Do you feel free to…
Love who you want?
Wear what you want?
Say what you mean?
Open your heart?
Express your true self?
Go after your dreams?
Follow your own path?
Be Yourself?
Feeling free is a mindset, and being free is about accepting and owning all of who you are. To feel free you have to have the confidence to be yourself, speak your truth, and go after what you want without letting anything hold you back.
Part of walking the spiritual path is about finding freedom through releasing the ego. Without awareness, we can move through life simply following the crowd and never really feeling free to express our true self.
It is only when we awaken and realize that our true purpose is to be ourselves and shine like ourselves, that we can break out of the mold and find our true freedom.
Finding true freedom is really an inside job, and comes as part of the awakening process, but here are some steps to guide you along the way-
1.) Release Shame
Shame is not a pleasant emotion. It is essentially the fear that we are not good enough or worthy enough to be loved. As terrible as shame feels, it is amazing how many of us weigh ourselves down with it and hide behind it.
Self-love is definitely the antidote to shame, but in order to begin the healing process, you have to first admit that the shame is there. As Brene Brown states-
“Shame cannot survive being spoken. It cannot tolerate having words wrapped around it. What it craves is secrecy, silence, and judgment.”
The next time you feel ashamed about something, speak up either to yourself or to someone else. Apologize or own it, but don’t allow your shame to hide. For when you do, you will never feel free.
If you want to read up more about healing shame, I highly recommend Brene Brown’s books- Daring Greatly or I Thought it Was Just Me (But it isn’t)
2.) Follow Your Own Path
I remember being in school and the pressure that was put on you to get good grades so you could go to a good college, get a degree and get a good job. At the time I didn’t really question the truth of why any of that was important, I just believed that I had to because that’s what everyone was telling me and that’s what was expected of me.
It wasn’t until I had my spiritual awakening that I realized life is so much more than that, and good grades and having a “respectable” profession, were pretty meaningless to me and the type of life I wanted to lead for myself. I wanted to forge my own path, and I wanted the freedom to follow my own intuition and creativity.
When people hear my story about how I moved my life to Los Angeles, they often tell me that I am brave and wonder how I had the confidence to break out of the traditional path and do my own thing. But it’s really not bravery. I don’t even think of myself as a particularly daring or risk-taking person, I was just simply following the truth of my heart. It’s not always easy to do this, but when you know it deep down inside, it becomes impossible to ignore. Very often, all you have to do is just listen and the path unfolds for you.
Our paths are always changing, and there is no one-size-fits-all. We are all here on our own journeys and it’s up to us to dictate and chart the course of our lives.
If you could do anything, if you could live any life, would you live the life you are currently leading? If the answer is no, then it could be time to make the change and start following your own path.
3.) Step Outside of your Comfort Zone
If you don’t feel free to lead the life you want, you have to make some changes, and most likely those changes involve you stepping out of your comfort zone.
To begin with this, start by making smaller, more manageable changes such as, wearing something different, letting go of shame, speaking your truth, or taking a class you have always wanted to try.
Change up your routine and try to do something different. Often when you do this, it changes your perspective on things and it allows you to see things in a new light. It also helps you to learn new things about yourself and challenges you to grow and develop.
By finding freedom in the little things, it will also help prepare you to make those bigger changes.
Try it and see. Find something you can do today that allows you to step out of your comfort zone and create more freedom.
4.) Let go of Limiting Beliefs
Feeling free is really a mindset. It is impossible to feel free if you are caught up in negative or repetitive thinking. The only way to truly find freedom is to get out of your own way and release the thoughts that are holding you back.
We all have that voice in our heads that tells us we are not good enough, but learning to silence this voice is the most powerful and loving thing we can do for ourselves.
The world deserves to see you. You deserve to shine. All you have to do is allow yourself to be You. All you have to do is believe in yourself and know that by doing so, you will find your purpose and your path.
Living a free life is about being authentic, and about owning your true feelings. It is about knowing that people are going to respect you for who you are and not what they want you to be.
If you are looking to create more freedom in your life, simply open your awareness to it and set the intention to create more of it in your life.
The world needs you. The world needs your unique energy and your unique sparkle, and the more authentic you are, the more aligned you become, and the more aligned you become, the freer you feel.
