Free Your Cage & Flap Your Wings

The warmth of the hand on my forehead and the beautiful stories that my grandma would weave every night sank deep into my consciousness. Of the many moral lessons that were a part of my upbringing, there is one that surprisingly became the foundation for my work as a life coach- many years later. cage

I would first like to share the story with my readers. She told, “There was a parrot in a cage. Every night, it would shout continuously, ‘freedom, freedom’. The whole village was disturbed with its shriek voice.

So finally, one day, a man unlocked the cage. The villagers sighed relief and rejoiced that they had set free a bird from the bondage and they would now sleep undisturbed. The night followed. The shouts again began, ‘freedom, freedom!’ The villagers got up and were astonished to see the cage was open, yet the parrot didn’t fly and continued in its self-imposed imprisonment.”

Today, when I counsel people as a life coach and hear patiently about their emotional dis-ease; this story refreshes in my mind. Problems are everywhere, they aren’t gender-specific, men & women suffer equally. Marital issues, infidelity, financial losses, fraud, cheat, abuse, violence happens everywhere. Relationship chaos, professional struggles are natural.  

As a life Coach, below is my opinion and advice:

• Most people who encounter a problem, slowly develop a fondness to continue with the problem (I see this phenomenon more in women). Hence, even when the solution is offered, they don’t bend, their ego-mind doesn’t let them work to get over it.

• People like to nag about their problems here and there. The sympathy received gives them a psychological bandage.

• For all those who come to get off an issue and move on, are the people whom we can help. The best way to combat a problem is to face it! Acknowledge to yourself and say “Yes, I have a problem. It has surely happened to me”

• Give yourself 24 hours of non-action. Howl, cry, share and stress for 24 hours. LET THE BPs FLUCTUATE. Don’t settle in without venting out if you seriously want to get rid of it. Once 24 hours have gone, either you will have a different perspective about the same issue or you would have found a way forward or at least the will to find a solution.

• Post 24 hours, resolve to yourself, that now you will focus all your energies and attention on the solution and not on the problem. Always remember, there is no problem in the world without a corresponding solution. If the positive energies are channelised on a resolution, problems fade away naturally in the most appropriate way. Take one step at a time towards the solution. Layer by layer, a positive approach helps to find a way.

• The issues weigh only till the cage is unlocked and start reducing when the parrot is determined to fly away.

Don’t befriend struggle, free your cage and flap your wings.