I'm Natalie Lou in your listening to the baggage reclaim sessions.

Hello hello.

How are you doing?

Over the 242 episodes of the show actually about to be 243,

I've asked one question again and again and again.

That's central to reclaiming ourselves so that we stop being hostage to the past, but also, so that we stop being hostage to the past but also so that we can be here now and move

forward with more awareness and boundaries and if you've been around for longer than a minute or so with this podcast, then you know that that question is, what's the baggage behind it?

Last week I found out that my wonderful acupuncturist, sage, mentor, ready with a hanky, Sylvia, had passed away. And it's hard to even

articulate just how much he means to me and what an integral part of my journey he's been.

But as I recall, our many conversations and all those times... I remembered how he'd advised me when I felt

at all the times I cried on him.

I remembered how he'd advised me

when I felt outraged, indignant at other people's shenanigans and then I was internalizing the blame,

that I needed to say, that's not mine that's theirs and I'm sending it right back and what

he meant was that this stuff that was being lobbed at me, you know, maybe it's something they've said, how they were behaving,

their lack of boundaries, the story, the blame, whatever, that I was then carrying as my own baggage, my own narrative, was not mine.

Hell, a lot of the stuff that I automatically parroted to and about myself, about life, about relationships, about

how things work and have to be, actually belong to other people.

My family, peers, teachers, society, the TV, movies, books, whatever.

I remember holding on to his advice and repeating it like a mantra when intrusive thoughts that played out like a

courtroom drama in my mind came to call. I realized how much of an effect though that his advice had had on me when one time

and this is probably I don't know a good 12 or so years ago my mama told me all about myself and I remember hanging up and I was fuming,

...