Freedom

Freedom is something I think about quite a bit. As far back as I can remember I have always sought to be free – free to be who I am without rejection or judgement, free from illness or poverty, free to move about as I like, free to feel good in my own skin, free to love who I want, free to express myself in my own, unique way. I think freedom is a fundamental desire of all living beings. Freedom for humans though, is a more complex matter than in other living creatures because of our awareness of past and future. What is freedom?

When I Google “definition of freedom”, Dictionary defines freedom as: 1. the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. 2. absence of subjection to foreign domination or despotic government. 3. the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved. 4. the state of being physically unrestricted and able to move easily. 5. the state of not being subject to or affected by (a particular undesirable thing). 6. the power of self-determination attributed to the will; the quality of being independent of fate or necessity. 7. unrestricted use of something. 8. familiarity or openness in speech or behavior.

In my ongoing search for freedom I have discovered a couple things that I think are true in regard to freedom: Each individual must define freedom for themself and Freedom can only be found within

The type of freedom I would like to explore is inner freedom. While our individual freedom is certainly affected by outside forces, I think we develop habits of thinking that inhibit our freedom in many ways. For example, I will often agree with someone to fit in and avoid the discomfort that comes with disagreement. I sometimes go with the group, even though I would prefer something else, just so I won’t be perceived as weird or “outside”.

Another example that I think most people can relate to is how we manage our health and body image. Our society and culture basically cages us into the idea that we need to be thin and fit to be worthy. We constantly torture ourselves about what to eat, what not to eat, how much, on and on and on. We diet and restrict, and perhaps beat ourselves up working out. Then we get tired and sore or really, really hungry and let it all go. Then we gain weight and start the cycle all over again. This is all so exhausting.

I want to be free from societally, culturally and self imposed torment. I want to feel good in my skin and good enough as I am. I don’t want to live in a state of “unless I am thin (or rich, or beautiful or fit or my house is clean or my kids are perfect) I’m not OK”. I want to feel OK no matter what. Even if shit is hitting the fan! All the things we are attempting to control are the very things keeping us locked up and unfree. The “I’ll only be OK when” mentality is the very thing making us not OK.

Another big freedom-sucker is judgement. When we judge, it takes away our freedom to fully love because we are seeing someone as less-than for the choices they make. When we judge, we are attempting to lift ourself up by bringing someone else down. We think our choices are better for everyone. It matters not whether we judge silently or outwardly. Either way, our freedom is limited because our narrow perception is that others` should not be free to make choices that don’t agree with ours. For sure, if someone is judgey with others, you can bet they judge themselves as well.

The truth is, there are 7.8 billion humans on this planet and 7.8 billion different perceptions of everything. There is no way we can see through someone else’s eyes. We all do the best we can with what we have in any given moment. On a deeper level, we are all the same. We all want safety, connection, freedom and love.

Inner freedom is a practice. Once we are aware that we are conditioned by our environment, we can practice freeing ourselves of the beliefs that do not support our well-being. And if there is one freedom we ALL have, it is that we can choose our beliefs.