Pack Light

Are you a bag lady or man? What are you carrying around with you that is weighing you down? I'm not talking about what's in your purse or backpack or briefcase, I'm talking about what's in your head, your heart, your spirit. We all carry things from the past that should be left in the past. Anything that is making your journey more difficult should be left on the side of the road. All of that heavy baggage that we drag along with us through life is keeping us from propelling forward, yes propelling. When our spirits are light joy propels us to loftier places, the places where dreams reside.

I have carried my share of baggage, and I may still have a coin purse or two that I still need to ditch. So I understand holding on to the past. It's hard to let go. I also know that when we have all of these hurt feelings, anger, bitterness, regrets, we sometimes bring them to places where they don't belong, and risk getting kicked out or scolded. Relationships, debates (or reasonings as I call them), spiritual pursuits, or new experiences are just a few places where there is no baggage allowed. I wonder if life charged us $100 for each piece of "baggage" we brought into it would we be more diligent about how we pack our minds, hearts, and spirits.

The people we encounter in life are poor unsuspecting, usually innocent bystanders who without warning get our baggage plopped in their laps. Now they can't move forward either. It isn't fair to them, and quite frankly to you either. How can one be rational when every word or act is fueled by past hurts, anger, or regret? It is not fair to pre-judge a person or situation based on a past experience because they were not there and this situation is not that situation. That is not to say that we shouldn't be cautious, but we should allow a person to bear their own fruit or a situation to play out a bit before we start throwing our baggage at them.

We carry these bags as if there is something in them that will protect us. But these bags are mostly filled with fear. The fears of rejection, judgement, pain, loss and all of the emotions stuck to past experiences are hindering us, not helping. What if you put those bags down for a time and open yourself up to a new experience? What's the worst that could happen? You will always be cautious, but without the baggage you may be inclined to give a person or situation a chance to prove themselves to be different than before.

Life is too precious and wonderful to miss out on it because you have to lug all of that baggage everywhere. Sometimes bad things happen, even to good people. Sometimes good things happen to good people. If you don't want to risk having something bad happen to you, you also don't want to risk having something good happen to you. William Arthur Ward said it best in this poem:

To Risk

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.

To reach for another is to risk involvement.

To expose your ideas, your dreams,

before a crowd is to risk their loss.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.

To live is to risk dying.

To believe is to risk despair.

To try is to risk failure.

But risks must be taken, because the

greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

The people who risk nothing, do nothing,

have nothing, are nothing.

They may avoid suffering and sorrow,

but they cannot learn, feel, change,

grow, love, live.

Chained by their attitudes they are slaves;

they have forfeited their freedom.

Only a person who risks is free.