Live Outside Your Cage
“ The free bird leaps on the back of the wind
And floats downstream till the current ends
And dips his wings in the orange sun rays and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied, so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with fearful trill of the things unknown but longed for still. ”
We are the birds in the poem. Our cages are not the literal cages, gilded or otherwise, but the cages that we have built around ourselves. Our cages are the limitations that we impose on our abilities, our doubts and fears, our inability to fulfill our hopes and desires, and how we allow ourselves to live under the domain of other people’s expectations.
We all have a friend or family member that is never happy with where they are in their lives. The grass is greener on the other side; if only they had this or that; if only they had a different job. They may be highly accomplished, or financially stable; yet still, contentment and happiness evade them. Perhaps even, that person is us.
What prevents us from obtaining fulfillment, and why can’t we find contentment in where we are and what surrounds us? It’s because of the cages that we let define us.
I have an acquaintance that is intelligent, beautiful, and charismatic. She has a prestigious degree from an Ivy League college, and a well-paying profession. Yet, she is not happy. She has switched from one career to another throughout the years, and each career change has brought the hope that “this time it will be different”, or “this is what I’m meant to do”. Each career change was based on advice from others, including family, friends and even the internet. However, each change in career hasn’t resulted in career fulfillment or satisfaction, and that has bled over into her personal life as well. Throughout her life, she has lived for other people’s expectations of her, to the point that she is unable to distinguish between what her hopes, dreams and purpose are; and what the hopes, dreams and purpose are of those around her. Those expectations have become her cage.
Often in our lives, things don’t turn out the way that we think that they should, or the way we want. We then let our disappointments limit our abilities and options. We let our perceptions of what things MIGHT be cloud the possibilities of what CAN be.
The cages aren’t our jobs, or our careers, or even where we find ourselves in life. Our cages are our expectations and attitudes about the situations we are in, and often our cages are our belief that we must live and operate within the confines of what others expect of us. When we find the courage to venture outside of the cage, we can find our purpose and align it with our values. We truly free ourselves from those cages.
Ask yourself some questions:
1. What are my values?
2. How can I apply my values to my current situation?
3. What things in my life are within my control? (Here’s a hint, your attitude and mindset, how you react and perceive, IS)
4. What brings me joy? (And focus on what brings you joy)
To find joy in our lives, to live uncaged, we must first define our values and what makes us tick. The trick is to be able to translate those values into the world that surrounds us and find joy from seeing our values mirrored in what we do. We are the architects of the cages that imprison us, and we are the ones best equipped to determine how to free ourselves from them so we can truly enjoy life freely outside of the cage. We must merely find the courage step outside of the bars we have created.
