Ever
notice what prisoners spend their time doing?
Whatever
the guards tell them they can or can't do.
No
free choices there! No freedom to go where they want and do
what they want. Most importantly, they can't really be what
they were made to be!
You
might be surprised how much freedom you and I rob from ourselves
and how much prison time we assign ourselves in the course of
one day.
I
was looking forward to a peaceful night at home. Then a friend
called and asked if he and a buddy could stop by. I reacted,
"sure". After hanging up the phone I stopped
and said, "I can't believe I just did that! I gave
away the peaceful night that I really wanted!"
They
came by, had a visit, and I noticed myself resentfully sitting
there as my evening ticked away. Did they do anything wrong?
No! Did my wife do anything wrong when she didn't give me
what I needed? No! Was my girlfriend wrong when I stopped
getting together with my buddies or stopped doing what I loved
or stopped speaking up? No! But I sure convinced myself that
she was the villain. I built my own prison and blamed all
of them for it.
Just
today I rushed what I was doing in order to meet a friend on
time. I cut some corners in my work... ALL TO JUST BE ON TIME.
I could have called my friend and asked if we could meet 30
minutes later and she would have been fine. But I didn't. I
fell victim to my own tiny choice. And tiny choices glued on
top of other tiny choices makes for a happenin' pity party after
I 
announce
to the world of how much I DON'T have!
What
keeps me stuck is when I don't OWN it. When I blame
it on my buddies or on my girlfriend or my poor dog Bob. I then
set myself up to wait. And wait more.
"He
won't let me..."
"I
have to wait until she..."
