what to bring with and what to leave...

"In our journey through time, we all

 struggle constantly with what to bring along

 and what to leave behind. It feels so hard 

to throw anything away, but if we don’t, we will drown

 underneath a weight of our own making.
The river is a good model. 

It doesn’t own the water that rushes by, yet

 it couldn’t be in a more intimate relationship to it, 

and the force of what moves through shapes it.

 It is the same with everything we love. 

In truth, there is no point to holding on to the deepest things that matter, 

for they have already shaped us.
The purpose of sentiment, is to release 

the powerful feelings that sleep in us.

 Sometimes books and cards and shells and dried flowers do this. 

But often we carry more than we need, 

seldom trusting that what these small treasures represent

 is already living with us. Often the most useful gift we can give ourselves

 is to lay our lives open like a river."
~ Mark Nepo