A Prisoner of Your Mind

A Prisoner of Your Mind 

Have you ever found yourself stuck in place? 

The coronavirus, has changed all plans to a living room near you.

Yesterday, today, and tomorrow looks & feels like prison walls have transformed into our bedrooms. 

In reality, somehow our lives have been colonized by a foreign invader.

This oppressor has taken over everything we once proudly knew. It just doesn’t seem right!

At first, our attention was neglected when it was taking over a distant land. “It couldn’t happen to us. Our borders, these lands are protected. These grounds are sacred. Most importantly, this is my home that affords certain protections and rights granted by the almighty and most high God.”

Slowly and surely, the foreigner made its way over the ocean. It invaded one city, then another, and then another. As it plundered city to city, it slowly tore down monuments of success. The NBA and March Madness shut down. Our vital systems of infrastructure closed its doors. The economy came to an screeching halt. 

The alarms were sounded, but it was too late. The invaders true nature  infiltrated every part of our lives and injected a new set of laws.  

The invader presented a new culture while savagely hunting down our freedom.  

This is prison.

The Need for Prison Reform

When America wages a war, we learn of terms such as the War on Terror or the War on Drugs. This coronavirus gives us the new norm and social distancing.    

There is a war for life on the streets, but also there’s one in our living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, and bathrooms. It’s an enemy that can’t be seen, but can spread through our discomfort like wildfire. Unfortunately, it lies in the compromise of what is considered precautionary and this thing called fear. 

Being Institutionalized

It’s not a good thing for any man or woman to be left alone. Afterwards, when there is no one to hunt, isolation lends to a person to hunt themselves.  

“Here I am, after so many years 
Hounded by hatred and trapped by fear 
I’m in a box, I’ve got no place to go 
If I follow my mind, I know I’ll slaughter my own. 

Help me I’m the prisoner, won’t you hear my plea 
I need somebody, yeah, to listen to me 
I beg you, brothers and sisters, I’m counting on you (yeah).” – Gil Scott-Heron 

The great Les Brown states if you do not program your mind, your mind will be programmed.  

You will become a prisoner of your mind if you stick to someone else’s agenda. The news and social media is over-inundated with information. There is more demand for coronavirus information than supply available. Every new piece of information attempts to one-up yesterday’s information. As a consumer of content, we keep paying for this limited supply with more and more of our attention. 

So, what did we just buy from the media marketplace?  

We paid with our attention and received anxiety, anger, fear, and depression as purchased items.