The Freedom to Be You
Words & Video > My Reflections
The Freedom
to Be You -
An Audio Story
A picture of ice in a lone tree on a snow-covered mesa.
I tell the story here. Please click on the play triangle.
There was once a sea turtle named Hoka who had a dream to play in the snow. When he shared this dream with his friends, they ridiculed him and warned him that he would die because snow is cold and he was a warm water creature. So, Hoka did not pursue his dream because he believed that he would die. However, Hoka’s dream did not go away. Instead, every day it grew a little bit.
Eventually, Hoka, could not deny that he felt this dream all the time. Looking for answers, he went to see the wise seahorse. The wise seahorse said, “Your fear has blinded you to possibilities. Pursue your goal and watch possibilities unfold so that you can live your dream”.
Hoka, chose to believe the wise seahorse.
Once he could see his fears were stopping him, he learned to see beyond his fears. He learned to live.
One place to begin is with emotional awareness.
When you can see beyond the emotional pressures you feel, you discover the freedom to choose your life. Your impulsive reactions transform into thoughtful responses. The situations you experience in your life lose their power to control you. You become free to choose your life instead of only reacting to life.
The wonderful gift of that choice is that it allows you to keep your goals and dreams your primary focus. In other words, you gain the freedom to be you.
I can imagine you think you’ve been you your whole life. In many ways, you’re right. You have. However, there are aspects of you that you’ve never been able to express. Your family, education, religious beliefs, government, and culture around you have all imposed specific rules about how to think and how to behave. No one seemed to give you a choice about how or if you want to implement those rules into your life.
I suspect there are things that you do and ways that you think which exist only because that’s the way you were “supposed” to do them or think them.
These rules exist for good reasons. They help your community and social institutions survive for hundreds, or even thousands, of years. However, these rules are in place to keep you and your society safe from potential harm. They were not implemented to bring happiness into your life.
That is where self-awareness comes in.
We have to live within the boundaries of our civilizations, societies, and chosen institutions. However, there is a way we can do that and still achieve the personal freedom we desire.
Every person I have had the honor to coach uses the word “freedom” or “liberation” when describing how they live and feel after they achieve some understanding of themselves and how their brains process situations.
Emotional awareness is frequently the most direct route we can take to reach that personal freedom.
First, you have to see that you’re feeling emotions all of the time and in everything you experience. Then, once you see those emotional pressures at work in your life all of the time, you can start to free yourself from their control.
It’s a matter of moving the emotions you feel out of the master position of your life into an advisory role in your life. They become one tool you have instead of the whole toolbox. It starts with a simple question, “Am I feeling anything?”
I’ll give you a hint; the answer is always yes. Then you can ask yourself, “What am I feeling right now?” As you discover the emotions influencing your decisions, you gain insights into your immediate and long-term goals. This process is the root of personal freedom.
If you’d like to talk with me about your desire to experience more freedom in your life, please e-mail me by clicking here. Let’s set up a phone or web call, and let’s learn together. It would be my honor to walk with you and be your guide as you take the path to personal freedom in your life.
May Joy, Peace, and Contentment fill your day. You deserve it. I look forward to talking with you soon.
Updated June 14, 2021
February 8, 2016
Dear Friend,
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