free·dom
– being able to think, choose, and act without constraint, or my simplified definition – the ability to do what you want when you want.
The focus of my work has shifted slowly, but surely towards freedom; no surprise really, as it’s one of my core values. I’ve found myself wanting to go deeper, into what freedom means to others.
I asked online and here’s what came back:
Freedom is. . .
- the release of shoulds
- being free to be yourself at every moment
- giving yourself in service to others
- feeling unconstrained
- being able to choose how to spend my precious time
-
being able to still the turmoil in my mind
- the ability to be myself in all ways, everywhere
- knowing I am thinking my own thoughts, and not those of others
-
being able to speak my mind and do what I want, regardless of what anyone else thinks
- doing only things I love and choose
- having options, choices, and the opportunity to exercise one’s own will
Then there’s the more complicated, dictionary view:
Freedom – noun
1. the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint.
2. exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc.
3. the power to determine action without restraint.
4. political or national independence.
5. personal liberty, as opposed to bondage or slavery: a slave who bought his freedom.
So what exactly is it?
I asked some respected friends and colleagues this question:
What does freedom mean to you, and how do you nourish it in your life?
Their words, and collective wisdom inspired me; so many flavours of freedom, each appealing in its own way and I realized the problem with freedom is that sometimes we take on someone else’s concept of freedom as our own.
Like letting someone who doesn’t know you pick a flavour of ice cream at random, you’re not likely to get what you want.
It’s why you might have the experience of constraint even when circumstances line up to produce the freedom you thought you were working towards.
So many options, grab a pink spoon and dip into the flavours below.
The Many Flavours of Freedom
Farnoosh Brock
To me, freedom means living in a free country (for me, this is the beloved US of A), wearing what I want, going where I desire, speaking my mind, creating the life of my dreams, that is ULTIMATE freedom and something that most may take for granted every day not because they are ungrateful or out of touch with reality, no way, simply because they cannot imagine NOT living in a free country since that is all they have ever known.
For good or for bad, I’ve known otherwise, so I know the taste of this freedom because I’ve known the taste of no freedom growing up in Iran.
Farnoosh Brock, Published Author & Business Coach, FastTrackPromotion.
“There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires.” – Nelson Mandela
Paul Jarvis
I’ve never thought of having freedom because I’ve never felt like I was in captivity. But, if anything I do ever starts to feel like I suddenly have less freedom, then I stop doing it immediately.
One of the ways I manage to stay free is by saying no. I say no to almost everything that comes my way. New work requests, collaborations, invitations, interviews, requests to “pick my brain” (if you think about it literally, it’s also kind of gross), etc. Why? Because anything I actually say yes to, I focus on and work at until the task is completed.
The less I say yes to the more free I am. And opening up that freedom allows me to be open to saying yes only to things which I truly don’t mind trading my time and focus for.
Paul Jarvis, Web Designer, Author, & Gentleman of adventure
“You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.” – Toni Morrison
Joy Holland
Freedom is the joy of living infinite possibility; the experience of bliss as I choose to center into presence with love and gratitude, then move through the world creating and connecting from heart-space.
Because I allow my heart whispers to lead, I don’t know where I am going, who will “be there” or what specifically will be created; yet, that uncertainty thrills *and* inspires me to keep exploring. I am learning to celebrate each step – allowing that gratitude to be the current that moves me.
Freedom is the choice to be love and to celebrate that love, regardless of external. It is an overflowing current of peace – a source that can transform anything. Freedom is the desire to open heart to receive, to surrender to joy, to embrace life as I am, as it is, in each moment.
Energetically, freedom is resonance with spirit. I nourish the feel of freedom in my life daily, and throughout each day, as I center into practices of presence to unfolding. These practices include: gratitude, meditation, lots of time spent in nature and silence, varying forms of body movement, vesting in only that which feels enlivening and enriching, holding my heart-space and home-space as a sacred container and honoring transparency in my connections.
Most importantly, freedom is the space to allow these truths of now to evolve into something different with each step – to fully feel and express all that heart wishes to, judgment and barrier-free.
Joy Holland, Intuitive Empath, Energy & Clarity Facilitator, Facets of Joy.com
“We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.” – William Faulkner
Dawn Barclay
Freedom to me is being open and willing to question everything I think I know about the world: a free mind if you like, with attachment to values and opinions, no judgement, no beliefs, yup all those things that make me, well, me. But that’s it, me is Dawn, woman, Scottish, ginger haired, dog loving nut. But that is not who I am. I = love. For me, freedom, real freedom, ultimate freedom is those rare sporadic moments of no thought. Just peace.
