I got the idea today that life is like a Chinese finger trap. If you push or pull too hard, you get trapped.
To mix my metaphors, I think sometimes you just need to let things marinate.
Now I'm thinking maybe I got that idea somewhere else, like from the movie
"Phantasm." The main kid in the movie, if you haven't seen it, is named Mike.
His parents have died and his 24-year-old musician brother Jody is raising him. After he spots some creepy, unexplainable and supernatural goings-on—involving a preternaturally strong tall man who is strong enough to lift a funerary casket like it's a Pee Chee folder—he goes to a local psychic for insight.
She doesn't say a word, but her teenaged granddaughter speaks for her grandmother, who shares her thoughts with the girl telekinetically.
Are you still with me? I know this is getting a bit convoluted.
But I've already jumped waist-deep into this blog. I have to explain further. A block with a hole at the end materializes and the old lady instructs Mike to put his hand inside of the block.
Suddenly, his hand is trapped. "Give me back my hand!" he yells, fighting to retrieve his hand. Instead of freeing him, the girl repeats a mantra: "Don't fear." After a moment of panic, he relaxes a bit and his hand slides free.
"Fear is the killer," the girl tells the boy. "That's what grandmother wants you to learn."
I guess the point of relaying all this is to:
1) admit I've seen the equivalent of the Chinese finger trap used in a film with regards to the greater struggle of life, so my epiphany is somewhat derivative
and
2) admit I've seen the movie way too many times.
It's not my fault. My high school boyfriend and later first husband loved that movie, so I was a bit of a captive audience.
And in a tangential note, I believe I saw "Phantasm" screened outdoors at the scenic and star-studded Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where Cinespia screens horror movies and classic movies and B-movies to a movie-loving crowd. You can picnic there and, truly, it's a wonderful experience.
But metaphor explained, I should return to my original point. I want my life to improve. I want it to improve now. This includes money, career, lifestyle, all of it.
But sometimes, as I keep pushing to maintain and hopefully transform my life, I feel stuck. Nothing is happening, it seems, except maybe the occasional step backwards and forwards—yes, a tango, but not the progress I'm aiming for.
That's when it's time for me to chill a moment. That's when it's time for me to let go of fear. Because whether you are dealing with a towering necromancer as in "Phantasm" or the vicissitudes of life, it's good to keep a level head.
