There is a time to name that which we hold, and there is a time to let go.

As a young therapist in my twenties, I learned the art of naming. Naming your fear. Naming your passion. Naming your offense.
Naming can be one way to acknowledge and bring life to our position or plight. I used to be a pro.
I taught others how to own and validate and be validated by the art of naming.
Yet now, I wonder about the inherent good in naming.
Naming enhances, highlights. Brings life.
What do I wish to give life to?
That which fills me and nurtures others.
Consider the young mother who lies in bed at night and feels an irregular heartbeat. She focuses on the heartbeat, senses and feels the strange rhythms, and begins to sweat. Her thoughts rant and rave and she searches for the meaning of what is happening to her. She wants to give it a name.
“I’m having a heart attack!” Surely, there must be something very, very wrong.
I am going to die
So, assured of her condition, named and set in stone, she wakes her husband who takes her to the ER.
Nothing.
She comes home with a prescription for Paxil.
Oh Great. Now, I have an Anxiety Disorder. What a mess I am…(more naming).
My wisdom teachers of today teach the art of detachment.
They teach the danger of giving something a name that serves no positive end or blessing.
Detachment.
Thoughts come and go. Some thoughts take precendence. Front row. You know the ones.

The positive ones can stay and get a name, if they serve you well…but the negative ones must be let loose.
If the young mother had detached herself from troublesome thought, she would have attended to the moment– and eventually, something different about her body, her environment, or her thoughts would have become apparent. If she had responded mindfully, remaining light and detached, there would be no need for panic, no need for a trip to the ER, no meds, and most importantly, no new diagnosis.

If you notice yourself ruminating on the same negative thought again and again, you probably are ready to ask yourself: Does this deserve a name? Do I really want to give life to this?
You– the new artist of detachment, can now notice how easy it is to practice letting loose the thought that does not serve you.
So the task is simple, really.
The thought comes.
And, as always, it poses the question; the true test.
Do I get a name?
If you answer no, you have begun to create art.