How heavy is your anger, your upset a.k.a. your dead weight?  I’d read about a teacher who asked her students to bring a clear plastic bag and a sack of potatoes to class.

For every person the student refused to forgive, they were to write the person’s name and date of upset on a potato and put it in their plastic bag. As you may imagine, their respective bags filled up quickly and proved heavy.

The moral of the story:  We are lugging around some pretty hefty amounts of anger that is weighing us down and keeping us stuck.  I call it “dead weight.”

How many barrels full of upset and anger are you carrying around with regard to others?  How many platters full of upset and anger are you carrying around with regard to yourself?

For your:

- Dietary transgressions?
- Lack of exercise?
- Imperfections?
- Whatever else is on your personal list of upsets and failures?

How heavy is your “dead weight?”  How much energy, focus and determination is it robbing from your core self?  Are you ready to give it up?

5 Steps:  from Anger to Forgiveness

Step 1.  Write It Out:
Take a moment, a minute, an hour – the entire day! – depending on how long your ‘self-upset’ list is to  write out each upset on one of a potatoes.

You can either draw your own potato, or use mine. Dead Weight: Potatoes pdf

Step 2.  Bag the Anger:
Put the potatoes into your bag of choice. A paper bag will do.

Step 3.  Carry the Anger:
Carry the ‘anger’ around with you all day long. I realize that your bag of paper potatoes won’t have the same physical effect as a heavy bag of real potatoes, but it will provide an opportunity for a mental light bulb or two to flash.

Step 4.  Shred the Anger:
At the end of the day, read through your paper potatoes and then ceremoniously rip or shred each potato.

Step 5.  Transform the Anger Into Art:
Put shredded potatoes into a clear container.  Voila!  You have created a kick tush paperweight for your desk.  A reminder to forgive others and yourself.

For more discussion on how to be let go of your “dead weight,” be sure to visit a Kick in the Tush Club on Facebook!

Spread the word … not the icing!

Janice

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