When lobsters get tossed into a pot of boiling water, and one brave lobster tries to climb up the walls to sweet freedom…

Do you know what the other lobsters do?

They grab their friend and claw her back into the pot of boiling death-water.

“No way are you getting outta here. You’re staying right here with us.”

I would like to think that human beings are slightly more “evolved” than bright red crustaceans, but the truth is… sometimes? We all behave like sea-bugs in a pot of boiling water.

We see a woman demanding a higher salary and say, “Who does she think she is?”

We see a woman celebrating her body and sharing bikini pics on Facebook and think, “What an attention-whore. Slut.”

We see a woman taking big, brave steps to get her business off the ground, and we’ve just GOT to knock her down a peg. “You realize that 8 out of 10 business fail in the first 18 months, right? What’s your back-up plan?”

OK. Maybe your “lobster thoughts” aren’t quite as bitter as those.

Maybe you’re kinder and more encouraging, as least when you’re watching other people climb their way up to happiness and success.

Maybe your “lobster thoughts” are the self-directed, self-inflicted kind.

Maybe you pull yourself right back down into the boiling water whenever you sense that you’re getting just a little too close to freedom.

Whether your joy-killing thoughts are directed outwards — or inwards — they’re equally harmful to the human race.

Don’t be a lobster.

Be a lovester.

Give your friends a lift right up, up, up over the lip of the pot. Cheer when they make it. Learn from their climbing techniques.

Give yourself a lift, too. Surround yourself with nice, encouraging lobsters who love you. Who want to see you succeed. Not keep you paralyzed. Or kill your dreams.

With loving thoughts, words and actions — for ourselves and for others — we can all climb outta this damn pot. Together.

Susan