Carrying other people's emotional pain
Imagine, for a moment that you're going on a hike in nature, up a mountain. It's fresh and windy outside, the sky is blue and bright, and you're hiking up a trail on your own. The further you get, the heavier your backpack feels, it begins to weigh you down.
You stop for a moment and take it off, mop your brow, drink some water. Much better. But when you go to pick up the backpack again, it feels twice as heavy as it did. Time to look at what you're carrying.
You open the backpack and start to unpack it, and find that all you are carrying are rocks. Rocks which represent emotional burdens. We all have them, it's okay, this is normal. Maybe if you can step into this as you read my words, you can get a sense of how many rocks you're actually carrying. Are there any rocks that are bigger than others? Some that you can't believe actually fit into the backpack in the first place?
Unpack the backpack completely. Then just be with what you have discovered. Allow the rocks to change colour as you look at them, to grow or shrink in size. Now. Ask for all the rocks that do not belong to you, to move away from your pile.
What happens? Are you okay with letting other people's burdens go? As part of the carer archetype, we care for other people. We carry their burdens. We feel we can carry them far better than the people can themselves. Is this true? Don't you get fitter and stronger from carrying a heavy backpack? Who are we to take these from other people?
Have you thought of it like that? Why do you feel you can carry their burden better than they ever possibly could? So let it go.
Let those rocks disappear, either back to the Universe or back to the person they belong to. They are not yours anymore.
Say out loud: I no longer need to carry other people's emotional pain.
Then pack up your own backpack and notice how much lighter it feels. Notice how many of the rocks you thought were your own burdens have dissolved away. And if they haven't well at least they are yours, and you can do something about them. With a lightness in your step, you can continue your climb.
Until next week,
Namaste,
Abby