Lighten Up!
Week two of continuing to revisit the 5 Key Principles. Look back on week 1, entitled Practice, Practice, Practice.
2 – Be Aware of What Is Yours to Carry and What Is Yours to Set Free.
What baggage we carry that has never belonged to us, and we keep adding to it with more stories that keep us entrapped in emotional quicksand of lies and untruths about ourselves and others.
I honor that I took on great responsibilities in my youth and felt it was absolutely mine to do. There is no regret in all those years – yet there is great awareness that I carried that sense of obligation for decades longer than I needed to. My sense of identity and value was solely in being there for my family and others.
In my 60’s I did step away from that profound sense of obligation, however, I still carried in my ministry and work that I had to be there for everyone – and always available. I was still adding to my luggage – that only I could lighten by stepping back and awakening to – I can travel more lightly.
From events that took place in my work and wonderful new friendships and love in Ft Lauderdale, there came a time when I realized, I wanted to explore a whole new freedom and no longer “carry” being there 24/7 for everyone.
It was time to set Charles – Free. I let go of my church leadership and through the imprint of COVID and Black Lives Matter – I created Mind Your Own Becoming – a non-profit forum for open and meaningful discussion of our times that we come to authentically listen.
Check our Opening Home Page on What we are About and our Mission, Vision statements.
I also decided to move to Montana having been born in Colorado and being one of the founders of the Big Sky Retreat from its beginnings in 1976. The mountains were calling me for a sense of being home where I could claim new growth – and “Lighten Up.”
I let go of all except for sending packages to Clancy, Montana, where I was to discover a new sanctuary space, and packing my new Jeep Cherokee with all I could. A beloved friend Rev Kent Barnard traveled with me part way to Texas. From that point on I was by myself and arrived in Montana, May 1st, 2020.
Through this decision for the first time in my life I do not feel driven in time and schedule. I am here for what Kahlil Gibran defines as “Work is Love made visible.” I am refired, renewed, redefined, and awakening to my full value – without the need to prove it to others.
I am conscious to look at my baggage ongoing and the self-judgment I carried throughout my life, generationally and personally. I seek to live from valuing how far I have travelled and the rest before me is meant to be the best because I have “Lightened Up!”