17 The ‘mousetrap’ mind – cages you and closes off your options

Have you observed people’s minds chugging along quite reasonably down a train of thought, and then suddenly closing up… almost like a mousetrap closing shut on its victim? A person will be discussing options for study, and suddenly they will say, of a slightly prestigious academy or, say, study abroad, ‘but that’s not for me!’. One person thinks they can never learn to drive; another that they can never get a job in a big company. You can see their minds suddenly closing shut, and they are trapped in this non-negotiable cage of their own making.

The sad part is that to the outside observer, objective facts simply don’t seem to make the self-defeating conclusion at all obvious or inevitable. One would like to say, but why don’t you just keep an open mind about it, and give it a try, even if nothing were to come of it. As they used to say to the question, are you a man or a mouse, give me a piece of cheese and you may be surprised. In this context, just give it a try, and you might be surprised at the result; at least you wouldn’t have the eternal regret of never even having tried.  Unfortunately in today’s world of political correctness, you’re not supposed to tell other people what you think of them, but to only support them in a totally non-judgmental manner. You are also not allowed to tell a person that they could be better than they are, because that would demean them and only invite the retaliation, what have you done with your life that gives you the right to advise.

The result is that these people lose out on the opportunities that abound in the modern world. By not setting out the pros and cons objectively on a piece of paper, they jump to conclusions. Their mind closes in like a mousetrap, and nothing will then permit or induce them to reconsider. They will, equally, change their minds all of a sudden in the future, and will probably ultimately live in regret. And all through this, they will never understand how they came to this state. They will live their lives of quiet desperation in unreasoning and incomprehension.