Do you have the will?
February 17, 2021
Love letters to the Catholic Church
February 17, 2021

Time Out… The Type 2 Prisoner

In Emma Donoghue’s novel Room, the Room is described as “home to Jack, but to Ma, it’s the prison where she’s been held since she was nineteen for seven long years.” Mental confinement versus physical confinement. For some of us, this is one and the same.

There are few people who enter into physical confinement willingly. Perhaps monks and nuns do when they choose to spend the rest of their lives in a cell, as their sleeping quarters is called. There is not much difference in the size of the cell that a single convict is assigned to and the one assigned to a monk or nun. The difference really lies in the mental state of the occupant. The prisoner longs for the day that he can be freed from captivity. He lives in the future. For monks and priests, the perspective is different, for even as they look forward to glory at the end of the world, they have also learnt to embrace the present moment. Their thoughts are self liberating. Their physical confinement does not dictate their mental state.

This morning, I decided to explore the definition of the word PRISONER.

Type 1 – A person captured and kept confined by an enemy, opponent, or criminal Type 2 – A person who is or feels confined or trapped by a situation or set of circumstances

How many of us are actually Type 2 Prisoners? Take a time out to reflect and introspect on the people, situations, thought patterns, behaviours and attitudes that hold you captive. It is as if we have been hacked. Change your password now!

For Nelson Mandela, he realised that “as I walked out of the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew that if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.” What is holding you prisoner?

Till we meet again, it’s Judy Joseph Mc Sween, Time Out Specialist, encouraging you to take a Time Out to release what is holding you back from being your best self.