Freedom, to me, is no fear. Where fear exists, a mind is imprisoned.
Freedom, is free. I believe, we are born free but the fears in the minds of others (individually or collectively) make us earn and pay for what is our birthright.
I never thought about nurturing freedom before, but as you ask: I would say I am in a constant practice (sometimes battle) to catch and correct the voice that keeps me imprisoned in my own mind (with its made-up misinformation of others telling me this is how the world is). And I suppose you could also call it nurturing when I have those (rare but wonderful) moments when I am able to separate ‘the made up me’ from ‘I’. I’m thinking we’ve all felt the freedom moments, but the world (IMO) keeps trying to teach us otherwise.
Dawn Barclay, Coach, Trainer, would-be Cheerleader/Cocktail Waitress, Living Moxie
“Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.” – Jim Morrison
Jill Prescott
Ahhh…. Freedom. The very word makes my mouth water with its juiciness.
Freedom means different things to different people. Freedom to speak without persecution, freedom to live where you want or freedom to marry who you love. Freedom to travel or just sit on the porch watching the world go by.
The list is endless and so when Sandi asked me the question “What does freedom mean to you, and how do you nourish it in your life?” I really had to look at why my heart beats faster when I hear the word.
Here’s what it comes down to for me:
Freedom means choice. Every moment of every day, I get to choose. I am free to choose to spend my day alone, writing or reading. Or to spend it with friends, nourishing my soul. A little more than a year ago, I chose to leave a 20 year career and follow my soul’s calling. In that moment, I stepped into my Freedom. My world opened, my heart grew and my life became Freedom defined.
Jill Prescott, Harmony Integration Coach & Clinical Hypnotherapist, Tangent Path Personal Coaching
“Do you want to be right, or do you want to be free? (Choose free.)” – Danielle LaPorte
Cathy Taughinbaugh
Freedom to me means that you are not controlled by anyone or anything. You have the power to decide all aspects of your life.
I nourish freedom in my life by making thoughtful choices and by making sure that at any time I can go in a different direction that will work better for me and those close to me.
Cathy Taughinbaugh, Coach & Writer, Regain Your Hope
“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” – Gandhi
Tess Marshall
Freedom to me is choosing to live in a state of love and peace — with myself, others and the world. The key for me is to watch my thoughts. I can easily terrorize myself with my ego or smaller self.
If I’m in a state of peace I am free. I am “love”, being loving. When I’m not at peace, I’m not free. I’m unhappy and miserable.Freedom is internal. It has nothing to do with a job, physical beauty, education, money or success.
I’ve been a student of A Course In Miracles and have participated in study groups for 25 years. I am a runner. I have a morning routine. I use affirmations. And I’ve learned to quickly give up the need to be right.
Tess Marshall, Author, Speaker & Personal Development-industry Entrepreneur, Take Your Fear and Shove It
“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” – Viktor E. Frankl
Sandra Pawula
Freedom is an open, spacious, and loving state of mind independent of externals like possession or circumstances, which can unexpectedly collapse in a flash. Freedom means not being enslaved by my thoughts, emotions, and perceptions. I practice seeing them like clouds passing by in the sky, impermanent and ever-changing, and not the real “me.”
Instead of clinging to whatever rises in my mind, I aspire to remain in my true self, an unchanging pure awareness, and extend a good heart to all. I nourish this sense of freedom through cultivating mindfulness, presence, and awareness in daily meditation and life as well.
Sandra Pawula, Freelance Writer & Inner Explorer, Living with Ease: 21 Days to Less Stress
“The longing for happiness and freedom from suffering expresses the great natural potential of mind.” – Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche
Fran Sorin
Freedom has 2 meanings for me. The first is the legal/societal one.
Thirty years ago, as a woman, I wouldn’t be able to do what I am doing today. As a matter of fact, 34 years ago, as a very young broadcasting executive who happened to be female and pregnant, I was interviewed on a TV show about working/being pregnant/and planning to come back to work after giving birth.
So as a baby boomer, I very much appreciate the inroads that women of my generation have made so that the women of today have more choices and the freedom to select how they’re going to live.
The second is my inner emotional freedom. This (IS) about my awareness, desire, and persistence in navigating to rid myself of self-imposed constraints on how I see and imagine myself and the world.
It’s about waking up each morning with the knowledge that I have the power about how I journey through the day – that I am in charge of my emotions, activities, and thoughts. I am free to be the real me, to let me (MY) soul shine through, to radiate love and light and to live with integrity.
