Emotional Baggage –
- What is?
- Where does it come from?
- How do I get there?
- How do you release it?
- Do you even want to drop it?
- Have you ever wanted to do something, but that little inner voice has managed to talk you out of doing it?
- Would you like to release the hold that parts of your past have on your life today?
If your answer is yes, then join me for this first part of a series of articles covering an exciting journey of self-discovery and empowerment: it’s time for ‘The Emotional Baggage Diet’.
emotional baggage it is essentially anything that has ever happened to you in your life that has triggered an action or reaction that in some way, shape, or form is now holding you back in areas of your life. It can be something simple.
- Maybe you fell and hurt yourself when you were running as a kid and someone laughed. Now you don’t like to run or do anything that you feel might make you look “dumb”.
- Maybe your parents used to argue and now you think that all relationships are like this.
- Maybe, like me, someone told you that you can’t sing, so now you don’t. (I’m starting now)
- Maybe you felt that someone let you down and now you have a hard time trusting others.
There are so many examples you could use, the list could go on and on, but it won’t 🙂
The Emotional Baggage of each one is personal, individual and as valid as that of the people close to them. No one is worse or better – It is unique.
I once heard a story by the author Iylanza Vanzant (I’m going to paraphrase now the way my mind remembers and stores this story).
Iylanza was talking about ‘Brillo Pads’ (Those rough metal cleaning pads that were filled with a pink soap and used to clean up stubborn kitchen mess!). In the story she told that when she was a child her mother used Brillo Pads and that was all she used. They were the best invention of hers and the only thing she could use to get the job done right.
When Iylanza left home, guess what he used to clean his kitchen. Yes, you guessed it, she used Brillo Pads. Until one day she went to the store and they didn’t have any. At that moment her thoughts told her to panic, she couldn’t wear anything else, she didn’t feel well. The store clerk told her about the benefits of all the other products, but she still didn’t feel well. In the end, knowing that she had to clean her kitchen, she gave up and bought something different (hopefully it was a buy one get one free deal). However, she felt guilty, her mother had always told her that Brillo Pads were what she should use.
Once he was home, he used the new cleaning pad. Soon her feelings of ‘panic and worry’ about not doing what her mother had done changed. This product was easy to use, it smelled fresh and so much more…she began to wonder why she had never tried anything different before and realized that she had just accepted that what her mother said was correct . and the only option.
Now Brillo pads have their place in our lives, but there may be times when something else works better. Just like in the supermarket, there is always another option.
Sometimes we can have areas in our life where everything feels rough and uncomfortable, however if we just change things up the surface can be clean and shiny.
letting go of yours emotional baggage it can be as easy as ABC. But just like the alphabet, you need to start at the beginning to get to the end. Each letter is needed to make the whole. The Alphabet is still the Alphabet even if we put the letters in a different order.
What I’m saying is that sometimes if we just change our thoughts, we can change our perspective and interpretation of anything. That may sound like an ‘all-encompassing’ statement, and one that is easier to write than to put into practice. I promise you that change and transformation, growth and personal empowerment are possible by changing the thoughts we have about whatever holds us back. I have lived it and now I would like to share it with you. It wasn’t always easy, but it was definitely worth it 🙂
Albert Einstein is quoted as saying ~
‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again ~ and expecting different results’