Freedom, And The Power of Your Heart

I was talking to a friend who was more or less lamenting the lack of freedom for women in our world. This was part of a discussion group pretty much centered around blaming men for the ills of women, particularly regarding men oppressing women. That conversation got me thinking.

It isn’t up to anyone else to grant us our freedom. We do that. Each and every individual on the planet has the responsibility for their own freedom. Certainly this is far easier in a free society than in one that is suppressed or oppressed, but no matter where we live in this world, freedom is still our own personal responsibility.

Freedom isn’t going to be given to us from somewhere outside of ourselves, it’s given to us by ourselves from inside ourselves. As my very loving and very wise daughter-in-law reminds us, the more empowering phrase is "Freedom to... not freedom from."

Freedom isn’t a place, it’s a state of being. Just like happiness isn’t a place, it’s a state of being. If we want to be free, if we want to be happy, we have to decide that we are, feel that we are, live as if we are, and then nothing, nothing can keep us from it.

No set of circumstances can change how a person feels if they don’t allow it to do so. I’m reminded of a scene from the movie “The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio,” where Evelyn, struggling mother of 10 and the focus of this true story, is listening to yet another apology from her tormented husband. In his remorse for causing her pain he says “I only want to make you happy” to which she replies “I don’t need you to make me happy. I only need you to leave me alone when I am.”

This gets to the core of personal realization. This is at the core of the shift in consciousness—each and every individual accepting their part in the creation of their own world. It doesn’t need to be a revolution that continues to pit some of us against others of us. Women pitting themselves against men is no more a solution than men pitting themselves against women has been. It can be a revolution that happens so quietly we only see it as a revolution in retrospect.

As we have seen from centuries upon centuries of bloodshed, ‘pushing against’ isn’t the solution. The solution lies within each individual taking responsibility for their own heart, and living by what that heart tells them. Within each heart is the god-force, the part of us that sees the bigger picture, knows why we chose to be born into the circumstances we were born into, and is guiding us every step of the way. Whether we choose to listen to that guidance is the question, and within that question lies the answer.

Following our heart is first done by accepting that, for whatever known or unknown reason, we chose the circumstances in which we live. We choose them every minute of every day. We are creators. We are of god. We are part and parcel of god, each of us. No matter how disgusted we are with another human being, no matter how unacceptable we find their behavior to be, no matter how much we feel that they have hurt us or hurt someone we love or care about, the plain and simple truth is that we are all god, with all the power of creation that that implies.

I know that most people who hear that will recoil in pain at the mere possibility, let alone see it as any kind of reality. And yet knowing that, accepting that, is at the heart of change. Because change comes from within. It comes from knowing that you make the choices for your own life, no matter what physical circumstances you find yourself in. When you can look around at every circumstance in your life and accept responsibility for it, then you are experiencing true freedom. And you can do that anywhere, at any time.

There are no victims. Don’t allow yourself to be one, and don’t see others that way. Does that mean we have to condone the horrors that happen to ourselves and others? Of course not. What it does mean is when we see the horror, experience the horror, we have to know there is another way, and then focus on finding that way. Focusing on how it’s been is just more re-creation of how it’s been, it leaves no space for change to occur.

From Theo as received by Gina Lake in her book "Return to Essence":

The past is not a predictor of the future, and yet the mind believes that it is.

In other words, the past is not a predictor of the future unless we believe that it is, unless we allow it to be.

Each and every one of us is more powerful than can even be hinted at. That we can’t see that we are lies in the duality, the illusion of right and wrong, good and bad, the illusion of separation. That’s what the great planetary awakening is all about. It’s about realizing that the time has come to see duality for the illusion that it is.

Some of us (I, being American, am not one of them) have taken on enormous challenges to be born into a culture of oppression at this particular time. My heart goes out to those of you living in the throes of that, but also my encouragement, my appreciation, my love, and my knowingness that you can make a difference. You do make a difference.

As Ghandi so eloquently said,

Be the change you want to see in the world.

No one anywhere on earth is in a better position to be the change than those who are suffering the most. Follow your heart and let others see that such a thing is possible. It doesn’t necessarily come from standing atop a soapbox, it comes from living in your own power and allowing others to see that it can be done.

Standing in that power, you have something that others want. Even if they don’t know what that thing is, they will draw from you the possibility that their life can be different. That is the seed that you plant by being the sovereign being that you are, by listening to your self, by not letting others tell you what is right for you, by not letting others tell you how you ought to live or how you ought to behave.

You know what is right for you. Trust it. Your guidance is there, it comes from you. It comes from within you. Feel it. Know it. Follow it. But that also means that you must allow others the same freedom. Whether they are doing what you think they ought to do is moot, what they do or do not do is their decision. You are not responsible for it.

In situations of oppression it’s far more difficult to accept that we are choosing our circumstances, because logic would tell us that a person would never do that. We just cannot reconcile that any human being would choose to be born into conditions that are less than ideal, let alone atrocious.

But there’s an upside to a human being taking on such a great challenge, and that is that even the smallest movement toward accepting their own power, the power of god within, even one tiny decision, adds enormously to the shift of the whole of consciousness. Even considering the possibility that there are peaceful solutions to every situation, that we can all live in harmony, and that we can do so one heart at a time, adds to the global consciousness of such thinking. Congratulate yourself for being such a person. You make a difference.

The greatest change comes from the smallest decisions, and those are the decisions we make each and every day, about whether we will allow ourselves to follow our heart or whether we won’t. It happens in a moment, and all those moments add up.

Espavo, friends. May you find the true power of your own heart in every moment.