Have you emptied your pockets yet?

What are you still carrying in your pockets from 2007 that you could do without in this New Year?

I loved the story our minister told New Year's Eve at the Burning Bowl Ceremony at our church. He shared his experience with having a suit tailored. The tailor was very passionate about his work and told Richard that the suit was a living thing that needed care for it to thrive. He stressed the need for emptying the pockets of the suit before hanging it up at night. Weight in the pockets caused unnecessary strain on the suit, weakening the fabric and seams. Over time the suit would be out of shape and falling apart.

What a great metaphor for the long-held negative emotions that we carry from year to year to year!

This strain of the negative emotions weighs us down, keeping us from thriving and moving forward with what we'd really like to be doing in our lives.

In the Burning Bowl Ceremony we had the opportunity to write all that we'd like to release on a small piece of "flash" paper. Mine was pretty full! I categorized these items under emotional categories. I was surprised that some items were still showing up for me that I felt I had handled long ago. Apparently the residue of these was still hanging around.

What an incredible feeling it was to see the "flash" paper go poof! as it hit the flame in the receptacle!

After going back into the church, we took time to write out what we envisioned for 2008. What an energy-filled experience this was for me! Without the weight of those old negatives, I felt light and energized! We folded these and put them in a self-addressed envelope to be mailed to us in June of 2008.

I invite you to do a similar exercise to free you up for a rich and joyful year. What would you like to leave behind? Things that you do that rob your time? Negative emotions left over from bad experiences?

Why ruin your "suit" by carrying around all that stuff?!?

Aren't you ready to let it go?