In the top of the pack are carried our education, environment, friends, culture, and personal image. These may be stored in a large tome or on a computer disk. Below this vital, shallow layer is the unnecessary stuff we carry around, the metaphorical stones of past memories and fears of the future. We must remember the past, lest we are committed to repeating it. But we need not dwell on the past, it is over.
Today is the beginning of the rest of one's life.
To cope we need education, friends, faith in ourselves and perhaps a higher power, and an awareness of who we are as individuals. A few stones we polish and facet into gems by experience, and are worth keeping. Others are ores that have been smelted and cast into sculpture rivaling Remington, Picasso, or Brancusi. Most stones, however, are excess baggage that should be discarded. Some people carry their stones as millstones around their necks.