Freedom from Within

Whatever we face in the world around us, our freedom starts from within. It’s up to us whether we liberate ourselves from unconscious servitude to our habitual patterns, or continue to let them waste both our energy and our irreplaceable time in a war of attrition with ourselves. Reclaiming these resources is a radical act in service of our humanity and of the world we want to live in.

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Leadership demands this of us. A leader takes responsibility for their world by taking responsibility for themselves. As leaders, fighting for our own freedom is our responsibility to the world. You know the saying: “hurt people hurt people”? Well, free people free people.
So hear this in no uncertain terms: if you’re here to have an impact on a wounded world, your first responsibility is your own liberation from what no longer serves you.

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Let’s look at three of the levels on which this fight for freedom plays out:
1.) Freedom from story
2.) Freedom from both past and future
3.) Freedom to take conscious action

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Freedom from story means deciding how we will relate to what has happened to us, who we are, and the world we inhabit rather than letting these be decided for us. We choose whether to view ourselves as victims of our circumstances, or as the co-creators of our own experience. We choose whether to see those who harm us as perpetrators, or as fellow human beings with whom we get to step into or walk away from relationship. We choose whether to feel hopeless in the face of inequality and oppression, or to show up so powerfully that we carve a space for hope in the darkness. And when we make that choice, we step into an empowered place of knowing that no matter what happens, it’s providing us an opportunity to grow our capacity to take responsibility for ourselves and for our world.

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Freedom from the past and future means two things: letting go of shame about the messes we’ve made and the opportunities we’ve missed, and interrupting the pattern of predicting what is fundamentally unknowable and uncertain. When we reclaim the energy both unconscious habits fritter away, we free ourselves to become deeply present to what’s happening RIGHT NOW. By expanding our capacity to pay attention to what’s playing out within and around us moment to moment, we start to play in a wider field of possibilities and open up greater space for conscious choice.

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Freedom to take conscious action means making the decision to act on our instincts, vision and values with full permission to play big, take risks, and show up in our full strength while still taking full responsibility for our impact. Doing this requires that we free ourselves from story and build our capacity to be present to life as it’s happening right now with curiosity and compassion. It also requires that we bring courage and conviction to envisioning the leadership legacy we want to leave behind us, and to understanding and leveraging our strengths and in service of that legacy.

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Here’s the good news. We don’t have to perfect ourselves or attain enlightenment to experience more freedom and make more freedom possible for others. Each time we notice our patterns and ask ourselves what we choose instead of what that mental habit is choosing for us, we create more freedom. And it’s a freedom that’s ours to create, expand, and wield. And that we can share in ways that radically benefit others and our world.  

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So what will it be? Unconscious servitude to patterns that no longer serve you and undercut the impact you’re here to have on the world? Or the messy, expansive, often uncomfortable, and radically important work of refusing to waste your gifts a moment longer and boldly stepping up to create your own life?

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I hope for all of our sakes that it’s the latter. If you’re ready to be the architect of your own existence in service of a better world, Consciously is here to help.