Timber Hawkeye’s blog for January 2026 is entitled Cling No More – what he says in it strikes me as such good advice that I have to share it. The big takeaway for me is: ‘acknowledge your missteps with compassion and understanding, grow with humility and gratitude, and move on with peacefulness and serenity. The Middle Path means we carry the lesson, but not the burden, because the weight of the past can slow you down, and its gravitational force can take you down. There is so much wisdom in the Zen saying: let go or be dragged.’
This is the blog entry in full (there is a link to it at the bottom):
‘If someone attempts to use my past against me, it’s like they are trying to rob my old house; I don’t live there any more.
When we move, we change our address, and when Buddhists take their vows, they often change their name to a Dharma Title assigned by their teacher. Personally, I chose not to adopt a new moniker in the monastery for a few reasons: 1) I had already changed my name once in the 90s when it became apparent that Americans can’t pronounce my birth name; 2) I have known people who adopted a Dharma Name to represent non-attachment to their old identity, only to get attached to their new identity; and 3) I don’t think it’s necessary to deny our past in order to live the present.
Buddhism teaches that our suffering comes from clinging, and boy, do we cling! Even though we dislike it when others try to use our past against us, we constantly do it to ourselves. We replay our own mistakes in our heads; we cringe at questionable life choices; and we still allow outdated beliefs about ourselves to undermine our current potential.
Too many of my one-on-one sessions last year were with people who feel unworthy of love in the present because of something they have done in the past. Clinging ignores the fact that life is in constant motion. Non-attachment is not about erasing who we were, it’s about not being confined by it.
So, acknowledge your missteps with compassion and understanding, grow with humility and gratitude, and move on with peacefulness and serenity. The Middle Path means we carry the lesson, but not the burden, because the weight of the past can slow you down, and its gravitational force can take you down. There is so much wisdom in the Zen saying: let go or be dragged.
Give yourself the gift of travelling lightly into the new year. Pack only the clarity without any of the shame, guilt, or regret; have a sense of a humour about the past, and appreciate how far you have come.
May you find relief, space, and energy, not to reconstruct your old house, but to acknowledge that you have been gradually building a new home for yourself, one virtuous act at a time.
This moment is new, and so are you!
With much love from your brother, Timber Hawkeye’
Source: Timber Hawkeye, Buddhist Boot Camp Monthly Blog:
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