When we attach ourselves to things, as in my car, my plant, my phone, my whatever…when something bad happens to that thing, then we feel the pain as if it was us that was scratched or stolen or broken.
Things are just things, not to be owned or attached to. All things, including ourselves, are temporary forms that will come and go.
Let go of attachment and pain goes. We can still have things, take care of them, appreciate them, enjoy them, but when we don’t personalise and attach ourselves to them, we don’t suffer when they go.
Philip Dodson 