Some parts of the baggage we deal with, some parts we don’t deal with at all. Even when we think one thing has been dealt with, life will continually challenge us to refine something else. This happens because change, not stasis, is what drives life. If we can look more at our emotional baggage as an ongoing opportunity to learn about ourselves, rather than as an impaired ability to problem-solve and adjust to life’s challenges, then we actually give ourselves the gift of self-acceptance, a first step in creating a bigger window through which to view what’s going on inside of us.
How can you tell when you have some emotional baggage?
self, a situation or another. Swearing at yourself or demeaning your efforts in any way is a sign of imbalance behind the scenes. Different people will use different feeling and action words to describe what weighed down or being stuck means to them - for e.g., depressed, miserable, not joyful, and heavy for weighed down; not moving, in a rut, bored, impatient, for stuck. What words do you use? List them and track how often you use them and in what situations.
How much is your baggage worth?
Consider this scenario. What would be your reaction if you were literally offered a nugget of gold for every piece of emotional baggage that you could resolve and offload? Perhaps a modest fortune would be in the offering? Or, an opportunity to pay off debts and take trips to places and events of interest? You could become very wealthy!
Yet wealth, if measured by deeper insights and greater self worth, may not be nearly so attractive to us, because the inner kind of gold requires we become intimate with our self and assess who we are, what we want from life, and how willing we are to take on responsibility for changing. The more we are willing to mine away the pain and gravel surrounding certain life events and allow experiences to see the light of day again, the more likely we are to find that bigger nugget of gold, self-worth. When spent wisely, self worth actually generates more wealth in the form of increased self awareness, self confidence, focus and improved relationships. When you’re willing to go inside and ask: "What is this teaching me? Who am I becoming through seeing myself in this experience and through this experience?", then you are on your way to creating a new perspective on emotional baggage as your dig for gold.
Striking it rich: dream or reality?
A quick way of getting more specific about digging down into the fear and reluctance with a sticky issue is to use risk analysis on the issue. This technique can help you create a new perspective and it works more effectively if you can engage the services of a supportive friend or life coach.
1. What is it you are really afraid of happening if you did something to change the way you feel and act?
2. How severe would the consequences be? Rate this on a scale of 1-3 (1 being not severe, 2 being moderately severe, 3 being most severe)
3. Ask yourself how likely are these consequences to happen? Give yourself a score between 1 and 3.
4. Multiply these scores together to get your total risk score.
5. Now ask yourself: what controls or changes could I make to reduce the severity and/or likelihood?
6. Redo steps 2, 3 and 4 Keep working on this until you have found a level of action which you are comfortable taking, then take that action.
Take on the role of prospector, and identify a current issue in your life. Run it through the risk analysis exercise. You might be surprised at the gold inside asking to be discovered for its real worth in contributing to improving the least-developed areas of your life.
How can you tell when you have some emotional baggage?
self, a situation or another. Swearing at yourself or demeaning your efforts in any way is a sign of imbalance behind the scenes. Different people will use different feeling and action words to describe what weighed down or being stuck means to them - for e.g., depressed, miserable, not joyful, and heavy for weighed down; not moving, in a rut, bored, impatient, for stuck. What words do you use? List them and track how often you use them and in what situations.
How much is your baggage worth?
Consider this scenario. What would be your reaction if you were literally offered a nugget of gold for every piece of emotional baggage that you could resolve and offload? Perhaps a modest fortune would be in the offering? Or, an opportunity to pay off debts and take trips to places and events of interest? You could become very wealthy!
Yet wealth, if measured by deeper insights and greater self worth, may not be nearly so attractive to us, because the inner kind of gold requires we become intimate with our self and assess who we are, what we want from life, and how willing we are to take on responsibility for changing. The more we are willing to mine away the pain and gravel surrounding certain life events and allow experiences to see the light of day again, the more likely we are to find that bigger nugget of gold, self-worth. When spent wisely, self worth actually generates more wealth in the form of increased self awareness, self confidence, focus and improved relationships. When you’re willing to go inside and ask: "What is this teaching me? Who am I becoming through seeing myself in this experience and through this experience?", then you are on your way to creating a new perspective on emotional baggage as your dig for gold.
Striking it rich: dream or reality?
A quick way of getting more specific about digging down into the fear and reluctance with a sticky issue is to use risk analysis on the issue. This technique can help you create a new perspective and it works more effectively if you can engage the services of a supportive friend or life coach.
1. What is it you are really afraid of happening if you did something to change the way you feel and act?
2. How severe would the consequences be? Rate this on a scale of 1-3 (1 being not severe, 2 being moderately severe, 3 being most severe)
3. Ask yourself how likely are these consequences to happen? Give yourself a score between 1 and 3.
4. Multiply these scores together to get your total risk score.
5. Now ask yourself: what controls or changes could I make to reduce the severity and/or likelihood?
6. Redo steps 2, 3 and 4 Keep working on this until you have found a level of action which you are comfortable taking, then take that action.
Take on the role of prospector, and identify a current issue in your life. Run it through the risk analysis exercise. You might be surprised at the gold inside asking to be discovered for its real worth in contributing to improving the least-developed areas of your life.
c2006-2008
Conscious Life Skills
Coaching
Conscious Life Skills
Coaching
life coaching and counselling
revamp your purpose, your passion, your choices, your power
revamp your purpose, your passion, your choices, your power
Redinfing emotional baggage: a dig for gold
by Frances Todd
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c2008 F. Todd
When people talk about others having baggage, they are talking about people who have emotional blocks or obstacles they aren’t facing i.e. they have unresolved issues in their life. Many personal dating profiles specify that potential dates who have baggage need not apply. Yet other people will determinedly state they now have no baggage.
None of us like to think we have baggage. The fact is we all have emotional baggage. Some examples of emotional baggage include not getting over a first love, staying in a dead end job, living in the past, insecure about looks, and overbearing parent.
None of us like to think we have baggage. The fact is we all have emotional baggage. Some examples of emotional baggage include not getting over a first love, staying in a dead end job, living in the past, insecure about looks, and overbearing parent.
The simplest indicators are your feelings. When you feel weighed down or stuck, it’s an indicator there is something going behind the scenes of what you’re focusing on.
The trigger to the out of sorts and heavy feelings could be the result of subscribing to a belief that no longer works for you or reacting angrily to the actions of another without really understanding why.
Another way to uncover the presence of emotional baggage is listening to the words and phrases you use about your
The trigger to the out of sorts and heavy feelings could be the result of subscribing to a belief that no longer works for you or reacting angrily to the actions of another without really understanding why.
Another way to uncover the presence of emotional baggage is listening to the words and phrases you use about your
Feeing weighed down?
Take a minute or two to think about how you usually cope with your baggage and how you are coping with present baggage. Do you know what’s inside it? How strong is the urge to move through the unresolved issue? Are you already working out what needs tossing? How do you work out what needs tossing? Is the weight comfortable enough that you can continue carrying the issue? With a promise to yourself you’ll deal with it soon? Is there fear that stops you widening your take on the experience in hand?