Don't Miss your Bus!

I remember when I was about 8 or 9 when my family still lived in Canada and we had taken a vacation to the United States to visit Florida. It was on our return trip back to Canada that for some reason I can't remember, we were delayed and had to really rush to catch our flight. I recall frantically racing through the airport with our baggage and stuff flying everywhere as we ran! I remember dropping things and having to go back and pick them up; as well as my father willing us to run faster through the large airport. It seemed like forever until we reached the boarding gate as the final passengers on that flight. Luckily we made it and boarded our plane: out of breath, sweaty but grateful to have barely made it. It was quite an experience! Looking back, it was one of those times where I wished I had just packed light and got rid of the excess baggage I was carrying!

How many of us have ever rushed to catch a bus, train or flight? If you have, recall how much stuff you had when you were bolting through the station. Whatever the reasons were for your delay, how much easier would it have been if you packed light, with only the essentials? Well, its the same in life. Lets take the bus and going to the bus station as an analogy for your transitions in life (remember, when we constantly evolve, we have a lot of these transitional states). I define these periods as your upgrades, where you break out of the shell of the 'old' you and come into a newer version of yourself. Check out my previous blog on this here :  HAVE YOU UPGRADED? 

One of the hardest life lessons I've had to endure is that whether I like it or not, change is inevitable. It is when I resist that change by holding onto old habits, patterns, behaviours  energies or people that do not complement the emerging me, where things get shaky. Think of your life-journey as having many stops along the way and in-between those stops you have to take a bus to the next life-destination. Some of us get so comfortable in one stop that we refuse to get on the bus and hence refuse to progress. Others miss the bus. Why? Too much baggage! Too much of the old YOU that you want to take because of fear of letting go. This is ok for the first few stops but if you keep the old from each journey you take, it cumulates into something very heavy and burdening. 

A wise man once stated that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Some say that this 'eye of the needle' was a gate in ancient Jerusalem, which opened after the main gate was closed at night. A camel could only pass through this smaller gate if it was knelt down and had its baggage removed. 

What is the core of this simple yet potent message? No, its not to get a bigger needle! But in order to enter our higher state of existence (in the context of the story: to enter the heavenly kingdom) you must get rid of the excess possessions and attachments. There is no need for them where you are going. Take only what you need for your travels, the rest will be taken care of. This requires faith in the unknown and hence requires you to embrace a degree of uncertainty. This is not an easy thing for people, especially those who like having constant 'control' of their lives.

Remember, the opportunities for your life-transitions will happen whether you are on the bus or not. As the prophetess Erykah Badu so eloquently put it "Don't miss your bus because you are carrying too much stuff and you can't hurry up!" The message here is simple: for your next life-destination: pack light!