How do You Find Freedom?

Freedom is found within.

Sometimes freedom happens with a word or a thought. Sometimes through an inner shift that is unnamable or indescribable. Something changes and you realize what once weighed you down is no longer there. You only realize that you’ve changed once you find yourself in a situation where you respond in a different way, or you respond instead of reacting. Or perhaps you choose not to respond.

A new life doesn’t always occur with a bang, with an obvious change such as a change in relationship, living conditions or employment or a new haircut or clothes. The change may be seismic in nature, but it has occurred below the surface. Your inner tectonic plates have shifted without your realizing. The tectonic plates of your inner planes are the foundation of your life and if your outer world doesn’t match your inner world, you will feel the disparity even if it isn’t readily apparent.

You may find that you don’t enjoy spending time with the same people or the usual conversations no longer interest you. There’s nothing wrong with you; you’ve outgrown that version of yourself. if you can embrace the discomfort and feeling as though something has been lost, instead of hoping that things can go back to how they once were, you can begin to walk into a new way of being.

The inner shift may unexpectedly erupt like a volcano if you haven’t made space and time to listen to the whispers of your soul and your inner truth. You may have been feeling inexplicably out of sorts for some time, but your life has demanded that you keep moving, so you haven’t been able to reflect on the discomfort. Every day, your inner compass is trying to tell you things and if you hear its truth, you might hear new truths regularly. It is trying to guide you to your true north. Taking some time at the beginning or end of the day (as well as moments in between) to take a few deep breaths can help you to connect with your inner compass.

Your inner truths can trickle in slowly, softly. They can land within like seeds planted in the crevices where the soil of your inner world has cracked. When you make space and time to breathe, to tend to yourself, to let yourself be un-busy, the changes embed themselves more deeply, more firmly. They become anchored and provide an inner anchor for you when the outer world becomes chaotic or stormy.

You can invite change to arrive at your pace, other times it shows up seemingly unannounced…but if you listen every day, you will find that it has been germinating slowly.

What does inviting change mean? Freedom. You get to choose who you are becoming and your outer world shifts in response. You begin to see your world differently and among the things that don’t fit, are a plethora of new things waiting for you to see them, hear them and respond to them. Your new life has always been there, waiting for you to let go of the old.

What does your new life want you to know?

You don’t need a permission slip. You are the permission slip. You don’t need to seek approval to be yourself. You never did.

You don’t need to let the stories that others have told you about yourself be your story.

You make the rules. You set the tone. You draw the lines. Or erase them.

You set the pace of your life. You determine how fast or how slowly you move. Your life is yours to walk through. In the way only you can.

How do you know what the right pace is?

One that leaves a deeper groove in the days of your life. Perhaps it helps you think more clearly or you feel more alive, or even more calm.

You flow.

There may be times when you have to move at the pace of others but always remember your natural rhythm and return to that whenever possible.

Freedom is power. And it’s been within you all along.