Freedom
“Freedom is an abstract concept built in our minds, and that means it can only truly be felt and experienced if the associations we have with that concept in our minds let us harmonize with the environment that we are in. We are free when we have enough, and enough may want to grow in complexity, to create something in the world...”
Zat Rana
Freedom is relishing in the moments, it is grounding and it is presence. Being at peace with what one has and what one is in the present moment. It is allowing the self to experience joy and happiness in the instances of cultivation of experience and existence. True freedom is within the mind. Your mind creates barriers and constraints that are self imposed and influenced over time and conditioning in the environments and systems we were brought into and exposed to. One of my favorite authors, Don Miguel Ruiz writes about the essence of breaking free of these limitations to enjoy and create the world in which we live in. Setting limiting beliefs within a closed mind is the challenge to freedom. Overcoming such barriers can be done through meditation and spontaneous and daring choices to adventure and experience ultimately.
Imagine a world with a free and expressive spirit and soul of the self through the mind, what kind of world do you think that would be? My interpretation is peace. Peace and enabled flow. Peace to become more understanding and empathetic to oneself and others. Enabled flow to allow one to glide through life more naturally and with the shifts and changes of currents, also known as universal flow. We would also most likely create a unified, higher energetic frequency of connection that bring life and love to all.
Fear
“... fear cuts people off from their imagination and thus thinking: you can’t imagine tomorrow if you’re frightened of it.”
What does it mean to have fear and to be fearful of the known and unknown. It takes one away from the self being the self. It its something that may be conditioned on or to us. To live without fear is true freedom in my eyes. To not fear life and death - to know there are no bounds to the living within the body that one inhabits and the undeniable power of will that passes through each of us is what gives the essence of release of such a constraint thereof.
Fear is also cutting off imagination - simply put and simply brilliant. When one has fear the self sends neuron signals to your brain that puts the body in a shock reactive mode, a survival mechanism. Something I have learned fairly well growing up with familial tragedy and conflicts that coated our very existence in a state of anxiousness and urgency. Survival mechanisms are the foundations to our existence as this is what drives a person to live and move in a way of safety and protection, with respect to the testing of those boundaries. Fear too in these terms is the self standing in its own way by creating defense mechanisms to certain characteristics of life at hand that may not be necessary. Certain views and perceptions can limit oneself, with fear being the driving challenge to personal success.
What happens when you take fear out of the equation … the recipe to life actually. Replacing fear with hope creates tomorrows. Hope is how one is able to live for the dream of a better tomorrow. Tomorrow is not only dependent on your thought of today but the thought of right now, because right now can lead to moments of opportunity, a position of ability that will lead to not only tomorrow but to an alignment of boundless opportunities- the universal flow of life itself.
Transposing fear into love is a unique concept that which can be a psychological challenge to understand, therefore one must flip the script to work in ones favor. You reap what you sow - another favorite - another successful explanation to the fact that you can create more of what you want. The only secret is learning how to start the flow of what you want. Sweeping out the negativity and doubt and replacing it with self-confidence and self-empowerment.
