What is in your baggage?

Watching out from the huge glass window in the airport I saw flights arriving and departing. The flights looked really massive, beautiful when they arrived. I noticed the intricate colorful details painted in the tail depicting a story of the country. Many flights departed and as they rose higher, they slowly disappeared behind the clouds in thin air barely visible to the naked eye. Seeing the takeoffs and landings, a thought struck me – Isn’t the arrivals and departures similar to our lives? We come, spend a limited time here and go back. May be the comparison is due to the departure of one of our close friends who took on to heavenly abode recently.

I boarded the flight, picked my bag from the baggage carousel in the airport and headed to the conference. I had a small bag full of stuff that I really needed and an itinerary of all the things I wanted to finish to make the most out of my experience. I then thought, If life is arrivals and departures, our baggage is what we carry in our daily lives. It is everything that we need to carry to make the most out of our life similar to what we do for a travel.

I had a epiphany! I realized how rich our lives could be if we paid attention to what we carried in our baggage. So the question is.. what do we carry in our baggage? Is the baggage really adding value to our life or robbing us of the meaning? What is in it? Love, Compassion, Kindness, Power, Hatred, Control, Jealousy, Anger..

British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone once said,  “We look forward to the time when the power of love will replace the love of power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace.”

True, Isnt it? So much of our time is spent living with the love of power than living a life with power of love. So much of our time is spent pretending to be who we are not, crave for love yet restrict from giving love. We devote so much time creating the ideal happy image on social media over strengthening our inner self where true beauty lies.  We focus more on what we don’t have control over than looking at our own agency, expend more energy shallow connecting with people than deepening relationships. We spend more money on concealers and makeup than healthy food.

In this quest for power, money, fame, beauty, we forget to zoom out and see the bigger picture of what we truly want.

So, How do we make today not just another day but a day of meaning?

It’s easier said than done. It is hard to let go of power and control. It means willingness to let go off some things in order to make room for what you really want. How would you like to fill up your life jar in order to get what you truly want? 

One of the ways is to build a practice around small acts of kindness and compassion. According to happiness researcher, Michele Gielan small acts of kindness not only helps us be a better person, a better leader but also improves our happiness and performance. Her research has shown that we can actually rewire our brain to be happy by practicing these simple happiness exercises every day for three weeks. We can not only make others feel good but end up feeling good too.

We all have limited time before our departure. Would it not be wonderful if we choose to live everyday with intention?

Imagine how the equation would be with your workers, children, partners if power is replaced with love, compassion and empathy. Its time to rethink how you live. Rethink how you can make the most out of everyday moments not just for you but for the world around you.

It’s time to pay attention to what is in your baggage!

Until Next,

Keep Smiling..