This is how I infuse it into to my daily life:
- To read, write, row, walk, meditate, play music without any interruption, or someone telling me that I need to be somewhere or do something.
- To smile at other people on the street and send them silent blessings ~
- To be loved and love, to be both vulnerable and strong and to be right and wrong
- To live with ambivalence – knowing that there is no one right solution/answer
Fran Sorin, Author, Gardening expert, deep ecologist, and soul tender
“Freedom always follows truth.” – Danielle LaPorte
Vidya Sury
I grew up in an orthodox family where money was scarce and love was abundant. Good behavior meant not questioning anything and accepting everything the “elders” said, even if they were not always right. I am lucky to have been raised by my Mother who encouraged me to rebel and insisted I listen to my heart and soul.
True freedom – being free, to me, means practicing:
- self control
- mental discipline
- tolerance of others
- unconditional love
- connecting with my inner teacher
- appreciation of everything I have
- letting go of negative beliefs and thoughts
- exercising the right of choice
- being open to abundance
- being progressive in thought and action
- being fearless
- not looking for approval before acting
- self-expression and speaking up
- consciously giving my best at all times
- not holding grudges, ever
- living in the present moment
- giving back to my society in every way I can
- being true to myself and others I connect with
- trusting my intuition
- never losing hope
- making the right choices
Vidya Sury, Happy Mom, Freelance Writer, Business Blogger, VidyaSury.com
“Freedom is the oxygen of the soul.” – Moshe Dayan
Over to you:
What is your flavour of freedom?
Wow, I am the first to comment – wooohooo!! Sandi, you are tapping into such intimate private and wonderfully important topics. Freedom is near and dear to my heart and I love that you featured me and a lot of our great mutual friends/fab bloggers! You live and breathe freedom to me :)!
Arrgh. Farnoosh beat me to it! 🙂 I loved reading each flavor. The fabulous thing about collaborative posts inviting others’ views is – so much to learn and live a better life.
Freedom is a tricky topic, because most of the time, we only think of it when there is discomfort. We assume the alternative spells freedom. Right now, for me, freedom means a clean house. 😀 Sigh. Until then I’ll be partying with those dust bunnies.
Thank you, Sandi. Your blog always rocks.
I used to think freedom meant being able to be myself, freely, without judgment or consequences from others. I’m not going to lie–I kind of wish that was even possible! But what I’ve come to realize is that freedom is letting go of making the opinions of others *more important* than what I know to be true and right for me. Freedom is trusting myself to make good decisions and to be able to handle the consequences of those decisions. It also means I am open to learning from my failures without judgment.
A life without the constant self-judgment? Miraculous. And possible. And I’m getting there,.
Vidya Sury Farnoosh Maybe your dust bunnies and my cat hair tumbleweeds can have a play date out on a farm in the middle of nowhere together? 🙂
Ellen Berg Vidya Sury Farnoosh That works out just fine by me, Ellen. Can we be there to watch them play? ;)!
Ellen Berg Ellen, I can’t imagine just how hard that must be but from all our recent chats, one thing I know is you are truly finding yourself and trusting that you are more than enough just as you are. Period. 🙂
Sure! You could even snap a few photos to remember them by. 🙂
Hello friends! It so much fun to see that there are common themes here. I can relate to each definition. Sandi, I love this post. Who doesn’t want and value freedom? It’s universal. xo
Freedom for me is the emotional life I experience through the acceptance of all the thoughts, decisions and consequences generated from my behaviour. I can imprison my soul in my mind and body, or I can liberate it through processing all as an experience meant to be on my journey to survive and thrive.
Ellen Berg Farnoosh Rely on me to bring the refreshments 😛 I am enjoying visualizing the whole scene. A sunny afternoon, bunnies playing with cat hair tumbleweeds….while we lounge on a patchwork rug in the shade of a massive tree that has at least three hammocks, speaking when we feel like and enjoying the company and quiet when we just want to savor the moment. 🙂 I say YES!
Farnoosh I’m glad the importance of freedom in my life comes through, but the truth is it hasn’t always been that way. I’d have to say in my 20’s I took it for granted, and so when I finally did wake up and realize it was a core value, life transformed!
And yes, I’m thrilled to be in such inspiring company, grateful for the many kindred spirits in my life!
Vidya Sury I think you’re right Vidya, freedom is a tricky topic – for some very political, for others much more personal – and it’s likely to push a few buttons. But I think that’s good if it wakes us up to realize what freedom means to each of us as individuals rather than some giant hive mind with only one view of freedom!
