There’s a Price for Extra Baggage

Posted on February 12, 2013 by Laurie Buchanan

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?

Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
— Laurie Buchanan

Discovering the Seven Selves Life Harmony

What are YOU storing for winter?

Posted on September 6, 2010 by Laurie Buchanan

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While riding our bikes through the Heartland, we see lots (and lots!) of silos. For you city slickers who may not know what a silo is, they’re ginormous storage structures for silages and high-moisture grains used for livestock feeds.

[Discussion while bicycling]

“Len, you know that today, right now—this moment—is our life, right?”

“Yes Laurie.”

“You know how those farmers are storing food for their livestock for the winter months?”

“Yes Laurie.”

“Are you drinking it all in—tucking these memories into your heart like a treasure for this winter when it’s 40-degrees below and we can’t get outside?”

“No Laurie.”

“Well, why not?”

“Because you’re taking dozens of photographs and will show them to me over and over again. I won’t possibly be able to forget!”

“Len?”

“Laurie, if you stop pedaling one more time we’re gonna have a domestic.”

“Yes Len.”

As we came around a bend in the road we averted our eyes because right there on the side of the bike path was a farmland hussy—a topless silo!

Listen with your heart,

Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
– Laurie Buchanan

Achieving Nothing (No Thing)

Posted on August 18, 2010 by Laurie Buchanan

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?

Listen with your heart,

Laurie Buchanan

“Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing.”
– Laurie Buchanan

Tuesdays with Laurie

"Whatever you are not changing, you are choosing." —Laurie Buchanan

Tag Archives: storage

There’s a Price for Extra Baggage

What are YOU storing for winter?

Achieving Nothing (No Thing)