Freedom

-Devlyn Steele

Freedom is nothing but a chance to do better.

-Albert Camus

When we think of freedom it often conjures up thoughts of slavery or repressed societies. Having grown up in the United States, the concepts of freedom have always been center stage and a core value. It might elicit images of those who fought in the Revolutionary War, Civil War, or the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. The quest for freedom has cost many lives to defend, and a right we feel very strongly about.

We'll fight to protect our freedom, and protest strongly if we feel that our freedom is being threatened. Yet, with so much effort being expensed towards freedom, we often live without the benefit of real freedom. We live trapped in the prison we create for ourselves by the thoughts we choose to think.  In order to truly be free, we have to be able to be free in our thoughts.  Antoine de Saint-Exupery put it well, "I know but one freedom and that is the freedom of the mind."

Regardless of what is going on in your life, what you experience is what you are thinking about. Your reality is shaped by your perceptions. If the goal of freedom is to establish a happy life, then regardless of what freedoms society offers you, you are truly not free if your mind is trapped in negative thoughts.

The secret to happiness is freedom.

-Thucydides

What is actually happening when we're not free to be happy is that our minds are literally stuck in a thought. Since what we are experiencing and feeling is what we are thinking about, then the thought that we are focused on is our state of being. One type of thought that we get stuck on is living in the past. We allow ourselves to play over and over in our head a negative experience we had. In truth, that past moment no longer exists, yet we continue to live in it. The only way that moment continues to exist is by us thinking about it. The only moment that is truly happening is now. You have to learn how to change the channel in your mind, and focus on what you are doing today.

Another prison we build for ourselves is focusing on what our problems are. As we stare at our problems we feel overwhelmed and unable to move. Instead, change your focus to what action you can take today. As we see ourselves taking action our self esteem rises. By doing so we'll create momentum, and it in turn creates a feeling of being free to change our circumstances.

Another type of prison we create is negative projections. This is similar to living in the past, except these events have not even happened. It is characterized by inventing in our minds how things will turn out, and making that the experience of the day. Why live today in a negative experience that hasn't yet happened?  Free your mind of your projections and live in today.

There are ways you can change your experience quickly by deciding to exercise your freedom of thought. When you get stuck, recite an affirmation out loud until your mind gets clear. Once your mind is clear, then recite a grateful list of at least ten items at least three times in a row out loud. When we focus on what we are grateful for the negativity shrinks. Then, after you have cleared your mind and recited your grateful list, recite one more item three times out loud, recite ten things you like about yourself.

This might sound silly to some, but what sounds more silly is living today in experiences from the past that were negative. Still silly is being stuck in feeling overwhelmed by problems, or living in negative experiences that have not yet even happened.

Man is free the moment he wishes to be.

-Voltaire

Do you really want to be free? You are free to live in the thoughts you choose. Why not choose thoughts and actions that benefit you? You are free to choose... Freedom?