Renunciation is realizing that our nostalgia for wanting to stay in a
protected, limited, petty world is insane. Once you begin to get the feeling
of how big the world is and how vast our potential for experiencing life is,
then you really begin to understand renunciation. When we sit in meditation,
we feel our breath as it goes out, and we have some sense of willingness
just to be open to the present moment. Then our minds wander off into all
kinds of stories and fabrications and manufactured realities, and we say to
ourselves, “It’s thinking.” We say that with a lot of gentleness and a lot
of precision. Every time we are willing to let the story line go, and every
time we are willing to let go at the end of the out breath, that’s
fundamental renunciation: learning how to let go of holding on and holding
back.
-Pema Chodron, “Renunciation”