Do Yourself a Favor & Quit Being a Prisoner in Your Own Skin

Someone you’re deeply attached to lives in prison — your soul.

Ever felt stuck?

It could be the most impossible prison to get out of.

Allow me to take a detour. I promise we’ll get back to this prison chat.

Have you ever realized that the story of your life till now has not been written by you?

Most people don’t, not until it’s too late.

I’m a film writer and director by profession, and the entire process of making a film exudes the meaning of life from a unique vantage point.

A screenwriter writes a director directs, and actors act. And for all this to work in tandem, smoothly, everyone has to play their parts.

In life, we are all actors.

“Many actors tell me they feel like a prisoner on the film set when they mistakenly decide to do a film that has a badly written script.”

You can’t do great movies if you don’t know how to separate a good script from a bad one.

And there are many actors who direct their own movies. Sylvester Stallone who acted in and wrote the film Rocky, was rejected around 14 times before he finally got the investment to make this film and to act in it too.

The point is, in life, most of us, act in the movies where the script has been written for us by someone else.

And my point is, if you’re unhappy with the script — write it yourself.

It’s tough, but doable — just like any other thing that’s worth doing.

1/ You’re Living a Story Written for You Not by You

You can’t write!

One of my teachers in high school told me I can’t write because I didn’t score good marks in the English exam.

For years, my subconscious mind kept believing what she said. I was deeply affected, but I didn’t know about it.

But then, I quit my IT job and became a writer and a filmmaker. Soon, I rewrote the script of the movie I was living.

“A story that’s written for you can quickly turn into a limiting belief that needs your attention if you feel stuck.”

A great story can do wonders — like good parenting can make a world of difference for children with impressionable minds to learn to believe in themselves.

And the child won’t be able to figure out, why he/ she’s able to do what they do.

In both cases, there’s a lack of self-awareness because, in spite of innate talent and gritty training, it’s the belief that will be your constant companion on the long path.

Self-awareness is learning about these deep sown beliefs and rewriting the story to make it work for us.

2/ Being a Prisoner Is a Choice

Our mind is not an unbreakable prison, but if you let it be, it could be worse than a federal prison.

I’m talking about the prison in our minds. I’ve been there. Have you?

Let me tell you my experience — I lived in a mental prison for a long time. In a few years, it didn’t even feel like a prison. I had given up and felt that I might never be able to get out of it, so I accepted that this is how it was going to be for the rest of my life.

Now, this was not a conscious dialogue I had with myself when I accepted my fate as a prisoner. In fact, I realized this, when I was finally out of it.

It was one day when I just opened the door and walked out. Sorry, if you were expecting a dramatic prison break, it’s far from it. The door was always open, I never noticed. It had no security and no big walls.

The moment I walked out of the door, there was a free world of imagination and new ideas waiting for me to play with them. And all I did was make a choice — to get out.

“If you believe you are stuck, you are. If you believe you can get out, you can.”

Beliefs are the key to unlocking the door which is, by the way, already unlocked.

And to witness and examine your beliefs, you need the tool of self-awareness.

3/ Humans Are The Ultimate Adaptation Machine

When you are aware that you feel stuck, the catalyst that enables the feeling of being stuck is your reaction to that feeling.

In other words, when you participate in the thoughts that tell you, you’re stuck, you’re enabling the feeling of being stuck.

Meditation helped me learn the art of becoming a selective participant in the game that my thoughts are playing.

Imagine a coach playing the game of football and constantly controlling each player to play the game exactly the way he/ she wants them to play.

It’d be the worst game ever.

“When you meditate, you become a witness, a spectator of your circumstance.”

Being a non-participant makes you see things you can’t see when you’re involved in the game.

The first step to adapting and evolving from the feeling of being stuck is to detach yourself from the situation you are in.

Have you ever helped a friend out of a situation where he/ she finds it impossible to get out of? You’re able to help others from the situation that they feel impossible to get out of because of the detachment you have created from their circumstance.

That’s exactly what you need to do with yourself. Our capabilities are infinite, we’re not even close to using ten percent of what we are capable of.

At least, we are not anymore living in a world, where survival was at stake every single day and humans needed to hunt every day in order to eat.

But our brains are still primal. If we don’t train them and get them up to speed with the world we’re living in today, they will constantly be poking you for every small thing and show a red flag for every insult or a small argument, making things look like they are a threat to your survival.

Adaptation begins when you’re detached from everything that has the potential to imprison you — your desires, your closest relationships, your cravings, your health, etc.

Last

Too much attachment is the prison we find ourselves in when we have deep desires.

When you learn to be emotionally intelligent, you realize that these words — attachment and detachment hold way more value than what seems to be on the surface.

“Healthy detachment is the key that can help you get out of the self-inflicted prisons you create in your minds.”

What happened to you and what you went through was not your fault.

But what happens to you next could be so much of what you really want rather than just life happening to you.

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