Let go of eXcess baggage.

Once a teacher asked his students to fill a glass of water and carry it in their hand, all day long. They were not supposed to let it down even for a second and then report the next day how it felt.

The students, obviously, had a difficult time holding the glass all day. That’s when the teacher explained how, if they had such physical pain holding a glass in their hand all day, how much mental and emotional trouble they must experience carrying the mental baggage all their lives.

There is a whole list of mental baggage that we carry along with us, all day, every day:

Grudges

Anger

Expectations

Guilt

Sorrow

Fear

Anxiety

These are some of the emotions I have carried with me for a long time, as I am sure you must have, too. It must have gotten inexplicably exhausting, isn’t it?

Despite knowing that it is pointless holding these feelings in our heart, we still continue, putting immense pressure on our mind and causing much trauma in the process.

No amount of self-care will help unless we let go of this excess baggage that hampers our progress and holds us down.

And,  one of the important rules of self-care is to not hold such negativity within us that causes us unnecessary stress.

Negative emotions, toxic people who ruin our peace of mind, thoughts that cause anxiety and stress, the burden of others’ expectations, and our expectations from others–it’s such torture living with this unnecessary clutter in our mind!

 

10 RULES TO FOLLOW FOR A PEACEFUL LIFE:

1 Learning to control the mind takes ages, but once we master it, nothing can ever take us back to our old ways!

2 Practice mindfulness. This comes in handy for almost each of Life’s problems–that’s what I have experienced.

READ Practice Mindfulness

3  Accept Life as it is and accept people as they are. Again, very difficult to do, but, frankly, we have no choice, do we? However much we try, we cannot change either our fate or the way others think.

4  Let go of expectations. It is the number one cause of heartache. Instead, expect things from yourself, because you know what you want and how to work towards it!

5  Let go of people who serve no purpose in your Life. Distance yourself from toxic people–people who do not care about your wellbeing, who use you, abuse you, hurt you, walk all over you and leave you broken are the ones you ought to get away from. Just snap the ties. What’s the worse that could happen?

6  Let go of the guilt, for however much you try, you cannot keep everyone happy. Keep yourself happy, instead, and live your life the way you wish. It’s your life, after all!

7  Let go of anger, for it’s the poison that can kill you. it can never have any effect on others, except you.

8  Let go of grudges. These, too, ruin only your peace of mind.

9 Get help for your anger and anxiety issues. It really helps.

10 De-clutter your mind, regularly, the way you de-clutter your home.

Keep the thoughts that spark joy, discard those that bring tears.

3 QUICK TIPS FOR RELIEVING MENTAL BAGGAGE:

1. Maintain a journal and jot down the thoughts that cause you heartache, stress, anger and anxiety.
2. Once you have written it all, read it aloud a few times.  Read it again the next day, and the next, until you get fed up of reading it. You will realise how pointless it is holding onto these thoughts. Trust me, it works.
3. Write a letter to the persons or incidents that hurt you. Let out all the pent up emotions you might have for them. Once you are done writing it, put it away in your diary and forget about it. Read it again after a week, or so, and see for yourself if you feel any emotion for that person or the incident. Tear it off and forget about it!

 

Life is a journey. To make it delightful,  we need to let go of all the unwanted baggage and travel light. THAT will make the journey a whole lot interesting and enjoyable!

What say you?

 

Love,

SHILPA…

 

 

This post is written for the April A to Z Blogging Challenge, and my theme this year is, ‘SELF-CARE’. You will find all the A to Z posts here.