Redefine Your Definition Of Freedom

Redefine Your Definition of Freedom Peace Doves Alice by Popkorn of Flickr   If you subscribe to enough newsletters by business coaches or perform enough Google searches on residual income, you will be bombarded by gurus selling the idea of products promising that financial freedom can be yours. You know the ones… “For 3 easy payments of $997, you, too, can achieve financial freedom.” What an uninspired vision. Do not get me wrong. I would love to be at the point in my life where an income was optional. Nevertheless, does financial freedom equal freedom? The idea of being financially free sounds so ethereal, so evasive, like such a pipedream, but I’ve found that for every appealing fantasy, there are an equal amount of reservations of living with unlimited income: Would friends and family presume you were somehow different and “too good” now? How many people would come out of the woodwork with their hand out? What kinds of new family drama might ensue because of this windfall? Would it turn you into a miserable recluse afraid to trust anyone? What if you could not walk the streets without feeling like a target for pickpockets or even more unsavory characters? What if the success you achieve just adds to the pressure of living up to expectations you cannot possibly uphold?   Does that sound like freedom to you? Even the thoughts themselves serve as shackles. If we are ever able to get our imaginations to stretch far enough to imagine ourselves without financial worry, a whole new set of worries tend to creep into our thoughts. But what if we were free from those fears?   What if, no matter what our current financial situation was, we felt secure in our faith that all would be taken care of? I honestly do not know that many people who possess and practice that level of faith, but let me be crystal clear â€" surrendering your fate to a higher power is still not freedom. I don’t mean to say that you can sit back, relax, do nothing, and great things will come to you.   As a matter of fact, I mean the opposite. I have shared with you before how the word “can’t” is forbidden in my house.   Not only is it forbidden, but it’s not even acknowledged as a thing: “There is no ‘can’t.’ Only ‘I don’t know how yet. ‘” The concept of freedom that I want you to entertain and try is one in which anything you could want to do is possible â€" a world without limits. Limits have a tendency to stop us before we even reach them. Or, we let other people who have not even tried to reach them tell us that they are there and we take their word for it. That is certainly not freedom. I did not write this article to define freedom for you; I wrote it because I want to encourage you to reevaluate your own definition of freedom and furthermore, assess how much effort you have really made to achieve it. Do not give up on freedom. Do not assume it is not possible for you. Do not decide that there is nothing really all that fantastic about it, or you know right away that you have not discovered an empowering vision of freedom, and therefore it is not really freedom at all. Here is my empowering vision of freedom: I wake up every day certain about how I can be my highest self and what actions I can take to fulfill my highest purpose. I let my intuition guide me and trust unwaveringly that as long as I follow it, everything will turn out exactly as it should. I speak from a place of love, compassion and acceptance. Each moment is infused with joy and fun. I expect and therefore notice when something or someone has been put in my path to help me, and I openly receive this assistance. I go to bed each night knowing, with great peace, that I have done everything that was in my power to do, and tomorrow I will be even better.   What is your empowering vision of freedom?