Moonlit Mind #07 - Growing Without Grasping · Ancient Wisdom for Modern Minds

4 September 2026 The Moonlit Mind

Moonlit Mind #07 - Growing Without Grasping

I have done that in the past and I still continue to do so with my plants. A few of them that I have in my so-called terrace. I generally get very attached to them. A little dryness and off I am…

I have done that in the past and I still continue to do so with my plants. A few of them that I have in my so-called terrace.

I generally get very attached to them. A little dryness and off I am watering them or maybe taking care. Too much attention to detail. And they eventually succumb to my grasping, my attachment.

I heard of a similar story with another businessman. He built a business which ran well. He was in every meeting, approved every decision and knows every detail. His team is good and he knows they don't require his presence every time.

He was so attached that he was afraid that if the business would fail if he was not there. And here was the moment with his coach, when he realized the real power does not lie in gripping the apple. The real power lies in tending the root, growing the branch and let the fruit be itself.

The moment he realized and stepped back from his meetings, the team made better decisions without him. The business just got stronger.

And I realized myself. I am too attached to my plants. When I tend to something - a person, project or relationship, my job is not to hold it. My job is to understand what it needs and then step back and let it meet those needs.

I need to be more sensitive now. I notice what's needed. But the moment I notice, I have to release. Because the moment I grip, I stop growing it. I start owning it. And what is owned cannot flourish — it can only survive.

Attention without attachment. That is the skill. I can be the most attentive person in the room. But attentiveness is watching. It is not holding.

The stability I create is not supposed to trap. It's supposed to give you the ground solid enough that you can leave. If you stay only because I'm holding you, I've failed. The people closest to me should thrive even if I disappeared. If they collapse without me, I have made them smaller, not larger. And that is not love. That is possession wearing love's clothes.

The tree gives shade. It does not ask the visitor to stay. It does not punish them for leaving. It stays rooted and lets go at the same time. This is the art. And it is the only way growth continues.

Five minutes here.
A clearer head for the day.