the burning barrel

when i was growing up out in the country, my dad kept a burning barrel down back of the yard, beside the creek. we took paper trash there to burn at least weekly, if not more frequently, as i recall. it was a normal thing and i thought everybody did it. maybe they didn't, who knows. my community scope wasn't real broad at the time. anyway, as i was drinking my coffee this afternoon, i was thinking about how we need a mental/spiritual burning barrel within us. a place where you take out the trash, set fire to it and watch it burn out of existence. in other words, let all the mess go and forget about it. not "file it away", get rid of it. the biggest piece of trash in barrel? guilt. the second? negativity/criticism of myself and others. the third? mistakes both past and present. so yeah, maybe it's a good visualization to go to your burning barrel at the end of the day of week or whatever and burn your trash. it builds up and before long, you're buried.