There are times in life when you may feel like you have little freedom in your life; and sadly, you may feel like it's been years since you felt free to be you.
Your life may feel very much like you are controlled by dictators, always trying to live up to other’s standards or views on how you should live.
You may feel that you are trapped by difficult circumstances, or that you cannot control your own life for a variety of reasons.
I am here to tell you that you absolutely can free your mind and free your life right this very moment. In fact, you can do so in in 3 simple steps:
Step #1: Realize that your mind is already free.
No matter what your current issues are, your mind is free right at this very moment. No one can force you to believe their viewpoint on anything. You make all the decisions about what to think, feel, and do.
Is this difficult to believe? Here’s an example that might make it easier:
What if someone walked you to the edge of a cliff and told you that you must think about an apple immediately or he would push you off.
Would you actually have think about an apple to save your life? Could you just tell him that you were thinking about an apple? How would he know if you were lying?
The reality is that you could think about anything you wanted, and there would be little he could do about it. Saving your life would be fairly easy, as you could claim that you thought of an apple, and he would have to believe you.
While that is an extreme example, this same idea applies to your life.
All too often we think that we must believe the viewpoints of parents, friends, acquaintances, bosses, doctors, religious leaders, and even the media. Again and again, we give our personal power over to the opinions of those around us, because we think we have no choice and no right to question them.
Worse, we’re brainwashed to believe that we must live our lives by their standards or suffer some horrifying consequences, like going to hell or our lives ending in abject failure with them standing over us saying, “I told you so!”
Let me tell you, living your life based on beliefs you don’t agree with is a recipe for a miserable life, and nothing more.
You’re free to think anything you desire about yourself, your life, and what you really want to be and do.
You’re a perfectly wonderful person as you are, and your needs and desires are good and appropriate for you.
Whether or not they are appropriate for others isn’t your concern. You have a right to make choices that live up to your standards, and no one else’s.
Step #2: Free your life by freeing your mind from the power of other’s beliefs.
Take a moment right now to decide whether you want to keep living by other people’s standards. Here’s a great exercise to help you:
First, take out a sheet of paper. Then, write down everything you believe you should be, should do, and should think. Write down others opinions on your decisions and their beliefs about your life.
Then, ask yourself whether you want these things to be true for you.
For instance, you may have lived your life with guilt because you never put in the effort to become a doctor. However, when you really consider it, you never wanted to be a doctor; you only feel guilt because it was what your parents expected of you.
Or, you may have been taught that you were not good enough, not smart enough, not pretty enough, or any of a million terrible things that we all learn throughout our lives.
Now, ask yourself if these are the beliefs that you want to continue to build your life around. How much time have you wasted allowing these beliefs to control you? How many negative experiences have you had because you believed these things about yourself? What experiences have you missed out on?
Take back your freedom and your life. Rip up that piece of paper and mentally decide you are throwing out beliefs you don’t agree with. Decide right here and now that you and only you choose what you want to believe about yourself and how you want your life to be.
Step #3: Retune your mind with new belief statements.
Now that you have found a way to free your mind of old beliefs that were holding you back, you must replace those with new beliefs that empower you and the life that you desire to live.
Formulate some new truth statements for yourself. You might want to say something as simple as “I am free to live my life the way that I want”, or something as specific as “I am smart and capable. I choose to live up to my greatest potential.”
Try saying these new truth statements to yourself over and over again throughout the day. You will be amazed at the new life you begin to create for yourself.
Best of all, it will be the life that you truly desire! (Now that’s freedom!).
What do you do to feel in control of your life? Have you been feeling stuck and worn out lately? I'd love to hear your stories.
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