The hairy male baboon’s eyes darted around the area, looking for threats. He knew this was a dangerous place and his life could end immediately. Exposed in the open like he was, was never a good shield against predators. He just could not help himself…

He cautiously approached the dead, dried-out thorn tree and sniffed around the bark. He was definitely smelling something he needed. The growl of his stomach confirmed the smell. It was food, the type that he just could not resist. These were man-made treats, and he knew it.

Whether or not it was bad for him, he could not tell, he just had to get his hairy hands on them. Frantically moving around the weathered bark, he suddenly stopped. He found the hole. This hole was his way to the lovely meal that was waiting for him. The hole was not very big, but with funneled fingers he could just barely scrape his hand through. He looked around attentively while his arm, all the way up to his elbow, was supporting his scratching hand to find what it was he was looking for. He grabbed a fist full of the tasty treats and quickly started moving away from the tree. With a violent jerk he slammed into the tree and recoiled a little.

His fist could not fit back through the hole. Panic set in and he jumped up and down as if he was standing on a burning surface. He let out a high pitched gurgling scream that echoed over the grasslands. He pulled back and forth so many times in short succession, that his flesh was starting to rub off onto the sides of the hole. He repeated his terrified screams three times when he suddenly fell silent.

Something was wrong…

It was at that exact moment that the leopard pounced. With precision, the leopard sank its canines into the throat of the contorting baboon. The powerful leopard waited patiently as the baboon was still trying hard to escape. Even as the blood started mixing with the dry sand surrounding the grayish bark, draining the life out of the baboon, it still struggled for its last hope of freedom.

As the last ember of life extinguished from the baboon’s eyes, his hand went slack. The lifeless hand slipped comfortably out of the hole that kept it imprisoned. The leopard walked away with its prize, dragging the lifeless form of the baboon effortlessly into the bush…

What do you hold onto that you should just let go?

I think there are a lot of things that come across our path that has the ability to entice us and when we get trapped by them, we are sometimes so overwhelmed that we cannot let go. We literally get stuck, even if we know that this negative emotion, drug, toxic relationship or any venomous circumstance, person or thing, can kill us.

Letting go can sometimes be scary, but as is clear within this story, it more often than not, is a necessity. It becomes almost impossible to let go if we are in a state of fear.

May you break through fear to let go of that which you need to.