The Baggage We Carry With Us

This guided meditation takes you on a special journey to help release the emotional baggage that's weighing you down, so you can co-exist with ease with your past experience and personal history as you create your future.

Transcript

Imagine a human being and all our accumulated experiences,

Our tendency to believe that what we think accurately reflects reality.

It is a little like imagining we are all walking around with big suitcases.

Everywhere you look,

Everyone is lugging these big invisible bags,

Dragging them behind.

We try to build relationships,

But it is very awkward showing up at a restaurant with a suitcase.

We chase career dreams,

But our bag doesn't fit in the lift.

We seek better health,

But it is hard to run on the treadmill with a suitcase behind you.

Many people feel heavily burdened,

Laboring through life,

Believing we have no choice about carrying our histories and beliefs along with us.

Unless we realize that there is a choice,

We don't really have one.

This is a guided meditation to lighten or release the baggage we all carry.

Perhaps you may realize that when the bag has been heavy for so long,

It doesn't take a lifetime for it to begin feeling lighter.

Let's begin by making yourself comfortable,

Sitting up or lying down.

Observe where your hands and feet may like to be.

Gently close your eyes.

Take a few moments to check in with your breath.

Notice each inhale and each exhale.

As you inhale,

Be aware of breathing in.

As you exhale,

Be aware of breathing out.

Breathe into the belly so it expands as you breathe in and gets smaller as you breathe out.

Beginning with awareness.

Riding the waves of the breath moment by moment.

Breathing in and breathing out.

Welcoming yourself to this present moment.

Bring your mind's eye into your inner landscape.

Looking in with your mood and how you're feeling emotionally.

Noticing any thought that may come up.

Noticing any sense of discomfort or unpleasant feelings.

Breathe into these thoughts and emotions.

Acknowledging what's being felt.

And allow them the space to be there without trying to change anything.

Just letting be.

Imagine that the large suitcase has appeared in front of you.

With your mind's eye,

Carefully examine the suitcase.

Its shape,

Size,

Color,

Texture.

Imagine observing its design.

With the suitcase still closed,

Have a felt sense of the space inside.

Perhaps you can feel its density.

Perhaps you can feel its weight.

Perhaps you begin to identify yourself with this suitcase.

The weight you have been carrying around.

The weight that has been dragging behind you.

With baggage,

You never quite had the courage or opportunity to examine.

Curious about the contents of this suitcase.

With your mind's eye,

You imagine the suitcase slowly opening.

Gradually revealing what's inside.

The things only you can see and feel.

Take some time to carefully examine what's inside.

Beliefs,

Storylines,

Memories,

Illusions,

Opinions.

Feelings.

Perhaps in your mind's eye,

You see images projected on a cinema screen.

And you are watching them play like a film with characters and storyline.

A grudge that keeps you from soaring.

A perspective or way of thinking that is confining or depleting.

A habit that somehow hooked you but doesn't fit anymore.

An identity as unworthy,

Meek,

Lacking,

Fearful,

Controlling.

Whatever is your inner narrative,

Perhaps you feel your heartbeat associated with it.

Any smell,

Sound,

Taste,

Or sensations in your body.

Notice your emotions.

Notice your breathing.

Allow yourself to fully immerse in this felt sense of what you have been storing away as baggage.

Encouraging the whole lot around.

That as time goes on,

Sometimes you feel a sense of comfort and the familiarity of your luggage.

Other times,

You feel your ever heavier bag continues to get in your way.

Making life seem heavy and tough for you.

From that place of presence,

You learn to recognize inner patterns as they go around on the baggage carousel of mind.

Welcoming it with your open heart.

Recognizing it wholeheartedly.

Recognizing that it showed up in your life to protect or help you at some point.

But also recognizing that its job is done and a time has come to say goodbye.

Ask yourself,

Do I need it?

Is it serving me?

Is it time to put it down?

Gradually unpacking what you no longer need.

Letting go of your beloved storylines and beliefs.

Sometimes you unearth a big gnarly thing you collected a while ago.

So it takes a while to deal with that one and it is not overly gratifying in the process.

Perhaps by now you know the truth of the expression,

Better out than in.

When you grin and relax into it.

It is going to get easier to wander around with this personal history if it is not so heavy with one wheel falling off.

Give time to walk through it.

The bag has been with you for so long.

You know you can't rush it.

What's really important is to come to realization that unpacking doesn't simply mean removing things out of the suitcase.

If only letting go was that easy.

Unpacking means to carefully examine and investigate every belief,

Every habit,

Every limited identity,

Every reaction that has been weighing you down.

Leading greater and greater depths of openness and possibility.

Leading you to a sense of resolve.

A sense of equanimity.

A sense of acceptance.

So that it won't continue to weigh you down.

So that you can coexist with ease,

With your past experience and personal history as you create your future.

Take some time to sit with it.

When the old tendency arises,

Choose life.

Walk away every time and step into the possibility of a life unencumbered by old baggage.

Know that it is okay if you feel fearful or uncomfortable.

As you release what is old and outmoded,

You're making the space for something new to arise.

As the author of your own life,

Recognize that you have a choice in your future.

Allow that to happen.

This is the beginning of a life lived in freedom.

As you prepare to transition to your day-to-day life,

Observe the space around you.

Bring your awareness to the support beneath you.

The sounds in the space.

Your sense of smell.

Sensations in your body.

If you like,

Take a full deep inhale through your nose.

And exhale through your mouth.

When you feel ready,

Slowly blink open your eyes.

What baggage are you carrying around?

Is it time to let it go?

Reviews

This is truly one of the best guided meditations I have ever experienced. Thank you so much. ☺️

A wonderful meditation. Thank you 🙏🏽

Beautiful meditation, voice and music. I will definitely repeat often. Thank you 🙏

So good! 🙏🏽♥️

WOW! Who COULDN'T benefit from this gentle meditation and reminder. We aren't always aware of all that we carry around around and what a burden it can be. Unpacking is not easy 😕 and some have more than others.
Thank you Jeremy for sharing this 🙏 💜 Be Well

So right for me. Your message is powerfully presented yet easy to follow

So beautiful … Thank you ❤️

This meditation was incredibly helpful! Thank you 🙏🏿

Helps us to let go of unwanted things from our mind and makes us to feel even more replenishing.

Insightful! I realize that I have baggage to unpack.

Good thoughts to inventory the pieces we don’t choose to carry anymore.. Thank you 🙏

Great, deep mediation. Thanks a lot 🙏

Gently and beautifully guided, very powerful and releasing, thank you. Love and blessings 💜 x

Loved this, thank you

Thank you. I needed this! Bookmarked to be played again and again....

Totally wonderful. Such a gentle, caring approach to such a heavy and often hidden subject. Thank you so very much

I feel like this meditation found me. It’s just what I needed today, thank you.

What a nice journey.
Thank you Jeremy.

thankss you very muchhh :))))!!!