Excess Baggage ...
Hello and thank you so much for coming back again...today I want to write about excess baggage and no I don't mean the kind of thing airlines charge you for taking on board a flight..like enough actual cases to stuff all your clothes in and all those horribly tacky souvenirs you've bought to give to people you aren't to keen on but will moan if they feel you 'forgot' them while you were away. No the baggage I want to write about can be infinitely more trouble and more lasting..let me explain..
I heard once, from someone so much wiser than me, every morning all our emotions are like bags, lined up alongside the bed and it's for us to choose which ones we pick up and carry around with us for the day - so if those are positive, they're light and make us feel all is god with the world, however, if they're negative, they weigh us down and every morning we choose them, they get heavier and can make even moving at all practically impossible. I guess it's not the most 'informed' way of looking at things but it has helped me to visualise what I choose to pick up.
I think if anyone looks back across their life, they can see those who hurt them, who weren't there when they should have been and perhaps, worst of all, allowed harm into what should have been a safe place i.e. your home or family. I know, from my own experience, there are times, which if I dwell on them for too long, I can feel myself slipping into the darker recesses of my mind. When I wake up, I can see those imaginary suitcases - every day - the ones marked 'hurt', 'pain' etc and there was a time when they would be the very first I would pickup and drag them everywhere I went...but not any more. Oh they are still there and on those dark days, they are the ones closest to the bed, but I don't choose them any more because, after probably way too long, I have finally realised to carry them for years, is a burden I just don't need - worst of all, it's a burden I chose for too long.
Those negative feelings were caused by others, either through their own sadness, lack of self-worth or just plain anger, they inflicted that hurt..so it seems to me, those emotional suitcases have their name on them, not mine, so let them have the burden, let them struggle with the guilt of their past actions because I don't need it any more. Now, I am not saying it was easy to come to this state of mind, it as taken years of hard soul-searching and acceptance of the past - again, someone wiser asked me even if those who caused the harm ever felt genuine remorse, what could they do to change the past ? Sadly, until time travel becomes possible, I was forced to agree, there was nothing. But the past is exactly that..something to look back on, but not to live in and by carrying those cases from it, well, what does that achieve ? I am not saying don't look back and learn, but if we are to move forward, take the lessons into life but leave the negativity behind.
Now, I know it sounds like I believe I have all the answers, let me categorically state, I know I don't..in fact, only the other day, I was confronted with a memory which contains more negativity than I would want to remember. Almost as soon as that recollection took hold, I could feel myself slipping back to that past mindset and, the following morning, that particular 'suitcase' was so close to the edge of the bed, I could have fallen over it ! It's hard to admit, but I almost wanted to pick it up, as if carrying it around would somehow show the world what I had suffered - but that simple act would have turned me back into some kind of 'victim' and as I know I've said before, that's a role I have no desire to be in life.
I think it was this recent incident which made me look again at this idea of 'excess baggage', mainly because I genuinely believed I had got some hold over picking it up and yet perhaps that was a bit hopeful...maybe it will be a daily choice but it's not just one I make, it's one we all do. I have friends who have suffered arguably the worst experiences life can bring, I know they struggle and at times, feel completely overwhelmed by their past..they leave the house struggling to manage a veritable mountain of suitcases. But I do believe, if there is some way they can find, to maybe even put just one down every morning, their lives will inevitably become 'lighter.'
Life is for living...in an ideal world, we would all wake up every day, feeling energised and happy, but even the most optimistic person has to agree, that's not always possible...but if we can all aim to start the day, looking more forward than back..maybe that will help us choose the right cases to carry...I hope so...anyway, that's enough from me for now...until the next time...
Take care out there xx
I heard once, from someone so much wiser than me, every morning all our emotions are like bags, lined up alongside the bed and it's for us to choose which ones we pick up and carry around with us for the day - so if those are positive, they're light and make us feel all is god with the world, however, if they're negative, they weigh us down and every morning we choose them, they get heavier and can make even moving at all practically impossible. I guess it's not the most 'informed' way of looking at things but it has helped me to visualise what I choose to pick up.
I think if anyone looks back across their life, they can see those who hurt them, who weren't there when they should have been and perhaps, worst of all, allowed harm into what should have been a safe place i.e. your home or family. I know, from my own experience, there are times, which if I dwell on them for too long, I can feel myself slipping into the darker recesses of my mind. When I wake up, I can see those imaginary suitcases - every day - the ones marked 'hurt', 'pain' etc and there was a time when they would be the very first I would pickup and drag them everywhere I went...but not any more. Oh they are still there and on those dark days, they are the ones closest to the bed, but I don't choose them any more because, after probably way too long, I have finally realised to carry them for years, is a burden I just don't need - worst of all, it's a burden I chose for too long.
Those negative feelings were caused by others, either through their own sadness, lack of self-worth or just plain anger, they inflicted that hurt..so it seems to me, those emotional suitcases have their name on them, not mine, so let them have the burden, let them struggle with the guilt of their past actions because I don't need it any more. Now, I am not saying it was easy to come to this state of mind, it as taken years of hard soul-searching and acceptance of the past - again, someone wiser asked me even if those who caused the harm ever felt genuine remorse, what could they do to change the past ? Sadly, until time travel becomes possible, I was forced to agree, there was nothing. But the past is exactly that..something to look back on, but not to live in and by carrying those cases from it, well, what does that achieve ? I am not saying don't look back and learn, but if we are to move forward, take the lessons into life but leave the negativity behind.
Now, I know it sounds like I believe I have all the answers, let me categorically state, I know I don't..in fact, only the other day, I was confronted with a memory which contains more negativity than I would want to remember. Almost as soon as that recollection took hold, I could feel myself slipping back to that past mindset and, the following morning, that particular 'suitcase' was so close to the edge of the bed, I could have fallen over it ! It's hard to admit, but I almost wanted to pick it up, as if carrying it around would somehow show the world what I had suffered - but that simple act would have turned me back into some kind of 'victim' and as I know I've said before, that's a role I have no desire to be in life.
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| Not exactly a suitcase..but this image truly struck a chord with me |
Life is for living...in an ideal world, we would all wake up every day, feeling energised and happy, but even the most optimistic person has to agree, that's not always possible...but if we can all aim to start the day, looking more forward than back..maybe that will help us choose the right cases to carry...I hope so...anyway, that's enough from me for now...until the next time...
Take care out there xx
