We all carry our
baggage in different ways. Some of us
carry more than others. Sharing the
weight with another soul certainly makes the effort less burdensome, but
unloading the baggage, leaving it behind, and simply carrying less, makes a
whole hell of a lot more sense to me. We
can’t ditch all of our past and the pain, but we can certainly try and lighten
the load. In doing so, we can then focus
more on living the life we envision.
Instead of “dreaming” of doing…we have a lighter load and more freedom
(internally) to devote our hearts and minds to DOING. Doing now, and not putting our dreams on the
back burner. Why, in a world where we’ve
sent men to the moon, do we find it so hard to believe that we can achieve our
wildest dreams? Want to run a
marathon? Run it!!!! Have you dreamed of climbing in the
Himalaya? Go climb! Paddling distant rivers? Follow the flow! To see the brevity and simplicity in life I
believe you can serve that task best by letting some of that baggage go, and
finding your way to a foreign country,
maybe even a third world country. The
worries of our first world lives don’t seem to find their way into the lives of
those who (to us) seem to live a much “poorer” life. One of the greatest gifts of my years
travelling and working in India has been the gift of simplicity. Spending a month there each year amongst the
people of Leh, at the foot of the Himalayas, has been the single most grounding
experience each time I set foot in that magical land. The lack of all the excessiveness we have
here, the appreciation of such simple things as running water, a flushing
toilet, electricity..it’s hard to come home in anyway but CHANGED. It’s given me the experience, space, and time
to reflect and look at my life and how privileged we are to live in such a
great country, and yet how underprivileged we are because we expect so much and
we see so narrowly. We carry far too
much baggage! To wander the Himalayan
countryside 366 days ago (to the day) on a rented British motorcycle was
absolutely one of the greatest birthday gifts I could ever receive. I knew on that day that I’d never be the
same. I simply had the time to reflect
and be so far from civilization that I was able to release much of the baggage
I had held onto. That one magical day,
mystical journey, and beautiful experience allowed me to simply let go of so
much. My life would change tremendously
in the coming months and again just recently.
Self discovery is
the key that opens so many doors. Being
quiet with your thoughts and truly embracing the gifts we are given each day. To step outside of your comfort zone and step
across our borders is, to me, something we should all do way more often. To step out of your comfort zone and force
yourself to face your life, unanswered questions, and to reach for new heights
is an absolute necessity in order to live a full life. To reach the end someday with a heart and
soul full of new experiences, new places, tantalizing tastes, and soul sticking
sounds….this is far more appealing to me than to enter my end with the type of
assets that most of society tends to acquire.
Money and things can all be taken from us, and yet the investments in
our memory banks can never be relinquished or repossessed. They are the flowers in our souls blowing in
the wind, spreading the seeds to so much more.
Travel the world, sail the seas, climb to new heights, but whatever you
do….simply DO IT. Gather your things,
simplify your life, and never ever surrender the dreams swirling in your
head. Do it alone from time to time and
find a partner to travel the world with you, for a shared experience is a
multiplied dream (exponentially), but have the courage to realize we are all on
borrowed time and get out and just do this thing called life. No more excuses, minimize the delays, because
somewhere out there someone is having their last day and it’s fairly certain that
they’d trade you one more day to chase their one more dream. Let go of your preconceived notions, release
the baggage…leave it on the tarmac…unclaimed!
