Wellness
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What does freedom look like?
t is the month in which we celebrate Namibia’s Independence Day. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself what freedom means to you in your own life? On the one hand we have made great advances as a society in creating free spaces, but at the same time we are still very behind in other areas. Yet this question is not about our collective freedom, but rather about a sense of freedom inside ourselves that makes us feel at peace. To be completely free means to be fully ourselves. Which is actually harder to do than one would think, because to be completely ourselves, we have to know ourselves fully. The great peace activist, author, and poet, Thích Nhát Hanh, who recently passed away, wrote many beautiful teachings on freedom. He wrote that for him “there is no happiness without freedom, and freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves.” Hanh went on to write, “If you have anger in you, you have to transform anger in order to get your freedom back. If there is despair in you, you need to recognise that energy and not allow it to overwhelm you. You have to practice in such a way that you transform the energy of despair and attain the freedom you deserve - the freedom from despair.” His antidote to a life free from despair was in the realisation of the miracle of your life. He wrote, “For me, to be alive is a miracle. It is the greatest of all miracles…. If we get caught up in our worries, our despair, our regrets about the past, and our fears of the future in our everyday lives, we are not free people.”
To live a life of personal freedom is to let go of the things that rob you of your freedom. Some of these freedom thieves include: Lies Have you ever heard the expression “the truth will set you free?” There is a great amount of wisdom hidden in those words. Seeking truth is the first step to personal strength and freedom. Seeking truth means steering away from lies and deception. It has been said that the sense of loneliness and anxiety we may feel in our day-to-day lives is the truth trying to come out of us. If we let the truth out and follow its path we can let go of many of the anxieties that hold us back from being truly free. Incompatible people A vital component to personal freedom is surrounding yourself with people that are like you. We too often surround ourselves with incompatible people and become prisoners to their energy. If you want to feel what freedom is like, surround yourself with people who share your values and outlooks in life. Truly being free means to live as you are, do what you want and spend time with people you like. In essence personal freedom is all about being the ruler of your kingdom. Seeking only comfort We all like our comfort zone, and prefer to avoid negative feelings. Unfortunately we need to embrace negative feelings in order to be truly free. This is because seeking only what makes us comfortable, becomes an imprisonment. Life is not only good days, sometimes we will have bad ones. Our fear of discomfort and suffering takes away our peace of mind. When we recognise that these, too, are a part of life, we are not governed by our fear of them. You have the power to live the life you want, to be free, be yourself and be happy, but this is an active and intentional practice. It starts when you: Stop. Breathe. Feel. Then remind yourself that it is okay to change your mind/path/course/ plan along the way. As circumstances change, so will your choices and decisions. "Letting go gives us freedom, and freedom is the only condition for happiness. If in our heart we still cling to anything – anger, anxiety, or possessions – we cannot be free." Thích Nhát Hanh Kirsty Watermeyer
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