My recent travels took me through four airports: Boise, Portland, Chicago, and Seattle. It provided the opportunity to see baggage of every size, shape, and color—some carried, most of it pulled.
An enthusiastic proponent of offloading [emotional] baggage, I had to laugh at the ingenuity of the young traveler I captured in this photo. Rather than carrying baggage and letting it weigh him down, he got a ride on it!
Have you discovered the joy of offloading baggage?
When we’re born we arrive without any luggage. No backpacks, fanny packs, briefcases—not even a small coin purse. But by the time we draw our last breath, many of us have acquired a large set of luggage filled with stuff!—much of it debilitating. The strain from lugging it around is enough to break our emotional backs.
Have you heard about the “futuristic” type of luggage that’s powered by a Bluetooth remote-control? “Hop! The Following Suitcase” does just that. Simply aim your smartphone at it and it’ll follow wherever you go on caterpillar-like treads.
My preference is to “travel light — travel fast.” Carefully examining the contents of our baggage and offloading what doesn’t serve us well makes for a lighter life — creating space for even more gratitude, health, peace of mind, and joy.
Is your baggage following you?
When I write an article or work on a manuscript, I back it up on a USB thumb drive — a tiny data storage device. The clear housing allows me to see the inner-workings. To me it looks like an aerial view of a micro-sized warehouse with a maze of corridors, each one leading to a compartment that holds data, music, pictures, video, or software.
Some Things are Definitely Worth Remembering
The information I put on my thumb drive is important enough to me that I transport it on a lanyard, much like a referee wears a whistle. I carry it with me for safekeeping until I have the opportunity to make a positive contribution — submit it for publication.
Some Things are Best Forgotten
Many of us carry memories with us that don’t contribute to our wellbeing. In fact they’re debilitating. Unlike a tiny thumb drive, they take up a vast amount of space in containers known as baggage — emotional baggage. And while we can’t actually see them, we definitely feel their weight. And the longer we carry them, the heavier they get.
“Let go or be dragged.” — Zen proverb
Some people overpack for trips. Are you overpacked for life?
“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
— Laurie Buchanan
Discovering the Seven Selves Life Harmony
© 2013 Laurie Buchanan – All Rights Reserved
For those of you who’ve already shared with me in my excitement via the HolEssence newsletter or Facebook, thank you!
For those of you who haven’t seen it yet…
Last week the trailer for my up-and-coming book was completed and it’s available for viewing. Simply click on the “play” button below.
The Buzz…
— Sheila Glazov, author of What Color Is Your Brain? A Fun and Fascinating Approach to Understanding Yourself and Others
— Julie Murphy Casserly, author of The Emotion Behind Money: Building Wealth from the Inside Out
— Susan Wisehart, author of Soul Visioning: Clear the Past, Create Your Future
Are you ready to offload baggage?
“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
— Laurie Buchanan
Please visit HolEssence, Discovering the Seven Selves, and our Facebook page
© 2012 Laurie Buchanan – All Rights Reserved
Laurie Keynote Speaking Using Baggage as Props
We arrive in this world empty-handed, and we leave the same way, with nothing (no thing). To me that’s a pretty big hint that we don’t need much. Yet somehow in the time between birth and death most of us manage to acquire and accumulate a multitude of items, stuff, things.
The National Association of Professional Organizers says we have so much “stuff” that each person spends approximately one year of their life looking for lost items.
As a society we’ve acquired so much “stuff” over the last 3 decades that the self-storage industry is the fastest growing new industry in the United States. It’s grown so fast that in the last 12 years the use of self storage space has grown from 1 in every 17 households to 1 in every 10. That’s an increase of 65 percent.
Many people’s garages are so filled with stuff—some to the rafters—that they can’t be used for parking their vehicle. But that’s only one type of clutter—material clutter. There’s mental and emotional clutter as well.
My desire? To be baggage free—body, mind, and spirit—prior to my exit point. How about you?
“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
– Laurie Buchanan
Arrival N Eleuthera Intl Airport by Laurie Buchanan
The wheels of the plane touched down on the runway; passenger bodies involuntarily thrust forward in our seats as the pilot screamed on the brakes—we arrived! As we carefully wedged ourselves into the narrow aisle of disembarking people and reached into the overhead bin for our suitcases, it occurred to me again that similar to luggage for a trip, many people carry baggage through life that weighs them down and makes the journey unpleasant and tiring.
My motto has always been, “Travel light, travel fast.” With that in mind, I determined early on that the only items I’ll carrying with me throughout life’s journey are things that bring a return value to the heart—things that benefit my body, mind and spirit with weightless dividends like love, health, wellness, joy, wisdom, integrity, peace, kindness, and laughter—definitely laughter!
“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
~ Laurie Buchanan
http://www.holessence.com/
Copyright © 2010 Laurie Buchanan – All rights reserved
Tuesdays with Laurie 