# Two shopping bags — past and future

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Analogy
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-shopping-bags-past-and-future
- Themes: letting go, anxiety, past
- Life situations: anxiety, overwhelm

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

Carry two heavy shopping bags: left = PAST, right = FUTURE (hopes, fears, anxiety). Feel the lean; lower the past bag to the ground — spiritual exhaustion comes from holding both.

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

simile of the two shopping bags. You imagine yourself carrying these two shopping bags in the left is a shopping bag which contains your past. See even got those four letters on the outside of the shopping bag. P A S T past. It's really heavy. And in the right hand you have the future. all your hopes and dreams and fears, anxieties. Those people who suffer from anxiety at this time, you know that that shopping bag in your right hand is so incredibly heavy. If you think of all the things which might go wrong and under those things which might go wrong, there's a few things there which may go right, but whatever is heavy. So having felt the weight of those two bags, you start with the bag in your left hand, the past. You've been holding it for such a long time. That is why we get tired and depressed and lose our resilience because we're spiritually exhausted. So take that bag, feel it, and imagine your back leaning to the left as you lower that bag to the ground. When the bag containing all of your pa

## Teaching point

Put the past down; don't haul tomorrow's weight either.

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

Imagine a heavy shopping bag in each hand: the past in the left, the future in the right, crammed with hopes and fears. No wonder we feel exhausted. Lean left and lower the past to the floor; feel the weight vanish. Then set the future down too. Let your empty hands rest. The floor can carry them for you.

## Source

- [Everybody Can Grow | Ajahn Brahm | 8 April 2020](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4b5FbcpP2s) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 13:45 to 15:30: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4b5FbcpP2s&t=825s

Other tellings of this story:

- [Friday Night Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 26 February 2021](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F4y51eHm6s) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 11:57 to 13:12: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F4y51eHm6s&t=717s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 4 February 2023](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FGyruwsFIw) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 31:59 to 32:47: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FGyruwsFIw&t=1919s
- [Friday Night Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 19 January 2024](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXOx4HhyLcA) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 16:46 to 17:13: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXOx4HhyLcA&t=1006s
- [Guided Meditation | Ajahn Brahm | 7 February 2026](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU5c9FkL1hM) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 5:28 to 6:25: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU5c9FkL1hM&t=328s