Turning a Corner

On the road of life, turning a corner often comes with the requirement that something must be released. We understand that we must leave behind that which we cannot take on the next leg of our journey. In effect, we ‘lighten our load’ by releasing unneeded baggage.

I hear a plane zoom overhead, presumably taking people to a new destination. Or back home again. I wonder how much luggage they are carrying, what they chose to not take this trip. Airlines have become pretty picky about our baggage. 

I wonder…where are you going and is there some heavy baggage you would like to shed and leave behind?

I know that sometimes life disappoints. People disappoint. People make mistakes and wish they could have a do-over. They carry the heavy baggage of guilt. They wish for a clean slate.

A clean slate is forgiveness. To forgive is to ‘lighten the load.’  To forgive means to offer innocence. Forgiveness is the release of the hope for a better past.

Forgiveness is an undoing. Because as we undo and release the demands and expectations for something different to have happened in the past, we also release its power over us.

As hard as it is to accept, blame isn’t going to change the events of the past. But we can reclaim our power and agency, own our part, and own our story. Own the baggage we choose to carry, or not. 

We can recapture our sovereignty, the ownership of our wellbeing, and release the past from not being what we would have wanted. When we stop holding the past responsible for our future, we release prisoners from our keep. 

Including ourselves. 

Turning a corner today comes with a loving mandate to also lighten the load we carry.

The tonic, distilled to three simple words for today: Lighten the load.