Got a hold on me!

I write and send inspirational emails to my co-workers and others on a regular basis. I attempt to do so dailly, but at times I'm not able to because of my workload. Here I am sharing the message I wrote today..... Late yesterday evening, around 5:00 pm, I and a few other staff members were working on something. It was late. We were tired. Practically delirious. Confused in some matters. And almost brain dead. We ended up laughing about something that one of the staff members was doing. She was holding on to a very important document with “dear life”. She had a grip on it so tightly, that we laughed (but was very serious) and understood why she was doing so. I noted that she had a “death grip” on it. And somehow, that related in my mind as to how we often establish non-physical death grips in our lives. What is a death grip? In the physical realm, it is the EXTRAORDINARY strength that the body gains when it finds itself in danger and in need of holding on for “dear life”. It’s a grip that is beyond the ordinary strength that we have. It’s a natural, simple matter of the body protecting itself. Shielding. Guarding. I am also reminded of the grip that a pit bull dog. I am told that a pit bull will bite, and not let go. Often its intent is to go for the jugular and not let go. This is their survival instinct. Do you see where I’m going? As a sense of survival, and for protection in our lives, we too demonstrate non-physical death grips in certain areas. We will hold on so tightly to some things and will not let go until, or unless, someone or something pry us away. We will strangle and stifle and smother people and areas in our lives, because we feel threatened and afraid. We will even build a death grip on our own selves, thus paralyzing the flow of our lives. One thing about the physical death grip is that the body has also gone into shock. As we know, when the body goes into shock, it begins to shut down. That is why in a medical emergency, it is important to keep a person from going into shock. Well, if we are in emotional shock and have clung to death grips, we need to be careful because we too can begin to shut down. Because of past pains, disappointments, ill-treatment, disappointments, failures, shattered trusts, etc., we tend to build walls. We put a death grip on our hearts, not wanting to open it and allow it to be vulnerable again. We become cynical. We vow not to trust again. We refuse to believe anything, or anyone……even ourselves in some cases. We become defensive. Argumentative. Narrow-minded. At times, all of this is actually necessary, because we really do need to protect ourselves. And that is because of lessons learned. However, there comes a time when we need to loosen up, have faith, and enjoy life. When we’re all geared up and tense and in a death grip mode ALL OF THE TIME, it is very likely that we will miss out from the very things that we want.