My Baggage and Me!

Sometimes at the end of the week, I like to lie on my bed and stare at the ceiling. I put one of my low-key music mixes on and just drift away in thought. I let my mind wander to all corners of my brain. I relax and let my body react naturally, sometimes I laugh and smile other times I cringe or grimace but I just relish in all the moments that happened, or the ones still to come.

Reflection is one of the processes I use to keep myself on track. It is the way I parent myself and I have been doing it for years now. I love to be alone with my thoughts, my emotions at ease. It is like a stretch after a long work out, you twist and turn and flex your body to keep the muscles from stiffening, and reflection to me is mentally stretching. I have witnessed and chosen and listened and tasted and absorbed so much each new hour of each new day, if I don’t take the time to sort it all out my mind would slow and tighten and forget.

I let down my boundaries and allow myself recognize the mistakes and missteps I have made and I try to use that as a guide for where I will go; a map for my journeys in the next week or the next year or for the rest of my life. It is through this retrospection that I am able to truly learn from all the experiences of my life. What have I done, where have I been, how did that effect or affect me? What does that point me towards, or is there anywhere I no longer want to go? These questions are about locations may they be physical, psychological or physiological in nature.

I like to question my emotional and mental response in differing situations or in similar situations where my reactions were varied. The whys and hows that help me understand the way in which my mind thinks and works. I realize that sometimes I have more control over my reactions than at other times. There are variables that make this so, and discovering them can help me recognize my body. I never want to have full control because I enjoy surprising myself, but as I grow older I am more aware of the need for self control. That my temperament needs to adjust with time and experience for it is a necessity to fully prepare myself for the next path I walk down I need to take everything I have gained and learned and use it as an advantage, not as a hindrance.

Baggage can be great, especially if it carries the tools you need to make the best of what’s to come!