Living a Life of Freedom

Have you ever dreamt of living a life of freedom? It might not be as difficult as it seems...

We all dream of the day that the world wakes up and begins to parade down the street with hugs and confetti being tossed in every direction, but we also know that it’s unlikely to happen anytime soon. Our current world has some aspects to it which makes it difficult to live a life of positivity and freedom. The media is swarmed with negative information, energy, and expectations, that we just cannot allow ourselves to fall into the trap of believing we have to live up to them to have a good life. There used to be much more freedom in living a life you want, because the limit of technology prevented these unrealistic expectations to be spread across so many media platforms. However, there are many positives to technology as there are negatives!

As technology progresses and evolves to inhabit a colossal part of our day, we need to practice forms of self care and cleansing in order to stay put on our feet. Collectively, our Egos have allowed mankind to evolve into a species that entertain by seeking into other people’s personal lives. Have you ever heard of the saying, ‘ I am not who you think I am, I am not who I think I am, but I am who I think you think I am’ ? We live by the perception of how we think others see our lives. Living authentically has become a dream to most people, which is seemingly the worst thing that humanity has done to itself. It is a collective egoistic act of self-destruction.

A happy life is not a destination, rather, it is the process of growth and experience in our lifelong journey. Our Ego will always find something to compare itself to, because it grows from all negative aspects of life, especially pride and self-pity. We need to focus on our goals from the understanding that we already have everything we need to achieve them, and that the outcome is not the most important thing in the path of doing so; it is how we decide to use the things we have in order to make them happen. The only thing that will ever prevent you from doing anything is your own mind.

Thought, is sometimes debated to be the presence of being. Without thought, we wouldn’t be anything- in our current world anyhow. Our entire life is built from thought; it is what we have collectively taught ourselves is the only way to understand something. Thought, however, is influenced by reaction and emotion. A thought will always be neutral; it is how we react to thought which makes it ‘positive’ or ‘negative’ in our mind. This can be explained by this concept; two friends supporting different football teams just found out who won the final cup. The same information is presented to both people, but what they have led themselves to believe is the best team is what would essentially strive one of them to jump up and down in relief and positivity, and the other to become sulky and aggressive.

In order to gain better control of our lives, we need to develop our awareness to a point where we can decide what we allow ourselves to react to, and whether we react to things in wisdom or egoistic behaviour. Everything we do in life is our own choice, no matter how grand or small. So, the first step to becoming more aware is to accept and take full and utter responsibility for our current state of being; this is accepting that you are both the cause and the solution to anything you act or don’t act upon in your life.

• Yasmin Bligh-Hasan