What's In My Knapsack?

3 minute read

A knapsack is something we take when we’re going somewhere. It holds personal things that are important for the journey. The knapsack I mean here, is a metaphorical one, an internal one, not the physical ‘Katmandu’ kind.

Our lives, like a knapsack, hold some important things that are individual to us .We need them for a successful journey in life.

Our feelings for example are one of the personal things in our internal knapsack. We alone own our feelings .We often say that other people or situations “make me” feel good or bad but actually the response is inside myself, not coming to me from the outside, but springing up from the inside. Feelings are a gift that indicate my state and condition of heart.

With this awareness of my feelings as indicators, I can usefully, stop and listen to them, to give me some important information about myself and the situation I find myself in. Feelings are designed to be top shelf indicators, but not designed to lead.

When considered this way, feelings can give me space to first consider my own part in a situation. I can then adjust myself where needed and remove my own issues from a situation so that I am free to be helpful.

 I might need to adjust myself with forgiveness and owning what is inside me, regardless of how it got there. I might reconsider where and how I place myself beside others to gain emotional safety. Refusing to judge and blame will bring my own wellbeing.

There are other important personal items in our internal knapsack too, that we will unpack another time!