i know why the caged bird sings

i've never read the poem or maya angelou's autobiographybut i think i should.

nonetheless, the symbolism of the cage has come around recently, as it often does and i always think of how maya angelou, virginia woolfe, tori amos, and others have used the cage as metaphor. this time, though, instead of thinking about it only in a fleeting sense, i sat with it for a while.

then i wrote. a lot.

in an effort to be more concise, i have extracted this:

the cage is only symbolic of our self-imposed limitations.



in one of my most well-worn shirts:
a caged bird dreams from threadless
i've had it for years. probably not ironic :)

this is also in light of recent discussions about what it is to be grounded, having a fear of heights/fear of flying - both in an allegorical sense as well as how these things actually affect day to day life.

i can summarize that best by saying: life is hard.

it is. i won't sugarcoat that and i won't deny anyone's experience or difficulties but we should all be on board by now with the idea that it's all in the mind and our perspective can and does change everything.

the world is what we think it is.

if we can change our thoughts,

we can change the world.

 -norman vincent peale

 

life is hard but that's not the end of the story. that's not where we should dwell.

life is also beautiful. life is simple. life is good.

whether one agrees that the cage is self-imposed or some larger, diabolical cosmic joke, the message coming in loud and clear is that there is still freedom to be had.

now i sit with this...

we must learn to fly before we can be free.

and i expand and invite wonder....
if we don't learn to fly within the safety of the cage (i.e., our boundaries our comfort zones, our thought patterns/fears/others' influence, etc.), how will we know what to do when we're free (i.e., expand our boundaries, expand our awareness, open to abundance, etc.)?