Where's the closest bathroom?
I was walking around Green Lake the other day with a friend. A new friend who I hadn't seen in a few months and we had loads to catch up on. As we finished the 3-mile loop I asked her if she had to go to the bathroom because I was about to explode! Yes she did so we kept trekking in the rain another 1/2 mile to the closest one.
We were so busy talking the entire loop I hadn't even noticed I had to go. Until I couldn't hold it any more! This isn't a story about me peeing my pants, but that would be funny, this is just a quick realization I had as I was trying to hold it all in so I didn't have an embarressing accident.
As I relieved myself this realization came to me... Why do I wait and hold it in? Why didn't I go a mile back? The past 10 minutes all I could think about was making it to the bathroom. So much energy wasted and the FOCUS it took to keep it all in, well there was a lot of FOCUS. So why do I wait???? I obviously had to go before but I ignored it. I didn't want to be inconvenienced.
Then it occurred to me that this could be a metaphor for life. We hold so much in, we hold past events, limiting beliefs, we hold on to our stories so tightly, even when they don't serve us anymore. And we ignore what this does to us. That this takes more energy and determination then it actually does to let it all out. To heal we have to let go of it.
What if we allowed ourselves to let go when we became aware of "the stuff"? It might feel inconvenient at the time, but isn't that better then wasting all the time, focus and energy in just holding it in?
What little things we face in ourselves today will FREE us from major turmoil later.
