What Is True Freedom?
True freedom is a belief and a mindset. When you believe and know that you are inherently a free person, and follow through with your actions, you are free.
Before my spiritual awakening, I never felt free. I liked to think I was but I wasn’t. Everyday I woke up with overwhelming dread. I wished I could stay in bed forever instead of starting the day to going to work. My body physically revolted but I pushed onwards, so much so that I would want to throw up everyday on my morning commute. I operated in a constant state of repressed anxiety, worry, stress and tension. Everyday, I made decisions that violated how I actually felt and what I wanted to do. I forced myself to keep moving forward, to keep going to work, to keep smiling, to keep doing my best…to keep surviving. I thought I was free. I thought that because I had money I had choices. I had freedom to go on vacation (2 weeks a year, when approved), I had freedom to enjoy my free time (2 days a week), I had freedom to buy what I desired. I had purchase freedom but I was not free in time and free will.
I started being aware of the concept of freedom a few months in after I began my spiritual awakening. It still felt illusive to me. Why did freedom feel within reach and then not? Why did life feel like a series of battles for freedom? What does true freedom even mean and how does one obtain it? I started thinking about these questions when I was writing about fear. Perhaps the desire for freedom is also in a way connected to fears. Perhaps one does have to fight for true freedom though a series of battles—to face head on their fears and challenges?
FREEDOM: the condition or right of being able or allowed to do, say, think, etc. whatever you want to, without being controlled or limited.
Freedom is a human concept. It implies that it is something external of ourselves. We have freedom as long as it is granted to us, or are born into it. We are made to believe that people are born into various levels of freedom. Some people are born with more freedom and privilege, and others are born with less freedom and privilege. We also associate racial and gender stereotypes with the concept of freedom. We are made to believe that people of certain races, genders, classes or socioeconomic backgrounds are born less free. And that if they desire to have more freedom, they have to fight for it. It implies they never had it to begin with.
Born as an Asian-American woman, I have a social right to intellectual and economic freedom, but a limited perceived social right to freedom in voice and power. Asian women are expected to play a role of responsibility, capability, and quiet passiveness. In some way, we are all challenged with pushing some socially perceived limitation of freedom. But ultimately, true freedom has nothing to do with any of those things (of race, class, socioeconomic background, privilege, etc). A slave and a prince can both be bound by feelings of control, social expectations, responsibilities and restrictions.
There will always be external social attempts of control or restrictions on freedom to varying degrees. But the greatest form of control and restriction of freedom comes from within.
Freedom is not something to attain or strive for or ask for, because true freedom cannot be granted externally. You do not need another person to grant you your freedom or tell you that you are free, when you can do that yourself. As long as you believe that you are not a free person, that you are not deserving of freedom, that you are powerless to make your own decisions….you will never be free, no matter what anyone tells you or what your social standing is.
Our truest sense of freedom comes from a deep understanding who we really are and what we really need. True freedom is exercised and realized when we can be 100% ourselves, express ourselves 100% as we truly are, and live our truths in the world with joy and openness, not guilt or shame. True freedom is determined by how fully our highest selves are living in accordance to our own values, unique desires, and our highest dreams. True freedom is felt with wild abandon, peace and expansive possibility. We breathe freely, we see freely, we sense freely, we perceive freely, we speak and sing freely, we move freely, we dance freely, we express freely, we be ourselves freely. True freedom is the freedom to be yourself 100% in every aspect of your life.
I know I am truly free, because I operate from a place of personal power, truth, self-belief, self-love and trust. I have accessed my highest soul’s voice, wisdom and power. I have the ability to harness energy and generate power internally. I trust myself and see all the ways I am already guided by the Universe. I prioritize my health, growth and well-being. I make decisions in accordance to what my soul desires and needs. I have given myself permission to be. I am the leader of my own life, and I am the only one making decisions for it. Nothing and no one can influence or control my freedom when I have realized my inner power.
Shifting your power source from external to internal is the key to realizing your truest sense of freedom. When you can generate power for yourself, you don’t need anything outside of yourself. And the cycle of external expectations and reliance ends. You won’t need external validation nor approval. You won’t need someone to tell you you’re worthy or great. You won’t need permission to do something. You will take responsibility for yourself, care for yourself, and follow what your heart desires. That is true freedom.
Begin to ask yourself, how aligned is the life you currently live with your full self and what you desire?