I spent much of my life being free – free to play, free to choose where I went to school, free to work, free to own a home, free to travel, free to drive a car, and free to dress how I wanted.
Yet I wasn’t free.
Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years and was more free than I was while he was in prison.
Because I wasn’t truly free. He was.
Here’s the difference.
I wanted to be right. I held on to “wrongs” I thought others did toward me. I sat in fear, and believed the fear. I held on to what I believed with total identity. I was attached to my identity. I could not see another way. I didn’t know there was another way – because I was right – about everything… I resented. I resisted. I even hated sometimes.
It didn’t bring me freedom. I was actually in a box of my own making. A tight box made of iron and solder. It had a big pad lock on the door. My heart was behind the gate. I pretended to be someone I wasn’t. I said things I thought others would like me for instead of what I really wanted to say. I kept my mouth shut most of the time.
In Michael Singer’s The Untethered Soul, he calls this the cage. It’s the cage we live in until we realize it’s not bringing us what we want – peace, deep connection, an open heart, living our true calling, fulfillment.
Only when we realize we’re in a cage, do we start to do something about it.
Perhaps you can relate to what I’m talking about. Do you find yourself in a cage of your own making? It’s hard to see sometimes because it’s the only reality we know. Until we realize we don’t know. We don’t know what we don’t know. Then we get a taste of freedom, a moment of peace, and spot of true joy.
We begin to wake up. There’s no mistaking it.
It’s true freedom.
In the Buddhist practice of Loving Kindness, there is a line that says, “May I and all beings be free from suffering, and the causes of suffering.”
This is exactly what it’s referring to – freedom from attachment, freedom from resistance, freedom from right and wrong, freedom from resentment and hatred, freedom from reactivity, freedom from fear, freedom from limiting beliefs, and freedom to love with an open heart.
This is TRUE FREEDOM.
Nelson Mandela knew this in prison. He lived in a concrete cell, but his mind and heart were free.
I see it so clearly when a client has a breakthrough the “cage.” There’s a shift, a new reality that unfolds, and they often say, “I feel liberated, lighter, like I just released something big.”
I feel free now. I feel it in my heart, my head, and my entire being. I feel free to love, free to sing, free to dance, free to speak my truth, free to listen to my intuition, free to create a business that resonates completely with me, free to say I’m sorry, free to forgive, free to see “the grey area” of life, free to enjoy a sunset, free to be present with death, free to take a nap without guilt, and free of fear of being me.
You can be free. It’s a choice. Here’s how:
- Have the willingness to see yourself and life in a new way “The miracle comes from the shift in perspective.” ~ A Course in Miracles
- Cultivate the courage to walk into your fears, instead of letting them stop you.
- Stay true to your dreams, stop staying where it’s comfortable.
- Forgive. There’s no greater path to peace.
Here’s to your freedom. As each of us becomes free, it lays the foundation for others to become free. I believe in you.
Categories: Heart Centered Living