Go away.
You know you do not have time for what I am about to say.
You know you have “better things” to be doing with your “busy” life.
You know you will not take the time to actually try to understand this article.
Are you still here?
Impressive.
Maybe you do care.
Let us see how much you care by how much of this you read.
The truth I bring is powerful.
I doubt anyone has ever told you this.
This is about more than freedom. This is about power. Freedom is powerful.
If you spend more than a couple minutes reading this article (and the links), then maybe you will discover insight.
Maybe you will not.
Maybe you will live your whole life blind to this truth.
Blind to possibility.
Blind to what you could have been.
Maybe you will die with your music inside.
Maybe you will not.
Maybe, I am wrong.
Maybe, for the sake of our humanity, you will live out that vision you have buried deep and told few. Maybe you already are living it out.
I am here as a reminder.
This is the freedom you are blind to.
When you think freedom, you think of what everyone else does.
Are you like everyone else?
You think of religious and/or spiritual freedom.
You think of political freedom.
You think of freedom of speech.
You think of the freedom to own private property and live where you want.
The freedom to marry, work where you can, and escape the life you have created for yourself. Call it a vacation.
Maybe your definition of freedom is different because you live in a different corner of our world.
I do not care. It does not matter. It is beside the point.
The problem with this definition of freedom is you are focused externally.
You are focused externally because you are blind to this hidden freedom I speak of.
More than external freedom
External freedom is weak. Small.
Internal freedom is where your power lives. Internal freedom is big.
No one has to die for your internal freedom.
When you respect your internal freedom, you respect the people who may have died for your freedom.
I would not have realized my internal freedom if I grew up in war. I would not have realized my internal freedom if I grew up in survival mode focused externally.
The freedom I speak of involves no war.
It is a game of effort. Either you put in the effort proactively or you do not.
Either you want to understand this freedom or you do not.
Internal freedom is the only thing you have control over.
When you do not respect this, you play small and you live small and you exercise control in small ways.
Synonyms for freedom are ability, flexibility, opportunity, power, privilege, right, play, and unrestraint.
Where is the only place you have all of this? Where do you have ability, flexibility, opportunity, power, privilege, right, play, and unrestraint?
Simple. You have complete freedom in your mind. Within you.
When you disrespect this, it is easy to live out the antonyms of freedom without knowing it.
Antonyms. Opposite of freedom. Inability. Incompetence. Weakness. Restraint. Confinement. Difficult. Limitation. Reserve. Slavery. Suppression.
Do you feel like a slave in your external life?
Right now, I hope you are not exercising your internal freedom by thinking, “Wow, this guy is too serious. Too intense.” I wonder what your life would look like if you started taking it seriously.
I am not saying to be serious all the time. That is a foolish idea and disrespects the paradox of life.
I am saying, get serious, get intense, because your hidden freedom lives within.
It is freedom over self.
Call it a powerful self-awareness.
When your internal freedom is not realized, you play small, within a small reality, with small actions.
When your internal freedom is realized, you play big. You live in a big world. Playing big starts within.
You know it when you see it but you cannot describe it otherwise.
Your greatest freedom lives between cause and effect. Stimulus and response. Action and reaction.
When something externally happens, it is your freedom to choose how you respond to it.
Examples of embracing your deepest freedom
When you realize and respect your deepest freedom, nothing frustrates you. Why would you allow yourself with your freedom to respond out of frustration? Be more than an angry animal.
When you realize and respect your deepest freedom, you understand trust wins over fear. Why would you allow yourself with your freedom to respond out of fear, like an animal fighting for its life?
When you realize and respect your deepest freedom, you invest in it. You invest in your deepest freedom with your time and resources because you understand that you and your freedom to respond is your responsibility (response-ability).
When you realize and respect your deepest freedom, you will not get emotional over small things. Why would you surrender your freedom to small things?
When you realize and respect your deepest freedom, you will not discharge your discomfort and pain onto someone else. Why would you, with your freedom, avoid dealing with the elephant in the room? (PS. It lives in your mind)
When you realize and respect your deepest freedom, you will not fear change. Why would you fear the only given in life? Do you fear gravity?
When you realize and respect your deepest freedom, you will not talk about people in small ways. Would you make fun of a wounded animal simply trying to survive? What if you viewed humans in the same way... everyone wounded in their own ways, trying to make sense of this thing called “life.”
When you realize and respect your deepest freedom, you will not stop learning. You will not stop learning because you realize that sacrifices have been made for your existence and, out of gratitude for those sacrifices, you embrace the gift you have been given.
When you realize and respect your deepest freedom, you will not respond with labels. Labels projected onto other people have the potential to hurt and keep people stuck in those labels.
When you realize and respect your deepest freedom, you realize you do not have to accept the projections from people around you. You can choose how you want to write the story of your life.
When you realize and respect your deepest freedom, you understand you can decide to find happiness internally instead of externally.
When you realize and respect your deepest freedom, you accept that you can decide your worthiness internally and not externally.
Listen, I get it, you are doing the best you can, with what you have, with what you have been given in life. (I know I am) You can accept your default future or you can open yourself up to a greater possibility and embrace your deepest freedom.
You decide. No one else is here to decide for you.
How to refine your freedom
Below I link to several articles that can help you understand your inherent internal freedom. Follow the links that resonate for you.
To own your freedom and rewrite your inner narrative, learn how to change the story you tell yourself.
To own your freedom and regain control of needing to be perfect, learn how to overcome perfection.
To own your freedom and embrace your power, learn about the puzzling truth about your power.
To own your freedom and understand the power of self-awareness, learn about what most do not realize about self-awareness.
To own your freedom and avoid depression, learn about a new perspective on depression.
To own your freedom and find security, understand the negative impact of insecurity.
To own your freedom and reframe your weaknesses, learn how I reframed my “weaknesses."
To own your freedom and create a world of abundance, learn about the power of gratitude.
To own your freedom and not feel like a impostor, learn why “fake it until you make it” is terrible advice.
To own your freedom and create your legacy, learn about what legacy means for you.
To own your freedom and find conviction, forget about passion, create intense conviction.
To own your freedom and grow quicker, learn one concept to enhance your progress.
To own your freedom and live stronger, learn about the power of vulnerability.
To own your freedom and think at higher levels, learn about the possibilities of metacognition.
To own your freedom and focus better, learn about focus from the mountain biker.
To own your freedom and lead with a greater legacy, learn about the two ways of leading (and which gives strength to legacy).
To own your freedom and avoid being driven subconsciously, learn about the force that consumes many entrepreneurs.
