“Don’t live life looking for freedom, live in the freedom of life”

This is a beautiful phrase which opened my eyes up to living with freedom.

I always used to think that freedom would come to you. That you have to work towards it, that you have to ‘unlock’ it as if it was some sort of bonus level to life.

But, in reality, this isn’t true.

Now I know that sounds strange but the reason I say it isn’t true is because you can live with freedom right now. Yes, right this very moment. But only if you allow yourself to.

Freedom isn’t a destination you reach, it’s a way of living.

If I were to ask you what’s stopping you from being free right now, what would you say?

You’ll probably list out a few things like “my work is stopping me” or “my Family” or “money” etc.

And you’re probably right. But before we get into that, lets first understand what freedom means.

Freedom to you may mean not being held back, not being stuck in one place or being able to do whatever you want. But is this really freedom? Or is this a destination? Something you are trying to achieve? A destination you’re trying to get to?

In a way, even being able to describe or conceptualise what freedom is, isn’t really freedom. It’s an idea, a concept.

The dictionary definition of freedom is “having the ability to act or change without constraint. Something is “free” if it can change easily and is not constrained in its present state”.

So taking a look at that, freedom is being able to change, being dynamic, not being constrained by any given moment.

Freedom is something you live, it’s something you experience – and in truth, you can’t describe it, because the moment you do, it doesn’t become freedom any more – you’re restricting it to an idea. You’re constraining it to your own idea and concept of what freedom is.

So now let’s come back to your own definition of what freedom is. Do you think about it differently now?

The way I am beginning to understand living with freedom, is that you can’t have any attachment. For me, it’s about living in the moment as much as possible and understanding that every moment brings an infinite amount of possibilities with it.

Freedom is freeing yourself from worries, from regrets, from the stories you tell yourself, from the constructs of society, from your own identify and by that I mean the ideas you have about the person you are.

When you live with freedom, all of this falls away. None of it matters because you are deeply connected to the present moment. And when you experience these moments, you feel the freedom.

All that being said, it still takes work. I mean there’s years of unlearning to do. I’ve spent most of the past 12-18 months trying to fully understand and recognise when I am having these moments of freedom. 

It’s not like I am living in a constant state of freedom. I’m always slipping back into my thoughts and getting caught up with my thinking and ideas.

There’s a certain amount of letting go which you need to do. And this is the hardest part. The natural state of our minds are to live with freedom. But the issue we all face is that we have become too accustomed to living within our own thinking.

And when you are living within your own thinking, you are not experiencing freedom.

The difficult part is that there is no amount of learning or practice you can do. It’s more of an understanding and an experience which will help you free up your mind and live in true freedom.

So, to finish, I’d like to revisit the words I began with; “don’t live life looking for freedom, live in the freedom of life”.

Peace and love,

Alex