After having spent an amazing summer back home in Montreal, I’m writing this from my new home in Morrogacho (Manizales), Colombia. If you’ve been following my blog, you know that this is not the first time I pack a suitcase and head off to South America for a few months.
This time, the day I left, something happened that got me to ponder. My dear friend, Nikki drove me to the airport. As I placed my suitcase in the car, she noticed something which I hadn’t paid much attention to. She said, “Your suitcase is half empty!”
It’s now over 3 years since I took a drastic life changing decision to sell it all, quit my job, and start my on line business and travel across South America. Looking back, the first time I packed my suitcase, I had packed every piece of clothing I felt I needed to have with me. Moving from one country to the next with all the extra weight was nothing but a burden! Another thing is that in the months I lived in South America, there were clothes I carried around which I never even wore ONCE!
Having had a lot of practice, without giving it any thought, I gave clothes away to those who really needed it. Let me tell you, leaving behind more than half the weight in stuff was so much easier to move around. You don’t waste any time with thoughts about what to wear or what not to wear. The truth is that it doesn’t really matter all that much. It doesn’t require the amount of energy we put into it. When you have less, your mind doesn’t have fuel for thoughts that are unnecessary and pointless. You suddenly find yourself feeling lighter, and paying attention to the qualities of every changing moment of your life. We openly accept all that happens regardless of the content. With this acceptance, we gain insight to help us better understand and liberate ourselves from limiting thoughts of who we truly are.
All this made me wonder,
“How much more can I leave behind and let go?”
There is so much we carry around in our daily lives that we simply don’t need. Blinding us from who we truly are.
Not only in material possessions and accumulating stuff but most of our baggage is filled with negative, heavy weight coming from our thoughts!
The burdens of regrets and guilt that come from thoughts about what we should have or should not have done in the past.
- The burdens of worries about the future.
- The burdens of complaints about our current situation (job, relationships, losses…).
- The burdens of taking things personally.
All this heaviness, keeps us stuck and experiencing more of the same. I mean, how are we supposed to move forward, take actions or decisions that will improve our lives, with all that weight we’re carrying around?
I say, we let it go!
Leave behind all the thoughts that are keeping us stuck and are just not working for us.
Replace them with Loving thoughts and actions!
Loving thoughts and actions that come in the form of gratitude and generosity.
My friend Nikki posted the following note about her eight year old daughter on her facebook.
This summer Kiara made money selling rainbow loom bracelets and animal figures. She wanted to do something nice with that money but wasn’t sure what do to. After we threw around some ideas we finally decided to feed the homeless. Having changed our diet to a healthier one recently she wanted to feed them something healthy. So with the help of our friends at 7grains we were able to prepare 30 lunch bags with an organic meat pie, organic apple, organic pear and also a sugar free oatmeal chocolate chip cookie from TLC treats. And today with the help of her friend Alicia we packed the lunch bags and headed into the streets. What a beautiful experience! Very proud of my little girl!! Xxx
I asked Nikki, “What made Kiara decide to take this beautiful, loving, generous action?” She replied, “She realized that she already had everything she needs. She was grateful for her grandparents, cousins, aunt and uncle that are always there when she needs something. She didn’t need to buy anything for herself with the money she made. She wanted to do something for people who didn’t have the same things.”
So, this made me think. If we are grateful for all we have and who we are right now, we can let go of all the extra baggage we carry around in our minds. We would eliminate the need to accumulate, complain, compare, blame, victimize, etc. Without that extra weight, we become generous with forgiveness towards others and ourselves and with kindness towards others and ourselves. Our thoughts and actions will come from a place of love.
What extra weight have you been carrying around which you can you leave behind?
