"The Load"

There are times in our lives that we love someone so dearly that we want to help them in anyway we can and one of the things that we often do is offer to take whatever load they are carrying and place it on our own shoulders. Now this may seem like a kind and compassionate gesture but the lesson here is that when we try to take on someone else's burdens it can become a large block in both lives delaying the learning process which will start up again once one fails to hold the load.

Don't get me wrong, there are times when we are compassionate towards others and their plight in life but there are also those times when we know how long to help and when to let go and allow them to have their own experience in life. It is when we take someone else's load of lessons and try to make it ours that we lose the things that we are trying to accomplish in our own lives, This creates a relationship that becomes codependent on the other person. The other person may be grateful in the beginning but then later on expects you to carry their burdens without realizing that the whole purpose for them is to carry their own load so that they learn from the experience which allows them to ascend on a higher levels of consciousness.


I had a spiritual teacher tell me once that, "If we try to walk for someone they never learn how to walk". Part of our human existence is to have our own experiences no matter how heavy or cumbersome life can be. Something we need to remember is that when we are climbing a mountain it is best to encourage and support each other as we move through the whole process of the climb but to carry someone else up the mountain along with our own load on our back, in the end can only lead to disaster.   




Photographs by Steve Noyce, photo 1 Stonehenge, England and photo 2 Tower of London, England