What does freedom mean to you?

Freedom to me means to be at peace with what is, not only in the outer but in the inner. After reading many articles about what freedom means to different people, I struggled with whether or not I should share my thoughts. Did I really know what I thought? Would it be useful to share my thoughts?

While I was thinking about freedom, my mind was also occupied with the idea that I should let go of old beliefs that did not serve me. What were these beliefs? How do I identify them?

For the last few months, I had been practicing extending love to my thoughts as taught in the Voice For Love Program. Extending love to my thoughts and being with them, extending compassion, understanding or love as my thoughts arose was quite helpful and peaceful.

At the same time, old memories and dreams of people from my past kept occurring. I am fond of recording my dreams and analyzing them, but this time, it felt like “I should try to interpret the dreams”.

A particularly vivid dream happened after a friend sent me a picture taken in 1984. I realized then that while outwardly and consciously I was trying to release the past, underneath was a flowing river of conversation. This conversation included wishing to still have some of the old experiences, look the same way, live in the same place, wanting to feel that I took the right actions.

In that moment of insight, I realized that when thoughts and dreams wander into my awareness, I can just sit with them as one would with a friend, have a chat or a cup of coffee and then say, “Thanks for visiting, goodbye!”

Now that feels like freedom!