LIVINGwell T
ake a Vacation From Y
“Everybody sooner or later has to drop the luggage and the baggage of illusions.” ~Carlos Santana
our Inner Baggage
“Simplicity is making the journey of this life with
just baggage enough.” ~ Charles Dudley Warner
J
une is a month of travel, holiday and vacation. However as the old saying goes, “Wherever you go, there you are". So, this June, why don’t you do something different and take an inner vacation from your emotional baggage? It’s not hard; just imagine you’re taking a trip and you want the airlines to lose your bags for the duration. Don’t worry, they have your name and ad- dress on them so they will be able to find you if you get into a panic. So with complete confidence why don’t you bid them adieu and head in a different direction? Some of our heaviest burdens fall into three cat- egories: regret, shame and worry. So whether you’re vacationing or staycationing this month, here are some techniques for traveling lighter emotionally.
“I made decisions that I regret, and
Regret is old & heavy like suitcases were before someone had the ingenious idea to attach wheels to bags.
I took them as learning experiences ...I'm human, not perfect, like anybody else.”
~ Queen Latifah
“Do not brood over your past mistakes and failures as this will only fill your mind with grief, regret
and depression. Do not repeat them in the future.” ~ Sivananda
The most poisonous thing about regret is its ability to infect
your right now by resurrecting past pain. This practice is about as damaging as driving down the road by only looking in your rear view mirror. Bad outcomes for you and everyone around you’re absolutely imminent.
HOW DO YOU LEAVE YOUR REGRET BAG BEHIND ON YOUR JUNE JOURNEY?
• Face Your Regret Since regret lives in your past, take a journey down memo-
22
NaturalTriad.com
ry lane. Really look at that job
you passed on, that relationship that fell apart or that opportunity you missed. Write down the full details of why you feel what you did
wasn’t the best choice. Detail all the “bad” fallout you feel is a result of your mistakes.
• Understand Your Regret
Regret’s job, ironically enough, is to keep you happy. The reason certain instances stand
out above the millions of decisions and actions we take is because of the discomfort encoded in them. So if we treat our regret on the surface then we only get the discomfort. But if we are willing to dive into the
event and the emotions that wrap up our regret package then we can get the present inside. And here is the hidden gem—right past the pain, right on the horizon we look toward when we do the above exercise—the gift of happiness. And we find that hap- piness in our next step.
• Fix Your Regret You fix your regret by first forgiving yourself. You made deci- sions based on information and emotions that were present at the time. In short, we all do the best we can with what we have to work with at any given moment.
Now go back to your above timeline and redraw all the good things that happened because of the path you took —the people you met, the experiences you had, the lessons you learned and the wisdom it has given you to help others along the way. And finally, use it as a guide for future decisions. When you’re faced with a decision you’re emotionally angsting over, remem- ber to pause, breathe and slow down the process so you can ask yourself, “From a wider perspective, does this decision I’m about to make feel right to me?” Even if it ends up as a decision that’s not perfect in the long-run, you will know that you did your best and it will become easier and easier to let go of your past pain so your right now has room for joy.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52