Inspired In Action

You have a backpack.  We all do.  You carry it with you everywhere.  Your backpack has an infinite capacity, and can carry whatever you put in it.  The best part about it is you get to choose exactly what goes inside your backpack. 

Let’s talk a little about what you can and often do put in your backpack.

Emotions can be carried in your backpack.  The thing to consider as you are choosing which emotions to keep is the weight of those emotions.

Joy is of course very light.  You can carry around acres of Joy, and it is light as a feather.  Other wonderfully light emotions you’ll want to keep are ones like playful, peaceful, calm, grateful and relaxed.

Heavy emotions are things like anger, frustration, or sorrow.  When you hang onto them, you are putting these heavy stones in your backpack.  Often it feels as though these heavy stones are thrown at you.  Catch them in your hands.  It’s okay to catch them.  Toss them around a bit, from hand to hand.  Feel them.  They are yours for that moment.  Is there a message written on the stone?

The important thing to remember with these heavier emotions is that while it is important to feel them, and look for any messages written on them, you do not need to put them in your backpack.  Once you are done with these emotions, and have received all you need to receive from them, simply put them back on the ground as you walk along your journey.

Experiences are another thing you carry in your backpack.  These too have different weights.

Victim-ness is a very heavy experience to carry in your backpack.  It weighs you down.  It slows you down.  You use a lot of energy to carry it with you.  Each time you are a victim, you put a new stone in your backpack.

Have you ever listened to someone list all their bad experiences?  Their backpacks carry many heavy stones.  Consider their life.  Are they moving and growing, or have they remained in the same place for years?

Take a moment now to sit down.  Look inside your backpack.  Just sit in the grass at the side of your road.  Take your backpack off.  I’m sure you can use the breather from carrying it.

How many heavy stones do you have?  Are you ready to take them out of your backpack? 

One way of releasing your heavy load is through Forgiveness.  As you forgive, you remove the heavy stones from your backpack.  Forgiving others is important, but sometimes the heaviest stones are removed by forgiving yourself.

You don’t need to do this all at once.  As you continue along your journey, simply sit down from time to time and look inside your backpack.

As you release your heavy experiences, your load begins to lighten.  You stand taller.  You have more energy to pursue the activities that bring you joy.  You experience freedom in a way you may have forgotten. 

As your pace quickens, and the spring in your step returns, you see many more beautiful experiences to put in your backpack.  Joyful memories are surprising light.  You can carry a lot of them.  Celebrations fit effortlessly in there, seemingly taking up no room at all.  Fun is another experience that absolutely belongs in your backpack.

As you stop on the side of the road from time to time to look through your backpack, you will notice how much lighter it is getting, yet when you look inside it’s so full!  Before long, during these picnics at the side of the road, instead of taking out stones and putting them down, you’re looking through the abundance of memories and feelings you’ve consciously chosen to carry with you.  They seem to multiply right before your eyes.

As you stand to continue your journey, you feel surprisingly light; even more so than you did before you sat down.  You notice how many more light and joyful experiences are along your path.  It becomes fun to look around for them, and to test just how full you can get your backpack.

What do you choose to carry in your backpack?

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Velma Gallant, “The Queen of JOY!”, is an Abundance Coach, speaker and author. She is a best-selling co-author with Mark Victor Hansen, Deepak Chopra and Dr. Wayne Dyer in “Wake Up…Live the Life You Love…Finding Personal Freedom”. Velma also writes a weekly e-newsletter which can be found at WelcomeChanges.com. You can contact Velma by email at velma@welcomechanges, or toll-free at 1-800-992-2863.