And if freedom meant a clean house to me, right now I’d be feeling a bit constrained 😉
Ellen Berg YES, for how can we be free if we don’t trust ourselves???
Vidya Sury Ellen Berg Farnoosh Divine paradise. I only wish we could create that in reality. Imagination has to do for now. Vidya, I’ll eat anything & everything you bring :)!
TheBoldLife I love the commonalities as well as the unique aspects we all bring to the topic, for example, how you relate it to thoughts. Makes perfect sense now that I’ve read it but I wouldn’t have thought of it that way myself!
MichaelGarvey You are a gem of a man Michael Garvey! I still have a ways to go before I can honestly say I accept all of my thoughts and decisions, but like Ellen Berg said, I’m getting there!
Farnoosh YES, in reality please, and let’s have Vidya Sury be our glorious chef. We’ll pamper her in other ways 😉 Ellen Berg
Hi Sandi! The many flavours of freedom! I never thought of it in this way, though I appreciate that words can have so many different meanings and freedom is a huge concept!
So many of these resonated with me (I should have written as I read!) but what stands out are the ideas that we can only appreciate freedom if we’ve been deprived of it (Farnoosh), the lack of fear (Dawn), freedom from the shoulds – i.e being able to say no (Paul), and, as many said, choice.
What is freedom to me? It’s an awareness; state of mind where all possibilities exist and I can choose any one of them. I nurture it by being aware that I can align with any reality I want if I just remember and take the time to do so. 🙂
What’s your flavour Sandi?
Lori
Sandi Amorim MichaelGarvey Ellen Berg Me as well. I love it as a goal to strive towards. I love a challenge.
Lori “I can align with any reality I want if I just remember and take the time to do so” and that right there is the secret to life! Well said Lori!!!
My flavour is very simple, being able to do what I want when I want…and of course that’s tempered with responsibility and an awareness of how my actions impact others.
I love what Joy said, “Energetically, freedom is resonance with spirit.”
I’ve come to realize that freedom is one of my core values.And yet I don’t feel like I have it.Not enough anyway. One of the most important things about Freedom is that it createsSPACE for our authentic (spirit) selves to unfold, evolve, and create.I think it’s unnatural for our time to be dominated with mundane tasks (commuting, cubicle work, etc.)It’s in our DNA to INNOVATE, explore, and develop. So, feeling this disconnect is a source of distress.
I’m still working on the “how to nourish freedom” part.I suspect it has to do partially with thinking outside the box, what’s the option we have not yet thought of that will help create that freedom space???
What wonderful aspects of freedom Sandi…every one of them resonates with me. Super post…as always my friend.
ElleSommer Haha, Elle, do you have a hard time choosing at the ice cream shop? 😉
Hey everyone, loved reading all the different flavours. What Vidya Sury said so much to learn from. SO many different ways to look at and feel one word, but lots of common ground. Thanks Sandi. Love xxx
Sandi Amorim ElleSommer I would if I could eat the stuff Sandi…I think I’m just an embracer of the lovely…and every one of the freedom quotes are lovely. 🙂
Lovely post Sandi! Thanks so much for including me. I love everyone’s interpretation of what freedom means to them. Beautiful as always!
Sandi – What a treat to wake up to this post.. Everyone’s thoughts warmed my heart and reminded me of how everyone experiences it differently and yet there is a common thread running through all of the answers. i’m honored to have been included in this group. xxoo-Fran`
Dawn Barclay So glad you shared your flavour my friend!
Cathy Taughinbaugh Thank you for your lovely contribution Cathy!
Kristyn C. “It’s in our DNA to INNOVATE, explore, and develop.” Now that is a thought to live into Kristyn! I believe the more you nourish your Self, the more you will nourish your experience of freedom. Thanks for being here.
FranSorin I so appreciate your thoughts Fran, both personal and professional. I particularly love ‘letting your soul shine and living with integrity.” Thanks so much for participating! xoS
Beautifully written and love to hear what’s in these wonderful blogger’s hearts about freedom. Thanks for sharing Sandi!
Betsy at Zen Mama Thanks Betsy, we are blessed to know such great people, aren’t we?
When we are aware and value the energy of freedom, each moment is potentially full of peace, regardless of external. I was raised in abuse and chaos, so to read my answer above and realize this is my experience now, so different from what statistics say should have happened in my life, fills my heart with gratitude. Thank you for cultivating and amplifying the energy of freedom by sharing so many perspectives and insights!