose greater than ourselves. As such, we go through life half-made, knowing that we still need time and attention before we are complete. But we remain incomplete (and unfulfilled) until and unless we break the addiction to a preoccupation with our more primitive self and needs.
Craig N. Piso
Accordingly, we ascribe meaning to accomplishments and acquisitions that are both conscious and unconscious efforts to deny our mortality, such as reaching a pinnacle of success in our career, amassing a financial fortune, owning an idealized material prize and the like. Excess attachment to one’s professional career and standing is ultimately a futile effort to satisfy our craving to live forever.
Loosening these attachments even just a bit, in the moment, and focusing your attention on a purpose greater than yourself (such as taking care of the needs of the patient who is sitting right in front of you) will help you be less disturbed by the financial challenges coming over the horizon.