Sir! Why do you have such a big baggage?
It has been awhile since I last blog about anything. I've written this one down a couple of weeks back & only managed to post it to LJ now.
Baggage - define in the dictionary: trunks, suitcases, etc., used in traveling; luggage. But what I wanted to comment here is more like things that encumber one's freedom, progress, development, or adaptability; impediments: examples like intellectual baggage that keeps one from thinking clearly; neurotic conflicts that arise from struggling with too much emotional baggage.
Why is it that all of us have baggage? Or at least most people I know have baggage. Is it because we can’t move on? Is there something unconsciously blocked our way? In the past weeks, I’ve come across some of my friends who experienced this kind of baggage. Unwilling to let go of the past, is the most common baggage. Somehow, this group of people didn’t realize that they have been carrying this baggage. It is like a secret compartment in your bag. One day, when you going through your personal stuff, you realized that there is this secret compartment and it started to spill out.
Be it, seeing your ex in someone else’s arms or seeing your enemy having the upper hand now, all these will suddenly stir the baggage within you. Then you started to think, worry and ponder. You sometimes feel lousy, angry, deceived or betrayed. Whatever it is, I don’t think it is anything positive. Which makes me think of another point; why baggage is usually fills with negative stuff? I guessed it has to; or else it won’t be known to be impediment to our freedom, progress or development.
Next question I would ask is why we carry this baggage? Do we know that we are carrying them and if we knew, do we know the contents of it? Is there any purpose for carrying this baggage? Well, if I’m traveling and I need to carry a large amount of clothing and other personal stuff, which will be useful to me during my trip, I would find a luggage to contain it. This will be my traveling baggage.
But in life’s journey, we pack as we go along. All our experiences, be it good or bad, are imprinted in our minds. We feel it. Sometimes we even taste it or even hold them. All these are collected and are kept in our own “luggage”. So in the end it became our internal/ self baggage. Good or bad, all of it thrown in ….without being sorted.
Should one do some “spring cleaning”? Should it be a yearly affair like when my grand parents would clean up their house, once a year; preparing for the Chinese Lunar New Year? Or should it be more frequent than that? If yes, how often do we do checks on our baggage?
I think as we get older, it’s harder to do this “spring cleaning” of our baggage. Don’t know why. Maybe, like most people, our bodies will get weaker as we get older. Has the baggage morphed into our souls and mind over a period of time without us realizing it? Maybe, it has affected our personality and the way we look at life or how we judge certain things?
Certain religious teachings advocate the detachment of such baggage. Knowing that it will impede in our progress or development, we must get rid of it. But how? I think it is not easy as for some people, they don’t even realized that they have it… some even as big as the LV trunk!! Or if they know they have it, some are in denial mode. “Oh! It’s nothing serious. Just a phase. I will snap out of it in no time”.
“Letting it go” - I would usually adopt that stance. Be in peace with yourself.
I know that letting things that are so attached to oneself will not be easy. People will have to learn to let go of certain things, no matter how painful it is. To some people, it will not easy to just “let it go” but for the moment, they have to learn to lock it and throw away the key. Perhaps baggage is not meant to be thrown but simply to just put it away.
Baggage - define in the dictionary: trunks, suitcases, etc., used in traveling; luggage. But what I wanted to comment here is more like things that encumber one's freedom, progress, development, or adaptability; impediments: examples like intellectual baggage that keeps one from thinking clearly; neurotic conflicts that arise from struggling with too much emotional baggage.
Why is it that all of us have baggage? Or at least most people I know have baggage. Is it because we can’t move on? Is there something unconsciously blocked our way? In the past weeks, I’ve come across some of my friends who experienced this kind of baggage. Unwilling to let go of the past, is the most common baggage. Somehow, this group of people didn’t realize that they have been carrying this baggage. It is like a secret compartment in your bag. One day, when you going through your personal stuff, you realized that there is this secret compartment and it started to spill out.
Be it, seeing your ex in someone else’s arms or seeing your enemy having the upper hand now, all these will suddenly stir the baggage within you. Then you started to think, worry and ponder. You sometimes feel lousy, angry, deceived or betrayed. Whatever it is, I don’t think it is anything positive. Which makes me think of another point; why baggage is usually fills with negative stuff? I guessed it has to; or else it won’t be known to be impediment to our freedom, progress or development.
Next question I would ask is why we carry this baggage? Do we know that we are carrying them and if we knew, do we know the contents of it? Is there any purpose for carrying this baggage? Well, if I’m traveling and I need to carry a large amount of clothing and other personal stuff, which will be useful to me during my trip, I would find a luggage to contain it. This will be my traveling baggage.
But in life’s journey, we pack as we go along. All our experiences, be it good or bad, are imprinted in our minds. We feel it. Sometimes we even taste it or even hold them. All these are collected and are kept in our own “luggage”. So in the end it became our internal/ self baggage. Good or bad, all of it thrown in ….without being sorted.
Should one do some “spring cleaning”? Should it be a yearly affair like when my grand parents would clean up their house, once a year; preparing for the Chinese Lunar New Year? Or should it be more frequent than that? If yes, how often do we do checks on our baggage?
I think as we get older, it’s harder to do this “spring cleaning” of our baggage. Don’t know why. Maybe, like most people, our bodies will get weaker as we get older. Has the baggage morphed into our souls and mind over a period of time without us realizing it? Maybe, it has affected our personality and the way we look at life or how we judge certain things?
Certain religious teachings advocate the detachment of such baggage. Knowing that it will impede in our progress or development, we must get rid of it. But how? I think it is not easy as for some people, they don’t even realized that they have it… some even as big as the LV trunk!! Or if they know they have it, some are in denial mode. “Oh! It’s nothing serious. Just a phase. I will snap out of it in no time”.
“Letting it go” - I would usually adopt that stance. Be in peace with yourself.
I know that letting things that are so attached to oneself will not be easy. People will have to learn to let go of certain things, no matter how painful it is. To some people, it will not easy to just “let it go” but for the moment, they have to learn to lock it and throw away the key. Perhaps baggage is not meant to be thrown but simply to just put it away.