How To Find True Freedom

All we want is to be free.  Free to choose.  Free to live our lives.  Free to pursue happiness.  But are we truly free?  There are so many things that we allow to trap us and keep us imprisoned.  Sometimes it's our job. Sometimes it's an unhealthy relationship.  And sometimes it's drugs, alcohol or even food.  Our lives can get so crazy and so filled with stress.  And it's only natural for us to seek out ways to relieve our stress.  And sadly, many times we choose those things that end up enslaving us.  The comfort that we get from these things makes us think we are doing something to make our lives better.  But these comforts are only temporary and usually leave us feeling worse than we did before.

True freedom comes from letting go of the things we think are making us happy, but are actually making us miserable.  We think that it is more freeing to be able to eat whatever we want and not have a bunch of restrictions on our diet.  But the truth is, you become trapped by the bad food and the bad habits.  You become a slave to your addiction.  Every day you have to do a whole checklist of things to keep up the addiction.  It's a lot of work!  Making sure you have ice cream and pizza in the freezer.  Or the right alcohol.  Or cigarettes.  You spend half of your day running errands to make sure you have your comforts.  And even though you know you will feel gross afterward, you still sit down and eat that entire pizza in one sitting because you are controlled by your addiction.  You may not even want it anymore.  It may not even sound good, but it's your only source of happiness so you decide to do it anyway.  That does not sound like freedom to me.

True freedom is learning to let go of our addictions.  To just let God or the universe take them away from us so we can start focusing on the things that will make us truly happy.  Better health.  More friends.  More love.  Getting a dog.  Going outside more.  Watching sunrises and sunsets.  These are the things that make us feel truly free.  No longer trapped by an addiction that keeps us at home in front of the TV, we now have the freedom to explore the world.  We have the energy to go outside.  To travel.  To spend time with people.  That is the life we truly want.  That is freedom!

So true freedom comes from beating these bad habits.  Eliminating them and bringing more true joy givers into our lives.  For me, it’s time with family, hanging with friends, getting a dog, going to church, spending more time outside and creating original music.  See more sunrises and sunsets.  Go to more movies.  Go to more concerts and Broadway shows.  Get involved in community events.  Give.  Love.  Achieve goals.  That’s where we find true joy and true freedom.  Free from the shackles of our addictions and bad habits.  We can truly let them go and not be trapped.  Not be blocked from feeling true joy.  

True freedom.  It's out there.  It's right in front of you and all you have to do is grab it.  But it comes at a price and that price is the hard work it takes to break these addictions.  Bad habits have a way of becoming engrained in our lives and getting rid of them is serious work.  It takes true dedication and commitment.  But if you can focus on loving yourself and taking care of yourself, then you will start to feel that you deserve better habits.  Once you feel you deserve them, then you will have the strength to truly change.  It's not easy but it's worth it.

Aren't you tired of feeling trapped?  Aren't you tired of not experiencing the joy of being free?  You deserve it and you can have it but you have to go get it.  No one is coming to save you.  No one is coming to take these addictions away from you.  It's time for you to look in the mirror and truly face these bad habits.  Be honest with yourself.  What is holding you back?  Name it.  Say it out loud.  Write it down.  And then make a plan to destroy it.  Because I promise, once you do, true freedom awaits!

How To Be Happy

Ok I know the title of this blog post is a little big.  Really dude?  In 500 words you are going to tell us how to be happy?  Isn't that what millions of people have been trying to figure out for centuries?  Scholars have scholarred.  Poets have poetted.  And now you just finally cracked the code, huh?

Well, in so many words.  Yes.

Life is hard.  And not only is life hard, people are harder.  People have to become hard as stone to survive.  If we were all soft and sensitive, the human race would have been extinct years ago.  Life throws us a lot of curve balls.  People get hurt.  People get sick.  People die.  People get screwed over.  It happens everyday.  And in order to survive, these same people have to toughen up.  We learn from the pain that we need to be more careful next time.  We need to protect ourselves and our emotions, so we start building our emotional wall.  (To learn how to break through this wall, see my article called How To Break Through Your Emotional Wall).

The biggest thing we do to protect our emotions and to fortify our wall, is we become bitter.  We become very cynical of the people and the world around us.  In order to make sure we aren't hurt again, we make fun of everything before it can effect us.  We call Hallmark movies "cheesy."  We make fun of simple love songs and call them "lame."  Anyone trying to change us is obviously trying to sell something or they are "full of it."  No one is genuinely happy, right?  It's not possible.  If you are overweight, then that's just the way it is.  You can't lose weight.  If you are broke, then that's just the way it is.  You can't get out of debt.  And if you are unhappy, then that's life.  Life is hard and we are meant to be unhappy.  Aren't these the messages we hear everyday?  No wonder so many people are popping pills for depression.  We live in a bitter, cynical society that tells us nothing is possible.

Here's the thing.  These are all lies. 

People who are saying these statements are lying to you.  They may not know it, but they are.  They can't see the truth anymore through all the bitterness fog.  Cynicism has made them blind to joy.  There is only one cure for this disease of bitterness that is spreading through our society: 

We have to stop being cynical. 

That's it.  That is how to be happy.  Stop being cynical.  And here's why.  Once you turn off the cynicism, you give yourself permission to feel again.  You are telling yourself that it's okay to let go of the fear and to open up again.  You don't have to call Hallmark movies "cheesy" anymore.  It's okay to like love songs again.  You are giving yourself permission to embrace every guilty pleasure you have every experienced.  You are allowing yourself to believe again.

How amazing would that be?  You can stop your cynical cycle today and give yourself permission to feel again.  Let the emotion wash over you.  Feel it.  Sing it.  Love it.  The power you have inside of you is amazing and all it comes down to making a choice.  You can choose this everyday but you have to commit yourself to fighting the army of bitterness marching all around us.  It's everywhere.  Screaming at you and making fun of you.  But who cares what miserable people think anyway?  I choose to be happy.  I choose to feel.  I choose to believe.  I choose to not give into my cynicism anymore.  I'm free.  Finally.  Won't you join me?

Lost?  Not sure where to go next?