Free to Be Me…& You

Freedom is birthed from the courage to show  up as yourself no matter what.

Freedom: the ability to choose how you live. Let’s go deeper. Being free reminds me of the Buddhist vow to take life as it is. What does that mean? 

Let’s begin with the first two vows that it grows out of. The first is to cause no harm and the second is to alleviate suffering. I am paraphrasing these vows and have modified them a bit to fit into my experience. This modification is part of my expression of freedom!

Choosing to take life as it is can be simple at times. When life is even, response happens intuitively. At other times, taking life as it is can be scary and seemingly impossible. Taking life as it is means that you find hope and act courageously no matter what life present. 

I think it is safe to say that we’ve all had those moments where we’ve planned only for life to shift. In those moments we  hear Sacred laughter nudging us into acknowledging the turn our life has taken. Sure we can get angry,. But, there is another way — we can find a way through the tangle back home to our self.

So, what does it take to be free, to choose how you will live not matter what life presents? The biggie is courage. You’ve got to be brave enough to acknowledge your fear and decide how you are going to move through that fear into the next moments.  Without courage, you may find yourself spinning in the fear-mud ultimately becoming more and more entrenched. Courage propels us out of that mud and into our truth. 

Courage asks us to really experience all aspects of our life. To dance in the storm, smile at the gentle caress of the breeze, breathe in the sweet nectar of possibility. When we feel we cannot go on, courage uses the stored energy of those moment to power us through those storms.

When we choose courage,  we do not batten the hatches and merely ride out the storm. No, courage propels us into the wild frenzy of the storm. In fact, we courageously become the storm — the pelting rain, the crashing thunder, the blinding lightning, the whipping wind. In this becoming we experience the message inherent in those stormy moments that we would rather ignore.

Courage is meticulous. It sifts through the messages within life as it is to glean their power. It asks us to reframe what we find by asking, “How can I live into each moment even when I am not particularly pleased with its evolution?” And, courage chuckles in the face of adversity knowing it is just another test to bring us more deeply into the freedom that flows from our core. 

Freedom, for me, isn’t about being given lemons and making lemonade. No, freedom is about relishing the tartness of the lemons and finding a way to live in the grace of that moment. Freedom comes when we appreciate the gifts in our life and live from that appreciation.

So, freedom invites me to live in the messiness of life knowing that I get to courageously decide how I approach each  moment. Freedom reminds me that life is to be lived and that joy exists in each breath I take. 

Vanessa F. Hurst, ms, is an intuitive-coach-catalyst. As a contemplative coach, she uses mindfulness practices and intuition tools to create strategies for navigating those scary places. The result? Creating a blue print for your life through a deeper connection to your intuition. She is a professional speaker & author who weaves inner wisdom into all she touches. Her books are available @ www.wildefyrpress.com. Her most recent book, As Natural As Breathing: Being Intuitive, is available on Amazon. Contact Vanessa for life coaching, intuitive consultations, keynotes, and programs.

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