I’ve had these bells for many years; sufficient ringing to wear the leather string that holds them together. When the string first wore out I just tied a knot to hold them together. This worked, or so it seemed.

I quickly accommodated to the clipped sound that the shorter string produced, perhaps I never even noticed.

One day the knot came undone at the close of a meditation session. I held the two ends by my fingertips and rang the bells. Surprise! A resonant sound, one that I had not heard for a long time.

The more knots, the less resonant the sound.

Mindfulness practice is the practice of untying knots. When we sit we’ll recognize where the knots are tied; we’ll see all the places we’re holding onto things (like old stories or attachments to certain outcomes).

Once we see them, we have an opportunity to untie them. We can recognize that we don’t need to be shortened in these ways. We can recognize that freedom lies beyond the tangle of stories and desire.

That freedom gives the sound of our lives a chance to resonate — to sing it purest voice; it’s most sincere purpose that is heard as playfulness.

So sit down and start untying your knots.