Being yourself
The greatest freedom we can have in this world is the ability to do what we want with our time , to choose the company that we keep : importantly our choice of people in authority, leaders in government, organisations etc.
The ability to have access to everything that the world has invented, without having to worry about cost, distance, technology etc is daunting but yes imaginable. That freedom would also mean that we could do as we please even at the cost someone else’s happiness, break few laws of the land which we deem unimportant in our scheme of things and not worry too much about what the world thinks of us. If you are the kind who likes everyone to like and respect you than you could use this freedom to influence their decision about yourself.
Would this freedom make us happy! Or would it make us wish for some control over ourselves perhaps external! All of us have seen some movies on some zealot who has the power to destroy the world with his thoughts aided by weapons of mass destruction in his hands. The end of those movies is very predictable – the zealot is ultimately overpowered and most often erased from the face of this earth. Have you ever wondered why?
Freedom is of no use if it has to worry about one’s own action in the context of right or wrong each time we make it and wondering what others make of it.
Freedom is a choice in itself. It is the power that we can give ourselves. It is the power to explore what we are about. It has the ability help you build your own brand and stop being one among the faceless nameless soul in the world. It gives us the power to define our relationship with our friends, peers, bosses and thereby our world. It does not alter the structure of relationship because it is not about breaking free but it does alter the power in that relationship by breaking the shackles of the controls in your mind. How does that happen or rather why should that happen? The reason is that ,when we draw from the power of doing things without looking for approval we start to build our sense and purpose on why we are taking that stance. The ability to read our follies and quickly correct them without attaching any guilt or baggage makes us powerful. This responsibility of drawing on our own sensibilities makes us attractive to the world. It could make us unpopular but nevertheless more powerful than before. On the contrary it can make us popular beyond our dreams and equally powerful.
But how do we get there? How could we have personal freedom and at the same time not lose our peace of mind
The first thing to do to enjoy that freedom is to stop looking for approval. All the motivational experts have told us that we carry enough baggage of rights and wrongs in this world defining and shaping our view on morality, sexuality, commerce and relationships ever since we were of learning age to the present. Even today some of us perhaps are having thoughts - when we have a glass of water or a piece of cake about the good and bad resulting of that action. Freedom of choice will redefine at least some of them if not all of them. But that choice if exercised with an open mind will redefine you.
To be continued........
