People often ask me what I take with me on travel. And that’s a fun question. I love to see what’s important enough to make it into other people’s kits. But it’s not the only baggage we have along. As I write this, it is new year’s. I like to review the past year, offer gratitude for all the amazing things that happened, and offer compassion for the tougher stuff, if there is any. Then I like to ask myself, what could I do better next year? What should I work to improve? What baggage or beliefs need to be left behind in that old year and not go with me into the next? My backpack is heavy enough without fear and negative conditioning tagging along. So fear is the first thing I am throwing out. There’s plenty of it: fear of speaking out, fear of being seen, fear of … it’s all bullshit. And it needs to go. Freedom is wasted on fear. And I will not waste my freedom. Next in the trash can is some negative conditioning that makes me shun gifts. Gifts of time, effort, space, needs met, real love; whatever. In the past, I might have been punished for taking the time and resources to do what I really wanted to do. But that is not true anymore. Real love revels in supporting your dreams. Wow. That is a gift all by itself. So I will be working on receiving everything amazing and good and awesome that this life has for me, knowing that the divine gives freely out of love, and out of the joy of watching you live.
What beliefs and conditioning do you need to leave behind at the next stop? What line of demarcation can you choose to drop it off beside? New year’s? Your birthday? The end of the month? Today at 6pm? It’s worth doing a bit of house cleaning of your emotions and behaviors every now and then. What will you keep and what will you leave behind?
