Freedom-Power of Choice

Freedom is such a multifaceted entity. It can be linked to notions of tangible boundaries, intangible rights, and all layers of privilege. Like beauty, the definition of freedom is in the eye of the beholder. It can mean different things to different people in different moments and in ever-changing contexts. And as something easily taken for granted, how it’s experienced can be deeply personal, most often unrecognized until it is lost.

After a recent meander through the unraveling of a close friendship, I arrived at a moment of expansive peace. I had been spinning in brilliant stories about what I’d done wrong, how I was broken, why all of this was somehow my fault. Obsessively my mind replayed scenarios and conversations like an old-school CD player stuck on “loop”. My chest felt tight, my belly like it was filled with a hive of buzzing bees, and my shoulders were clinging to my ears as if for dear life. Everything was tight and no amount of redirecting my focus gave me relief.

Then something shifted. I don’t even know really why or how, but something changed. Subtle reminders from the universe appeared from various corners of my life. Messages like “valiant courage”, “take back your power”, “focus”, “take up all of your space”, “rewire your brain”, “be intentional”, and “one step at a time”. Like cairns on a path, I followed their lead and remembered. I had the power of Choice. I had been giving away my power, believing the lies my mind was telling me. I had forgotten what was true. In that moment of remembering, the cluttered attic of my mind cleared. My spine grew taller, my chest relaxed, my lungs expanded with ease, and with a new sense of safety, my shoulders dropped back where they belonged. It was in remembering my personal power of choice that I found freedom.

At its most basic essence freedom is about remembering. It’s in the moment of remembering our personal power of choice and it’s universal. There are examples of ordinary people across time who became extraordinary when they remembered their personal power and made a choice that changed the world, or at the very least changed their lives. Each one of us possesses that same innate power.

Whether we’re in the mundane aspects of life, most dire of circumstances, or throes of joyful abundance there is nearly always a choice of attitude or action. There is no guarantee that our choices will be easy nor the options ideal, but there is freedom in remembering that we get to choose. When we forget, when we allow our own thoughts and beliefs, or those of others, to keep us limited, when we fail to choose for ourselves, the world around us chooses instead.

It’s easy to forget our power and thus give away our freedom. We all do it, and often. Through attachment to the musings of our minds, we create our own prison cells. The bricks and bars crafted from our limiting beliefs, thoughts, and perceptions. We become prisoner and jailer, forgetting that not only do we hold the keys but the cell door was never actually locked.

Then, for one reason or another, we feel inspired to give the cell door a nudge and realize it’s open. We may pause for a moment, briefly in conflict with fear or uncertainty, but when we step forward and fling that door open, the sweet taste of freedom. We step into our power, we make a choice, we savor the spaciousness, and we remember — we were free all along.

Let’s all give the gift of reminding one another when we forget. Freedom lies in our personal power of choice.