We are trapped in our own personal jails. These illusions keep us from being free.
There have been times in my life when I struggled mightily to pay the bills. Financial insecurity was real and it limited my choices. There have been times when unexpected things happened and in those moments sacrifice was required, and it felt like choices were limited.
These days I live a very privileged life: many choices, lots of agency. So do most of the people I interact with on a daily basis.
So why are we frequently complaining?
“…the spiritual evolution necessary to move from a consciousness of bondage to a consciousness of liberation takes time.” (Read more from Gloria Anzaldúa in A Time for Growth)
Even when we are free in many of the “physical” or “tangible” ways we desire freedom, we keep ourselves spiritually, emotionally, and mentally imprisoned.
Which one(s) are you trapped in? Shame, anger, addiction, resentment, an insatiable appetite for more, unmet expectations and needs…the list goes on.
Even when things go wrong, even on our worst days, we have agency and choice over our hearts and our minds.
One of my favorite books is Viktor Frankl’s, “Man’s Search for Meaning.” I read this book, and others, about people in the midst of deep suffering to wake me up to all that is right here and the power I have to choose.
In the midst of our privilege, it’s easy to get used to our comforts. Small inconveniences begin to bother us. We start creating problems that don’t really exist, making life harder than it has to be.
I do it too. Just the other day someone asked me genuinely, “How are you?” My immediate and heartfelt answer was “Life is so good, I am so blessed.” But I stopped myself from saying this because I felt guilty. Guilty because of the suffering of the world around me. Guilty for the good life I have.
And this, keeps me trapped in a prison of my own making. Cutting off the gratitude, joy, and abundance that I could be giving to the rest of the world…because I first have to receive it for myself.
We need people who are experiencing abundance, goodness, and joy in the midst of a painful and suffering world. We are the ones who can help others, lift others up, work against injustice with openness and compassion for everyone involved, and help us all heal.
I invite you to think about how you might be making things harder than they have to be. What might need to change in you to see your current situation with gratitude and peace?
How much more could you positively impact the world if you received your blessings and freedom with grace, and turned around and offered them to others around you?
Instead of taking stock of all we don’t have, let’s take stock of all we do.
We are working so hard to “get there” that we are missing all the gifts that are “right here.”
It can be both. Be grateful and peaceful now, while you continue to pursue whatever is next. You just have to purposefully choose and receive the gifts in the now. This isn’t settling, this is accepting. Two completely different things.
Let’s challenge ourselves to consider what really makes a good life. On their deathbed, the majority of people realize the currency they were measuring was all wrong. Most of us are chasing money, things, achievement, and security when it’s the relationships and time freedom that really make the difference.
Once the currency by which we measure a good life starts to change, and our habits and practices along with it, then we see that we could have experienced some level of freedom and gratitude all along, in all of it. That’s what has happened for me.
Most of us don’t need anything more or different to be free, we simply need a new perspective.
We need to recognize and fully receive our blessings, then turn around and bless others. Trust me, this kind of inner work will have an incredibly deep and lasting effect on your own peace and happiness, and it will change the world around you in all the ways we desire to leave an impact and legacy.
Eventually in this process of transformation we surrender it all.
We begin to walk in the way of faith rather than the way of money or even knowledge. We see everything as an opportunity to learn, grow, and become a better human – the way God always intended – for everything to bring us closer to Him and to become more like Him.
Imagine if that became or north star and our definition of a good and successful life…
Thank you for reading! If you liked this blog, please like and share it with others. I would love for you to follow along and be part of my community and conversations! Please consider subscribing to my weekly newsletter, reading my book, Take It All Apart, and exploring my work through The Restoration Project. You can contact me at dreambuilder@the-restorationproject.com.
Dream big. Love hard. Keep shining.
Grit, Gratitude, and Grace 