Come With Me and We'll Be Free, Part 1

Photo Credit: Pixabay

What if you could live your life and not care what anyone thinks?
 
What if you weren’t distracted and discouraged by the drama, fear-mongering, societal pressure, and financial burdens that are so much a part of our lives? What if there wasn’t anything anyone could do that could ruin your mood or your day?
 
If you could live your life this way, that would be freedom.
 
Freedom is not “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” You may know your inalienable rights but the rights to truly being free may be alien to you.
 
It’s not defined by external circumstances. Freedom is an internal condition.
 
It’s not only freedom to, as in, do whatever you want, wherever, whenever, and however. It’s also freedom from.
 
Freedom from is deeper and more powerful. It’s something no one can take from you.
 
Not until you are free from can you be free to.
 
Let’s say you win millions and millions of dollars in the lottery. Your first thought might be, “WHOO-HOO! I can quit my awful job, and have and do all the things I’ve always wanted to!”
 
It’s true, you do have the financial freedom now to make those kinds of choices. But then, you have friends and family expecting you to cough up money for them and the government expecting you to fill their coffers. Your employer and co-workers expect your resignation, and society expects you to be resigned to volunteer for everything because they think Louie Armstrong is running “all the time in the world” in your head on a loop.  
Expectations. Responsibilities, real or imagined. Societal pressure. What if you lose it all? What if you lose your friends? What about maintaining, storing and insuring all the stuff you buy?
 
You may end up more imprisoned in your life than you were before you won the lottery.
 
But if you also have the ability to say “no” to all those requests, you would be freer. If you have the capacity to shut out the “shoulds” from your friends and family, that would be freeing. If you could take that great trip you always wanted to and not be distracted by what everyone thinks about you, what you might be missing or fearing that it could all be gone tomorrow, then you could be freer.
 
Freedom is a state of mind. Come with me and we’ll find the road to that state.

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