“The harder you fight to hold on to specific assumptions, the more likely there’s gold in letting go of them.”
— John Seely Brown, Fast Company

The weight of emotional baggage can be overwhelming at times. I once had someone explain it to me this way: Imagine that all our negative emotions go into a bucket, and each time we hold on to a negative emotion it raises the level bit by bit. Sometimes, we may just be mildly upset and only a small drop goes in which doesn’t raise it up much. Other times we may be very upset and it starts going up to the top faster and faster.

But what happens when the bucket gets full? In my experience, even the smallest upset will allow all the old emotions to spill over the sides and it becomes very, very messy.

How do we overcome this? Letting go. If you need to have a bucket, make sure it has some holes in it and visualize the negativity escaping out the bottom when you are not looking. Let go of anger and resentment about things that are not controllable. Let go of the pain you are carrying with you in that heavy bucket from things that happened long ago. Let go of the regrets, disappointments and excuses.

Forgiveness, love, compassion, understanding — these are the tools to keep you moving forward and living the life you are in right now. When you let go, you will find your gold.