Freedom

By Sue Ellson

 

What is freedom
Is it how you do your hair
Or what you choose to wear?

 

What is freedom
Is it how you spend your time
Or what you do with every dime?

 

What is freedom
Is it how you respond to rules
Or what you remember from various schools?

 

What is freedom
Is it how you manage your emotions
Or what you do to manage commotions?

 

What is freedom
Is it how you react to an attack
Or what you do to retaliate back?

 

What is freedom
Is it how you select what to say
Or what you do to get through every day?

 

Is freedom what you decide
Or something that others take for a ride
Is freedom controlled outside
Or something available deep inside?

 

In times of angst
It can be easy to blame
Someone or something else
For trying to burn your flame

 

But on closer inspection
And with a little reflection
You can come to the final conclusion
That freedom is beyond any direction

 

There are a lot of people in Australia at present abiding by health regulations to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Some people are grateful that a collective process can help protect community members from the virus. Other people may feel that they have lost their freedom.

But what is freedom? If you make a choice right now, is it the right choice, the wrong choice or could there be a better choice?

In this particular case, I have the freedom to choose to be law abiding and then I can look at the new boundaries and make choices within that.

For example, I haven’t been to the shops for quite a while and my regular breakfast would normally include an apple or pear. This morning, I didn’t have any apples or pears, so I made an alternative breakfast, and it was absolutely delicious. In fact it was so good, I am thinking I might even have it again tomorrow morning as well!

I know that a lot of people have relationships that affect their feeling of freedom. This includes their personal, social, work and enterprise relationships and they often feel that someone else challenges their freedom. Personally, I have ‘given in’ way too often in the past. At the time, I freely chose to do that, because I didn’t know any better. I presume I have had a lot of unconscious fears and commitments driving my behaviour as well.

Now, I am learning to speak up and live according to my values and not rely on others to agree with me or like me if I have a different perspective. Interestingly, I am finding that I can now see many more perspectives and even disagree with someone and still maintain an adult relationship. It is truly liberating.

Ultimately, the freedom I feel is up to me. It is an inside job, regardless of any directions, orders, conditions or boundaries.

In the heat of the moment, anyone can lose sight of their freedom, but I hope these words encourage you to see that freedom is still present. Hopefully these words will also encourage you to find ways to enjoy your internal freedom as I believe it is even greater than your external freedom because it doesn’t require any condition to exist. There is no ‘when this,’ and ‘then that.’ It is right now. With love, Sue Ellson 🙂

Photo is of a red flower in a garden in Glen Iris, Melbourne, Victoria taken on 8 August 2021.

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