Only a Carry-On is Needed

I recently traveled and like most travelers, I pack a bag. Of course, we do. We need to get away, "detach" ourselves from the routine, leave the world behind, but we must take with us everything we own. I have to admit, I'm a horrible packer. I wait to the last minute and stuff, stuff, stuff my bag.
Once at my destination, I don't use have the stuff I brought. It just sits there in the suitcase a reminder of what I wanted to leave behind in the first place.

When we travel through this incredible journey of life, we seem to do the same thing. We not only carry baggage with us, the load is so heavy we drag baggage with us. We stop often and unpack all our baggage, look at it, and continue to take it with us. We really do not need any of it, but yet, we choose to keep the load heavy, open it up, look at, talk about it, re-pack it, and continue with the heavy load.

It is impossible to enjoy our stay with all this baggage. Impossible. Cannot be done. Today, we need to go through our suitcase of life and do some major unpacking. We will unpack, anger, resentment, fear, neglect, worries, anticipation. You name it. We will unpack all of the past as needed. However, we will not repack any of it. We do not need envy, jealousy, and the dreaded ego. Get rid of it all and dump it. Lighten your load.

Who the heck wants to go through this beautiful life with all that crap. The past is gone. Done. Does not exist. It is an illusion. It is not real. Forgive and move on. We make it real when we continue to bring it up. When we continue to carry it with us. This is a difficult task, some loads are heavy, and we've had them for a long, long time. They've become a part of us. But, it must be done.

I'm tossing out my big suitcase and getting a small, small carry-on. And, the next time I travel when the lovely attendant asks me, "Baggage to check in?" I will flash my big smile and say, "Nope, just a carry on and it's a Gucci."


Lucy Tamajon
Writer