Leave Some Baggage at Baggage Claim
Removing Emotional Baggage
You’ve just arrived back from an exhausting, draining journey. What is the first thing you do when you arrive at the airport? That’s right; you go straight to baggage claim to pick up whatever baggage you’ve brought back with you. Typically, that baggage contains items to be cleaned, hung up and maybe even discarded. What emotional baggage are you carrying? Well it is now time to unpack and only keep the things that will serve you and help you become a better person. It is time to throw that suitcase away and release the emotional baggage that may be holding you back. We all have had some pain and hurt in our lives. Some it is physical, some mental, emotional or it could have been some of all. The past events of our life that we couldn’t control and can’t change, should not continue to control us. Whatever the painful memory is, it is time to find a way to let it go; it’s time to release your emotional baggage so you can move forward.
Have you ever gotten to baggage claim and you can’t find your luggage? For a moment, you panic thinking about all the “stuff” you have and “need” that’s in that piece of luggage. You frantically search and you put in a claim for lost luggage, hoping that you’ll get a call saying, “we’ve located your lost baggage.” Sometimes, it’s found and that’s good; but sometimes, that baggage is never recovered. You may miss those items for a while, but eventually, life goes on and you replace them. That’s what we do with our emotional baggage. Sometimes, it gets lost and we frantically search for it in the recesses of our mind. Did you ever consider that some baggage is lost on purpose so you can prepare for your next journey?
Many times we hold onto to things emotionally and we find ourselves in a rut because we have associated all these negative emotions with the situation. It is time to become an action taker and do something to remove the emotional baggage.
Gloria Gaynor reminds us that we will survive by ridding ourselves of those who have caused us pain. It is when we let go and move on that we survive and thrive.
Another way to overcome and remove emotional baggage is to adopt a poem like Marriane Williamson’s Deepest Fear:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
There are many ways to remove emotional baggage and it takes work, however once you peel away the emotional baggage and begin to diffuse the emotional charges, you will begin to feel better and you will start to attract those that you seek to attract. Remember: water seeks its own level, so if you are attracting people with emotional baggage, see if your life is manifesting your own baggage.
1: Make yourself the most important person and affirm that you deserve the best. Listen to the conversation you’re having with yourself. Are you constantly beating yourself up or do you speak words of encouragement to yourself? People that you consider important and deserve good things, you tend to speak well of.
2: Let go of the people that no longer serve you. This is very difficult as many of us feel an obligation to so called friends. Sometimes, you have to walk away from what has been a long relationship with someone who you considered a friend if they are no longer encouraging or supportive. BY removing this emotional baggage and no longer seeking that person’s approval you become stronger and more confident.
3: Write Letters of Forgiveness to those that you believed wronged you. It is a common belief that if you forgive someone, you have absolved them of any responsibility. That’s wrong. Forgiveness is purely meant to cleanse your spirit: it doesn’t have anything to do with the person that you feel have wronged you.
4: Begin a gratitude journal. If you begin to concentrate on all of the things you have to be grateful for, you’ll have less time to think about the negative, emotional baggage that doesn’t serve your purpose. Journaling is an excellent way to get it out of you and make your blessings a visual reminder!
5: Surround yourself with people who are encouraging and supportive. It’s impossible to have a positive frame of mind if you’re constantly bombarded with negatives. Some of the people in your circle might actually be some of the emotional baggage that you need to leave at “unclaimed baggage!”
6: Commit to yourself to treat yourself with love. Look at what you say to yourself. If you wouldn’t say it to a child or an elder that you respect, why do you say it to yourself? Learn to treat yourself with the same respect and kindness that you show others-stop beating yourself up!
We may not have the option to pack up our emotions and ship them off to a faraway continent, but we do have the option to take charge of them and choose how they will affect us for the rest of our lives. It’s your choice. Here’s to choosing freedom!
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