Someone a generation older than myself warned me once about baggage, claiming, "You don't get to be your age without a little baggage." Having already run that scenario, I arrogantly scoffed, "If one is aware of baggage, surely it can be dealt with and therefore rendered ineffective."
Then I learned about baggage.
And arrogance.
Baggage does not work that way. Being aware of it is not necessarily the first step to self-recovery. Cognitive Buddhism Therapy does not immediatly decouple the trigger(s) and subsequent emotional trajectory. But by making the hard decisions - throwing the baggage overboard and never looking back - perhaps then you can begin to repair yourself, and begin moving forward once again.
