Monkeys, Peanuts, Letting Go

Humans have always questioned why, as a species, we too hold on so much to the way things are. And why we shy away from change or we can't let go of people or ideas.

It turns out that we are not the only creatures that hold on to things so tightly to the point that we might compromise our safety and wellbeing. Monkeys, our dear cousins do the same.

There is a tale that Monkeys can easily be trapped by placing peanuts in a jar at the base of the trees inhabited by them. The opening of the jar allows the monkey to place his hand in, but when he tries to withdraw it, he/she is unable to do so without letting go of the contents of the jar. Some monkeys will stay there with their hand in the jar until the hunter traps them! They are trapped because they are unwilling to let go of something they are doing which is working against them. The simple way to escape would be to let go of the nuts, but the monkey grips tighter and tighter on to its prize.

We do act like those monkeys sometimes, when we find increasingly hard to let go of hold habits that do not serve us anymore. It is difficult for us to let go toxic relationships, jobs, thoughts, way of being, possessions as much as it is difficult for the monkey to leave a peanut behind. However, this should not surprise us or making us feel uncomfortable, because these are our shared lives as living and loving beings.

A good reminder for us all comes from the practice of Aparigraha (one of the pillars in the Yoga Philosophy): joy in life is not dependant in grasping or holding on, but to remember that what we possess, possesses us. What we hold on to holds us.

As we share so much of our genetic material with monkeys (nearly 99%), a question might arise: will this art of letting go be one of the things that keep us close to our cousins, or will it be included in the package of achievements that come with our 1% difference in DNA?