How do you see your relationship to freedom?

You might see freedom as a way of living your life, perhaps as a goal with a desired outcome.

Freedom might equate having the peace of mind to know that you don’t have to worry about paying your bills. Some people see freedom as patriotism, and all of the ideas and pictures associated with that. Then there is the freedom to love who you choose, and to be safe where you live - the freedom to be who you are.

Others, more bleakly, see freedom as an impossible to achieve dream.

Freedom happens on different fronts: financially, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, in relationships, at work, while traveling, when alone. You have different levels of freedom in different areas of your life.

Depending on where you are in your life, you may feel free, or not.

Guidelines for your level of freedom might be laid out for you by others in your group and your culture. Sometimes these guidelines are known as cultural or social rules. Be careful if you break the rules, as somebody will always have something to say about it.

Some people believe that your level of freedom is and should be decided by your gender, your age, education, financial status, health, race, religion, ethnicity, or all of the above. We all judge and are judged according to these guidelines, and once judgement enters the picture, true freedom diminishes.

Freedom can manifest in your life in many different ways.

Freedom, and how you see yourself in relation to it, comes first out of your consciousness, your awareness. Freedom is not anarchy. You may feel entrapped by any number of situations in your life - whether you have any control over them is another thing to consider. Move away from anything or anyone who appears to keep you from feeling free, and your view changes.

If you move the energy out of your way, meaning that you let go of any energy that you’ve allowed yourself to be owned by, you gain freedom. It’s not about someone out there taking your freedom, it’s how you decide to have your own space regardless of your circumstances.

Don’t blame others for this, as it will only hold you back.

Call the abusers by name, but forgive them. Doing so frees you to regain your own power. If you decide to free yourself from where you’ve allowed yourself to become enslaved, you gain. Every challenge you’ve faced has only helped you to get stronger, to learn more about yourself, to move deeper into your own spirit.

Once freed, you will have a new view of life and yourself. It isn’t anyone else’s responsibility to do this for you, though others can certainly help.

We all help free each other through our words, acts, and creations, through sharing, a kind hello. Still, it is up to each one to do the actual work. If you want to gain freedom for yourself, you can.

The instinct of nearly all societies is to lock up anybody who is truly free. First, society begins by trying to beat you up. If this fails, they try to poison you. If this fails too, they finish by loading honors on your head. -Jean Cocteau

• ©Kris Cahill
  ‘The Way Home’ ©Koan on Morguefile