Are You Locked Up In Your Mind

The word incarceration evokes different emotions among different people. For some it’s anger, pain, frustration or loss. You may know someone who has been incarcerated or who is still incarcerated or maybe you don't. Or maybe for you incarceration makes you feel very uncomfortable and upset. 

The nature of incarceration is confinement, it’s the fact that you are confined to a certain  location. Your movement, your speech, your activities are restricted. You loose the power of choice because other people make choices for you. You can't make decisions for your self because that's done for you by others. The decisions of when to rest and play, for how long, what you eat, how much interaction you have with others etc is all decided by others.

What I find ironic in our lives today, is that even though we are not incarcerated and are free to do whatever we want, make our choices, live where we want to live, be who we want to be, even though we're free to do all of that, we still restrict and hold ourselves back. 

Now if youre thinking what are you saying Christiana, here's what I'm saying: every time you hold yourself back from doing what you want to do, like to do, know you should be doing or can do, you're incarcerated. The difference? It's a mind prison. You're locked up in your mind. And the irony is that unlike physical prisons where you're locked up behind bars, in this prison, you're locked up in your own mind.

Here’s what you should know, every time you see a job and say “I'm not good enough for that job”, guess what you're locked up in a not good enough prison, every time you see that body size and say, " I can never lose that much weight", well helllooo! you're locked up in a weightloss prison, and every time you look at that relationship and say "you know what, I've been hurt too many times I'm not going for it again”, well girl, you're locked up in a pain prison. And if you're looking at that business proposition and thinking about the fact that you can actually do this but you don’t, guess what, you are locked up in the prison of fear and uncertainty.

But hey! Do I hear good news? Yep! There's good news because you can change all of that. 

Unlike a physical prison, in this prison the keys are in your hands. Think about it! You have the keys to unlock yourself and start a walk to freedom. You’ve got the power! You can begin to take steps, yes they may be baby steps but the keys are in your hands. Don't forget, you are not locked up behind bars. You have the freedom to choose to do whatever you want, even if you want to reinvent yourself. You have the freedom to pursue your goals, and do whatever you want to do but really the keys are in your hands. What are you going to do?

Well you get to do  a self assessment today. Are you staying on, even though you really want to leave?Are you holding back even though you really want to open up? Are you keeping yourself from launching even though you know you've got the idea, you've got the guts and you've got what it takes to be established. Where ever you are and whatever the prison is, I want you to know you can break free. The beautiful truth is that we all have the power of choice so you can make the choice whether to start your journey to freedom or stay exactly where you are. 

              tweet:  "Are you holding back and keeping yourself from doing what you've      always  wanted to do because your mind is locked up"
                           

But I want you to look deep down, into every area of your life. What areas are you holding back and keeping yourself from doing what you've always wanted to do because your mind is locked up. Don't hold yourself back. It's not too late and it's not impossible. You know people often say it's impossible until someone rides along and shows them what's possible. If man never went to the moon, I bet people would keep saying it's impossible to go to the moon but when man finally went to the moon, now nobody says it's impossible to do it because someone did it. Now that's the same situation you're in, if you think that particular situation is so hard, listen it's possible for you and you can do it. The keys are in your hands, so get started. 

To him who much is given, much is also expected. You've got the freedom to move around. You're not behind bars, you don't have your priviledges and rights taken away from you. you're moving around, you can make decisions and you can make changes. You've got that power of freedom, now use it in every area of your life to change and move your life forward.


To true freedom and growth


Prisoner image courtesy of Giandomenico Ricci - Flickr

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