“Travel light, live light, spread the light, be the light.” – Yogi Bhajan

I have a long history with backpacks – picking them out, carrying them, feeling relieved to take them off. At one point when I was in my thirties and planning a lot of climbing trips, I got one that was almost 6000 cubic inches. I can’t even describe how large that is but suffice it to say that when you have a backpack that big, your friends start believing you have room to carry their stuff. 😊

Then when I starting going to meditation class, my meditation teacher had this great meditation about closing our eyes, imagining take off our metaphorical backpacks, emptying them of all the stuff we carry with us like our responsibilities, worries, wit to keep others at arms reach, our history of being hurt and then at the end of our 75 minute session she had us load up our backpacks with only what was truly necessary. I’ve never looked at a backpack in the same way since.

When my daughter started carrying her own backpack in Pre-K class she began her own history with shouldering a load — having to be responsible for getting everything back into it, remembering to go to it to find what she might need and discovering that filling it with all your treasures makes it quite heavy. I found myself getting a little choked up watching her and her fellow 4 yr-olds shoulder their loads. It seemed like such an act of bravery to watch a little one try to organize their essentials into a small space, use all their skills with zippers, pockets and straps and then wrestle it on.

So here’s to carrying only what is truly necessary on our backs!!