It’s a new year filled with new ideas, new relationships and new challenges. Welcome, some say and others say, here we go again. We all come from different backgrounds, parts of the world, situations and of course have different life experiences. All this gives us different belief systems, values, ideas, thoughts and ideas. Having said this, we are also very similar.
“You can’t reach for anything new if your hands are still full of yesterday’s junk”
– Louise Smith
As we choose our path for this year, it’s a timely reminder to do a stock-take and look at what we are carrying around. Carrying around? Yes, we carry baggage. We have skillfully gathered it along our journey in life so far. We hang tightly onto old unhelpful emotions without even realising. We store it in our imaginary backpack; it might have anxiety, resentment, stress, anger, fear, guilt, envy, sadness and other negatives. We have unconsciously saved them all from past experiences, popped them into our backpack and rerun their attached stories over and over, making one very heavy piece of baggage. Sometimes it’s so heavy, we buckle at the knees doing our best to keep ourselves up and functioning. It’s tiring, limiting, negative and it will cause our body to be at dis-ease if we continue with the negative, heavy and dark load.
“If we always do what we have always done, we will always get what we have always got”.
– unknown
Inside the backpack we will also store positive emotions, happy memories and stories however generally the balance is more on the negative side with unconscious roadblocks. These negatives are the ones that keep us stuck, chatter to us at the strangest of times and often won’t go away. It’s advisable to take a look at how balanced we feel and the results we are getting from carrying our load around.
Carrying our often heavy backpack can be worthwhile but only if we are receiving the results we truly want, you know the results creating our success. Success needs to be in all key areas, our relationships, business/career, health, exercise, fun, hobby’s and living life. The question to ask ourselves is, ‘Am I feeling successful’? What is my measure of success for myself? Is my business, relationship, life going in the direction that I want it to?
If the answer is maybe, kind of, or no, then looking at the baggage we have is a great idea. We’ve all heard about clearing the clutter, leaving the past behind or just letting it go; these are wise words. Taking action is a game-changer! Doing something different will give us a different result, we can ask more questions to see where we are at right now. Does what we have in our backpack serve us? What could things look like if we thought or acted differently? What would it give us? What would it be like to have, Joy, Peace, Success, Achievement, Momentum and more positive results now? What do we want?
Tips for letting go of our stuff – the stuff we no longer need
- Invite new influences into our life replacing the old; bring in new people, new job, new hobbies, new thoughts,
- Swap old habits for new positive ones,
- Use affirmations – “The past is in the past’, ‘Let it be’, ‘I am On Purpose and Positive’,
- Take time out – reflect, reassess, re-energise, rethink what it is we truly want to have – book into an Inspirational Living Retreat and be supported in the process,
- Become Empowered! Close your eyes, Clear your heart and Let it go!
- Create new goals – what will letting go give us? Now go and get it!
- Work with a professional for focused support: A Mentor, Coach, Health Practitioner, Natural Healer,
- Decide to do something different – get unstuck,
- Lighten up and listen to Frozen ‘Let it go’, The Lion King – ‘Hakuna Matata’, Pharrell Williams Happy or The Bare Necessities,
- Bring fun and laughter into our lives,
- Find positive support and Just Do It,
- Give out hugs and receive them back helping to FEEL GOOD.
“Be strong enough to let go and patient enough to wait for what you deserve”.
– unknown