Ahhhh…Freedom!
Dr. Lori Savage
I have felt more contemplative than usual these last few weeks. Perhaps it is that I just turned 60, and decade-changing birthdays have a way of inviting contemplation of one's life. My oldest granddaughter Sam also had a milestone birthday recently. She turned 18. The world is telling her, "You're an adult now!" She is wondering, 'How that can be?' as am I. 'Weren't you just our little flower girl toddling down the aisle at our wedding'?
As ages go, 18 symbolizes freedom, or at least it did for me. When I turned 18, I celebrated by stepping out of my parent's home and driving cross country to California despite my worried mother's objections. I was fulfilling a divine urge that would continue to tug at me until I moved here for good 20 years later. Freedom is synonymous with choice. We get to choose whether or not we scratch the itch of inspiration. The itch doesn't care. My 20-year gap between itch and scratch was filled with growth and lessons. If you had asked me, "growth" and "lessons" probably wouldn't have been two words I would have picked to describe my situation then, but nevertheless.
Perspective: age's greatest gift.
So, if we are free to choose anything, if we are free to choose to listen to the whispers that, as Ernest Holmes says, "tell us of a life wonderful in its scope; of a love beyond our fondest dreams; and of a freedom which the soul craves." Why do we ever hesitate to follow our inner guidance? That is the question I have been asking myself, and I invite you to contemplate it for yourself. Our answers to that question may differ, but we share some commonalities no matter our circumstances.
Our default hardwiring is for survival above all else. The problem is that aspect of our mind is masterful at making stuff up. It's compelling and constantly competing with the whispers of the still, small voice. The catch is some of what it tells us IS true. We must let go of the familiar to experience the extraordinary. True freedom requires us to see our well-worn patterns. To recognize and discern the truth. We can't change what we don't see.
Every day we get to choose where to hang out in the BS (a belief system) that doesn't serve us or move beyond it. We can meet the urge where it lives in the stillness of our hearts, move forward from there, and experience the ecstasy of a well-scratch itch! Freedom is ours at any age.