Check your baggage at the ticket counter

[Written August 11th at Stone House retreat center with JIP]

Today at the retreat we did some surprisingly powerful group activities. We made collage life maps of our personal journey that brought us to the point that we are at now. I was so blown away by everyone's willingness to share personal information and the creativity with which to express it. The experience helped me see two things within myself:

1. I have been associating with a lot of the same kind of people. That's not a good thing or a bad thing, just an observation. Doing this program I am with people who are essentially strangers but who are all still very similar to me in future hopes of "doing good". I shouldn't have been so blown away bu the thoughtfulness of the life maps but I guess I'm so accustomed to doing them in a business/work environment and/or people leaving their raw emotions and passions out of the equations.
2. I was able to have a moment where I felt the burden of conscientiousness lift off of me. I was truly able to be in the moment*. I felt such a freedom that I haven't felt in a long time. So I shared this analogy with the group:

The feeling of freedom is like coming to the airport and checking all your luggage at the front counter. Prior to your trip, you pack everything up and are very anxious and in a hurry to make sure you're on time to catch your flight (i.e. traveling to the JIP house on Tuesday). Once you arrive you check your luggage with the airline attendant and it is no longer yours to worry about. You physically and emotionally leave your baggage behind before moving on (i.e. dropping our things/possessions off at the JIP house and coming to the retreat center 20 miles away). Then you make your way to the plane with nothing in your hands or on your back and embark on your journey (i.e. the start of the JIP program).

So at the end of it all, it's just really good to be free of the burdens, worries, and hyper-awareness that I was carrying around with me on a daily basis.

 The best is yet to come,

~Adwoa

*I will share more later about being in the moment. I've learned and grown so much through that in just a few short days.