A wise hunter set up his monkey trap in the jungle. The trap did not involve guns, spears, nooses, cages, nets or any of the typical ways animals are captured.

This hunter’s weapon was a jar.

The hunter carefully picked a ripe banana from a nearby tree and placed it in the pear-shaped jug. He then set this jar out in the middle of a clearing.

Sure enough, soon a monkey came by and saw the banana in the jar. Curiously and excitedly he reached in and grabbed the banana, embracing his prize of joy.

However, when the monkey tried to remove the banana from the jar, he found he could not pull his hand through the narrow opening with his clenched fist around the banana.

He tried to shake it off. He tried to pull it off with his feet. He ran erratically around the clearing hoping that somehow he would hit upon the secret to getting his hand — and himself — free from his self-imposed prison.

What the hunter knew that the monkey did not, was that the only way the monkey could set himself free would be to let go of the banana.

Clenching onto his perceived prize kept the monkey from noticing there was plenty of fruit on the numerous trees around him. Narrowly focusing on sweet treasure he thought he must have prevented him from receiving the abundance that surrounded him on every side.

How often do we trap ourselves like this?

What’s the banana you need to let go of to set yourself free?

What luscious want are you clasping onto that puts you in your own emotional prison?

What might be available to you if you stopped insisting on having it your way?

Can you take in that you are being taken care of, even when things aren’t going the way you think they should?

In what ways can you begin to trust that all you need is already yours?

David Larson, M.S., C.P.C.C., is a licensed psychologist and life coach at the Institute For Wellness in Albert Lea. He can be reached at 373-7913, or at his Web site, www.callthecoach.com.