"Freedom is not given to us by anyone;
we have to cultivate it ourselves.
It is a daily practice."
-- Thich Nhat Hanh
[Classic post from 2-20-15]
I think it is often true that we just do whatever we do day after day with little or no intention about our doing, and at the same time, there may be little thought if any as to why we do what we do.
Oh sure, it's easy enough to say I go to work to earn the money to live a comfortable life. But is that the whole of it? Is that the whole reason? Or, is there more? Or, are we sometimes trading our freedom for the sake of that.
When was the last time you stopped working for a few hours and went to see a movie, or went window shopping, or went to a park and chilled? The refreshment from something like this can boost your morale, creativity, and outlook. There is freedom in this. Freedom comes from our choosing and it also comes from our choices.
Wayne Dyer is famous for saying, "our intention creates our reality." It's just five words, and I think that phrase is very accurate. Are we doing what we intend? A better way to say it may be, are we doing what we do on purpose? With purpose?
Do you absolutely love what you do? Do you get up every morning and can't wait to enjoy another day on planet Earth? If not, then knowing why you do what you do can be a very powerful tool toward that, or toward something more to your liking. And, I mean a better answer than to 'make a living.' You could use your Book of Positive Aspects and write out all the reasons that you do what you do--all the benefits, all the ways it helps you enjoy your life, how it benefits your family, contributes to the economy, all the things you like or love about what you do, and more.
Freedom is our choice. It comes from our intentions, and by intending, we are creating our lives deliberately. In other words, the more often we are taking the short time that it might take to intend what we want to see, experience, be, do or have, the more that will not only become true and be in our reality, the more we will enjoy ourselves, our minutes, hours, and years. There are so many ways to choose our freedom every single day. Another way to say it is in every day and every segment of every day to decide what we want and to focus our attention there rather than follow our habitual patterns.
Abraham & Esther Hicks has a great way to do this and I have it up on my wall in my office: "Today, no matter where I'm going, no matter what I'm doing, no matter who I'm doing it with, it is my dominant intent to look for and find things that feel good when I see them, when I hear them, when I smell them, when I taste them, when I touch them. It is my dominant intent to solicit, experience, and exaggerate and talk about and revel in, the best of what I see around me here and now."
This is not really like work. It isn't hard to do. It simply requires giving thought to what you want today, for the next few hours, during this meeting, when you walk in the door after work, and more. The only way to get better at it and more consistent at it is to practice it, which is the same thing as doing it on purpose. Make that an intention. When I do this, I feel more freedom. I feel more alive. I feel more in the present. I feel more joy, and I get better results while enjoying myself more. I've become excited about what Abraham calls Segment Intending, and what Wayne Dyer calls the Power of Intention.
Happy Choosing Your Freedom Day!
Spread Some Joy Today--by intending it.
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