Excess Baggage

As we go through life, we acquire much needless baggage. Our lives are often cluttered, with all sorts of things, new or old, that will never be used and will be impossible to find if needed.

When we go on a vacation, we choose and pick what we will be taking, in order to carry only what would be of use, and then we usually go over the articles again to see what we could find to remove so the trip will be a little easier.

So many of us in life load up with so much that we could leave behind. One of the pieces of luggage we often carry with us is worry. We go through life so loaded down with it that we carry little else. We go to bed at night with it on our minds, and when we awake in the morning, it is our first thought. Each day it becomes heavier and harder to handle, and more troublesome. We never see the brighter side of things, because we are so wrapped up in a certain energy or thought pattern.

Another kind of baggage that we carry around with us is a heavy load of gossip. Still another thing that we carry with us is criticism. We go about constantly criticizing, never saying any good of anyone or anything, and assuming a rather pessimistic attitude.  Always ready to criticize everything we see or hear, we get ourselves into much difficulty, fearing to meet people or look them squarely in the eyes, because we realize we have been unkind and said unkind things about them.

Sometimes we may find ourselves carrying a load of jealousy in our baggage, that green-eyed monster, and after a while, that can become a very heavy piece of luggage to carry. Jealousy can lead us into all sorts of unwanted energies that interfere with one's daily life, whether it is in relationships, friends or business.

One piece of excess baggage that we should rid ourselves of is egotism. Egotism leads to countless difficulties. An egotistical person has never been able to see beyond the little circle which surrounds them. And then there is super sensitiveness. So many people say they cannot do this or that, because they are so sensitive to people, to things, and to conditions. Over-sensitiveness is a sign of too much self and self-pity.  Some people are so sensitive that if they happen to see two or three people talking together, they just know something is being said about them. They imagine that no one can talk about anything or anybody else but themselves.

There is so much that we carry along in life, that really does not serve for our best and highest good. Remember you are the creator of your world: one may not say something out loud, but the unspoken word will go to the very soul of your body, and this puts everything into motion, by the activity of the mind. Remember that there can never be an objective manifestation or an objective activity without first the mental impulse, which puts it into motion. If we are constantly warring, our body responds to that activity and does not function properly. The bloodstream of life becomes clogged, and this can have a physical toll on the body and on the organs: the physical body is responding to the mental activity. Remember the old saying, watch your thoughts, words and actions: it all begins with a thought.

There was once a traveler known as the plague. He met another traveler on the way who said to him, "Where are you going?" 

"I am going to kill 50,000 people." 

When the traveler was returning, he again met the plague, and said to him, "You said you were going to kill 50,000 people, but I've heard that a 100,000 died."

The plague replied, "Yes, I did kill 50,000. The rest of them killed themselves with fear or worry."

You should understand that the thought of fear manifests as an activity within the body, that every word of criticism you utter against another produces within you the very thing which you criticize in another—even a little word of gossip you speak produces an action within your body. As does criticism—I believe that one can never see and recognize within another individual what one does not have in one's self. Otherwise, one would not recognize it. Therefore, we need to be very careful in our criticism of others.  How much easier would it be to pack our mental trips with the necessary things to take with us through life? And what are the necessary things? Constructive thinking, love, sympathy, compassion and understanding of those with whom we come into contact, and faith in God. We are all part of the one heart, one soul, of this journey called life.

Many blessings.