Dramatic as it may sound, we all live in a cage we have built ourselves. We have constructed every bar from the information we have received since the day we were born.
Our parents’ advice and scolding, our teachers’ reprimands, fears we have acquired or inherited, social conditioning, prejudice, bullying at school, the way we are “supposed to be”: the list would be very long if I mentioned every situation that has helped us, consciously or unconsciously, build each and every bar of our cage.
From there, from our “safe” place, “protected,” we criticize and judge everyone who thinks differently. We criticize those whose cages are open, who, though also caged, have realized they hold the key and can come and go as often as they wish. Only a few, the most daring, have decided to stay outside and never return to the repression they imposed on themselves out of fear of not fitting in.
We were not born to fit in. We were born to be ourselves. We do not need to dim our light to become part of a group living in the darkest, most secluded corners of a prison of its own making.
Make time for yourself. Sit down for a while every day, over coffee or tea, and spend a few minutes trying to recognize the bars of your cage and tear them down. If they are deeply rooted in your life, go slowly; opening the cage door is enough to begin with. Cross that barrier. There is nothing wrong with you for being different, for thinking differently, for having a different skin color, a different passport, or a different gender. Start by accepting yourself without conditions, without reservations, without fear of not fitting in. Your true self is there, waiting for you.
Accept yourself and you will be accepted; respect yourself and you will be respected; love yourself and you will be loved. You are just one step away from walking through the cage door and seeing the world without those bars standing in the way of your freedom.
“Nothing deceives us as much as our own judgment.”
Leonardo da Vinci