Today on Day Four of my family pilgrimage, I spent part of the day at the bank taking my mom to her safety deposit bank. I’ve never had a safety deposit box and this was my first encounter with one. Did you know that two keys are needed to open it? The one that the bank has and your personal one? A safety deposit box and its do’s and don’t’s is a new world to me. It got me thinking in metaphysical terms.

In case you don’t know (which is highly unlikely) a safety deposit box is a box that financial institutions rent out to store valuables, such as documents and jewelry. Customers rely on the security of the building and vault to protect those valuables.

What has come to my attention about the idea of safety deposit boxes is if you do not look into them for many years, you might find that the things you’ve kept in there are no longer worth keeping safe. They might not even be needed anymore. It might be time to shred them – get rid of them. They might not be relevant at all to your present life.

Our minds can be like safety deposit boxes. We hold onto things that are no longer useful to us, even damaging to our well being. Or, we’ve hold onto things – keeping them secret – when they’ be better off shared with the world.  What are we keeping these things safe from anyway? Are we afraid to look? Are we afraid to share? I believe in taking inventory of my life often.

On our visit to the Hindu Monastery, the Swami said that when they are born into monkhood, they are never allowed to again talk about their life before that time. They literally have a funeral for their past life. It is no longer useful. They are born anew. This might seem drastic to some of us. Our pasts are so delicious. We love sharing the stories over and over again.

Tonight at dinner, I had a discussion with some elderly people about the way we were treated in parochial school – spanked and treated with cruelty on numerous occasions. The stories were intriguing and got us all going. Then, one lady, said, “Just look at us now. We became great people in spite of all that.” Yes, she was right, and we were able to do it – to have blessed lives, because we were able to let go and forgive. As we let those stories out, it became obvious that they were no longer useful to us.

What are we keeping in the safety deposit boxes called our minds? Are there things that would be better off shared to help others? Let them out! Are there things that need to be let go of, forgiven and forgotten? Let them go.

Let’s take a peek inside. We are safe in our safety deposit box. Afterall, we are the ones who created the space and we can just as easily let go of it.  We hold the key. It’s called choice. Spirit is right there with us (our higher self) holding the other key in support, love, forgiveness, courage and more.

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita