by Candy Alexford
You know most people would not consciously think of carting around 40 pounds of luggage everywhere they go. And yet, many of us do this all of the time without knowing it. It is just not physical luggage!
What do I mean?
Many people can relate to carrying around 40 pounds of emotional baggage or rather dragging it with you 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. This emotional baggage may be considered to be emotions, possibly bad memories, trauma or traumatic experiences and/or negative happenings in your world that you may have been collecting since birth. How EXHAUSTING!
And yet, not only do we do we keep our collection; we continue to accrue more! This weighs us down more and more, getting heavier every month of every year until sometimes it is just too heavy to bear. Some folks wake up one day and almost cannot put one foot in front of the other. To be our healthiest, we certainly do not want to spend our entire lifetime carrying “gunk” (technical term ☺); emotional baggage, heartache, hurts, erroneous beliefs, drama, trauma, ill-willed attachments, mean people and items that drag us down or weigh us down.
None of these serve in a positive way. They are all heavy, difficult to bear, hard to move forward, restrictive to our growth, and dimming to our light (our spiritual light). We must choose to be courageous and become aware of these lingering attachments that were dragging around. Without the awareness of what is attached to us, we cannot choose what we want to keep and what we want to let go of. Unless we look at all of these attachments, we will not be able to see what serves us in a positive way and what does not.
And how does one know?
The easiest way is to use our feelings. Whatever the attachment, how does it make you feel? If it makes you feel "bad," there is a high probability that you need to remove it or let go of it. We want to assess if there is something more to be learned from this instance or attachment. If so, work with the instance or the incident; culling out whatever makes you a better human being or spiritual being in a human body. If you discern that there is nothing more to learn or serve you, then begin the process of letting go, severing the attachment or "cutting the cord."
And how do I successfully and healthily accomplish these activities?
For letting go and severing the lingering attachments, there is a beautifully written book titled, Awakening in Time The Journey from Codependence to Co-creation by Jacqueline Small. In this book is a wealth of information and suggestions to accomplish lightening your life and letting go of the “gunk” (emotional baggage, heartache, hurts, erroneous beliefs, drama, trauma, ill-willed attachments, mean people and items that drag us down or weigh us down). Specifically, there is a sacred exercise / process / ritual, entitled, "Healing a Lingering Attachment A Sacred Ritual" which is a beautiful and powerful process of surrender and letting go.
You can find it on page 186 of the second release copyright 1991 through 2000 by Jacqueline Small
ISBN number 0 - 939344 - 18 - 1
Eupsychian Press
PO Box 3090
Austin Texas 78764 - 3090
(512) 512-2795 fax (512) 327-6043
Eupsychian@aol.com
www.Eupsychian.com
Special Note: Please remember to never let go of people; however, let go of the lingering attachment to that person or relationship or incident with that person.
Cutting the cord
For those of us who are primarily visual people, (about 70% of the population uses their visual orientation as their primary method for perception and learning), I suggest cutting the cord.
However what does that mean?
Emotional baggage can be represented by visual strands of vibrating cords of energy that are attached to us. Using your feelings and physical senses, you may be able to locate exactly where the energy cord is attached on your body. This is not necessary to release or cut the cord to your body; however, many people find it helpful to see what they are doing. If for example, they can locate the cord, they may actually see the cord from their person (body) to the other person making it incredibly easy to watch themselves “cut the cord.” Again, releasing the baggage that they have been carrying around and releasing the attachment (cord) to the other person, instance or incident. Even though this is a “cutting the cord” ceremony to release you from baggage, do not be surprised if the other person involved at the other end of the emotional cord feels it too. The other person may go so far as to call you on the telephone or ask what's happening with you the next time that they see you. Pending the relationship you have with the other person and their belief system (we always want to be respectful of the other person's belief system as well as our own), feel free to simply say when asked that you are working on yourself to become even healthier by releasing stuff you no longer need in your world. That is a global and truthful response requiring no additional detail unless desired. No matter what method you choose to release your baggage, trust your “gut” or intuition. Trust that you really do know what no longer serves you and that you do have the ability to release it! Important! Once released, do NOT take it back! Sometimes when people do not trust themselves, or they are new to the process, they will focus on the recently-released baggage and take it right back into their body. If this does happen, release it again (by whatever process you choose) and then, focus on the next healthy release. This will lighten your load for a lifetime! One more tip . . .
To honor my spiritual existence, I add one more activity with my cutting of my cords. As I “cut a cord,” I cut it and release it with God's grace. I am a believer that what goes around comes around. I only want to receive the best that life has to offer and send out the best to all that I encounter (even if it is any release process.) Some people may consider this activity as a form of
“paying it forward.” Moreover; however, you perceive release with God’s grace; I view it as my way to put out as much positivity or positive energy as I can. The following is a summary of seven simple steps to succeed at “cutting the cords that no longer serve you.” Steps to succeed:
1st Be aware
2nd Be courageous
3rd Ask and determine how you feel inside
4th Answer the question; does it make you feel bad??
5th Assess the attachments value, is there more to learn??
6th If there is nothing more to learn, cut the cord!!
7th Lighten your life, Shine Your Light!!!
Candy Alexford
Learning and Development Specialist
Louisville, Kentucky