Purposeful Growth

While it’s true that your past doesn’t have to be your future, a reader reminded me that letting go of the past is not always easy. But let go we must, if we are to move forward with ease.

Think of life as a journey. Along the road of life we collect experiences, some are light, inspiring and joyous; those experiences we treasure in our memories. Some are heavy and depressing, the things we regret, and the accompanying guilt we feel. Think of these experiences as baggage we collect along the way.  As the heavy baggage accumulates our progress is slower, more difficult, we have more stops along the way to rest. We will still get to our ultimate destination, which is assured. But the more heavy baggage we carry, the slower the pace, the lengthier the journey, and the more difficult it seems.

Why do we choose to continue carrying the baggage? Why don’t we choose to lay down the heavy burdens of anger, regret and guilt, and keep the lighter treasures of love that inspire? Is this a self-inflicted punishment? Do we not deserve a lighter journey? Life is inherently easy. Why might we choose to make it difficult?

I think this is a matter of living out of love or out of fear. If I live out of fear, then I believe every act is measured against God’s judgment. And since I can’t be sure what God will decide, I assign a judgment myself. All the while fearing the worst, carrying my terrible burdens of fear along life’s path.

But if I remember that my soul is pure love, and that I am connected to the pure love of God and all other souls, then I can remember that pure love has nothing to fear. If, in my life’s experiences I’ve made choices that did not reflect my highest self, I simply can learn from them and move forward. I can choose to take a different path, make a different choice the next time. If things were done to me that seemed harmful, I can look for the positives that were available. Each experience brought me opportunity to experience my highest self. Pure love does not judge and does not condemn. So God does not judge and condemn me for my actions, nor should I condemn myself or others.

Is the baggage you’re carrying serving you in being who you choose to be? If your highest vision of self is victim, unworthy person, misfit, then yes, it is serving you. But if that’s not your highest vision of self, why carry the bags? Lay them down right now! Make a choice today. Examine each bag and decide if it serves you to continue carrying it. If the bag contains mistakes, then learn from each mistake and put the bag down! The learning will serve you, continuing to carry will not. If the bag contains anger for another, forgive them, for they simply brought you an opportunity to experience the wonders of life. By all means keep the inspirations; those bags filled with loving, joyous memories are treasures to be opened and re-opened. Re-visit them often, and re-live the joy each time.

Some people seem happy all the time. Why is that? We may
think they have fewer problems, an easier life, more help
from others, or other advantages; but that’s not it. What
sets happy people apart from unhappy people is that happy
people have discovered a great secret of life. And the
strange thing is that we all know this secret–or rather,
we’ve all heard it. Happy people accept and incorporate this
secret, while the rest of us pooh-pooh it as too simple to
be the secret leading to happiness.

The secret is this–to be happy we must choose to be happy.
That’s it! Just like picking out our favorite brand of
peanut butter at the grocery store, to be happy we must
simply choose happy from the other states of being available
to us.

But how can you be happy when your job is in jeopardy or
you’ve lost your job? How can you be happy when your health is poor, your spouse is angry, and your children think
you’re an idiot? Why is it we refuse to accept that
happiness is a choice we may make at any time? The deadly
illusion of need and its accompanying emotion of fear keep
getting in our way.

Now, I’m not referring to a want or desire when I use the
term need here. I’m referring to need as in must-have-in-
order-to-be. Such as, I must have a six figure income to be
successful. Or, I must have status symbols (home, car,
trophy spouse) to be happy. Or, I must have a million
dollars to be secure. When we predicate our desire for
happiness upon circumstances external to us, we just about
guarantee that happiness either will evade us altogether or
will only grant us fleeting glimpses.

Of course, when we buy into the need to have something (like money) in order to be something (like happy), we invite need’s partner, FEAR, into our lives big time. For when we believe we need something we then either fear we won’t get it, or once we achieve it we fear we’ll lose it.

We need nothing! Everything our souls desire is right here
for us. Look within at what gives you real happiness. When
you recognize that love brings true happiness, and that to
love (including self-love) is also just a choice to make,
then you realize that you need nothing else–you have
everything your soul desires.

Now, sometimes when I talk about this people will take an
extreme situation, saying something like, “How can I choose
to be happy when I’ve just suffered the loss of a loved one
or a crushing blow to my self esteem?” Well, in those
situations it would be foolish to try to choose happiness.
By all means, choose to grieve or anger, but not for long.
Grieve and anger for the natural benefits those states bring
based on the situation, then, as quickly as possible, choose
to be happy again. Why? If happiness is your desired state,
then choose it as often as you really desire it. But maybe
it’s not really your desired state. Maybe, at some level,
you’re deciding to be sad, angry, anxious, or morose. What
do you choose?