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How often do you think about the emotional or mental baggage you carry? It may be the slow burn of a grudge you’ve held for years, the barbed sting of insults you’ve felt, or the grating result of bad service. Maybe it’s a friend or grumpy co-worker who comes to you with a complaint, or just feeling that life isn’t fair. You try to help by listening, nodding, and offering suggestions, but a solution doesn’t seem to be what they’re after. No, it’s someone to share in their suffering, someone to carry their problems for them. On top of your own.
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“Holding on to anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die” is a saying I’ve seen in various forms. If something isn’t making your life better by giving you happiness, comfort, fond memories, why hold on to it? Have you ever taken a vacation for which you packed way more than you needed? Emotional baggage is just like that. Lighten your load by mentally opening your carpet bag and as you pull out each item, ask yourself how it serves you. Do you really need one more negative thought? Say goodbye to that burden.
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Talking through our problems with friends can be cathartic. Having to put into words, spoken or written, how we feel often identifies the real problem as well as the feelings we harbor. But let others carry their own bags, just as you carry your personal baggage. You don’t have to be callous or uncaring, and it’s better for the unloader if you help them recognize problems as their own. It’s far better for someone to resolve issues in a way that matters to them, in a way that they can manage, and at the time they are able. So lighten your own load, and don’t take others’ burdens home.
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Resources: https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/your-emotional-baggage-holding-you-back-ncna877596
Holding a grudge is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die. https://www.forbes.com/sites/amyanderson/2015/04/07/resentment-is-like-taking-poison-and-waiting-for-the-other-per son-to-die/#12155c71446c
https://fakebuddhaquotes.com/holding-onto-anger-is-like-drinking-poison/
What a wonderful post. Thank you so much for this brilliant reminder to let go of what weighs us down. I'm so guilty of harboring all of this and that of others. We find freedom of lightness when we shed some of the troubles we think we need to carry. So glad you are part of our team.
ReplyDeleteI shared this to my website, beamererin.com. Love the message...thank you, Lexa, AND Grace!!!
ReplyDeleteWonderful post! I've made a twice-yearly ritual of letting go of negative thoughts (not that I don't let them go more often; it's the ritual part that takes place twice a year).
ReplyDeleteThank you for an excellent blog.
ReplyDeleteThought provoking post. Thank you, Lexa.
ReplyDeleteLexa - Excellent reminders to take a sort of inventory of how we deal with our burdens and the burdens of others. One book I recommend for dealing with this is called Boundaries.
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