What We Really Are

Have you ever noticed that when we want to indicate ourselves to someone, we always tap the center of our chest and say “me” or “I”? Nobody ever points to their head. Interesting, right? It’s because our sentience (what we really are) resides in the center of our chest between the heart and spine.

Sentience gives depth, context, and understanding to every single moment of your entire existence. You are not the thought, feeling, action, hope, expectation, belief, body, or egoic identity. Therefore, you’re not who you think you are or how you feel about yourself. You’re way beyond all of that. You are simply too large, limitless, perfect, and divine to fit into the totality of all beliefs, concepts, and ideologies. What you really are is formless, free, and unconditioned.

Let Go of Baggage (Past, Future, and Thought) Exercise

1. Sit in a relaxed position, with your feet firmly planted on the floor, eyes closed, palms up while resting on the uppermost part of your thighs.
2. Inhale through your nose and exhale out the mouth, utilizing the diaphragm. Take three very deep breaths and completely empty the lungs and diaphragm on the exhale.
3. Imagine you just bought a lot of groceries. Your grocery bags are filled to the brim, and when you pick them up, you feel how heavy they are. It’s straining your arms and your back to carry these groceries to your car. Feel how taxing it is to exert yourself like this.
4. Feel the strain and tension in your face, neck, and shoulders. Your arms and hands are stressed by holding on to these heavy bags. Your lower back and stomach tighten. Your legs and feet also feel the additional burden. Your mind is overloaded trying to manage this level of exertion and strain. You know you can’t carry these groceries around much longer. It’s painful and exhausting.
5. Now imagine what it feels like when you simply put the groceries down. Just let go of the bags. Leave them. Just let go. Feel how light and unstressed your body feels again. Feel the unburdened physical nature of a clear mind. Feel how you are no longer worried and how your body isn’t stressed now that you aren’t carrying all of those groceries around with you.
6. Now do the same with all of your past thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Just let them go like so many groceries you have been carrying around. They are not you. Just let them all go. Unburden yourself fully. You have permission to let the past drop to the ground.
7. Now do the same with your future expectations. Just let them go. Unburden yourself completely. You have permission to do so. Let them drop to the ground.
8. Stay here, totally unencumbered. Free. Free from the past or future. There is no need to ever pick them up again.
9. Forgive yourself for thinking these burdens were yours to carry. Forgive others who mistakenly agreed with you and thought they were yours to bear as well.

By practicing this exercise, you release the weight of the past, future, and unnecessary thoughts that burden you. You discover the freedom of being unencumbered and embrace the truth of what you really are. Allow yourself to let go and experience the lightness and clarity that come with releasing the baggage. Forgive yourself and others for carrying these burdens and choose to live in the present moment, fully aware of your limitless nature.