Freedom

This is the time of year, where in the US, we pause and take a moment to celebrate our freedom.  There is a different feeling in the air, it is lighter and happier as people relax more, connect more and enjoy the celebration of our independence.  That feeling - the one of waking up and doing whatever sounds like fun, that is the essence of freedom. Freedom is a big word used in my coaching practice - people are looking for financial freedom, freedom from their problems, and freedom from feeling less than.  The real place to gain our freedom is from our thoughts!

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I am not the type of person who is against the ego, our mind, or our thoughts.  While I definitely am very heart-centered, I choose to think of my heart as the Commander-in-Chief of one of the most powerful armies of the world, my mind.  My heart knows where to go, what moves to make, and how to clearly meet the objectives for a peaceful life built around service.  To get there, I need to strength of my mind.  My mind is my best friend in that, when it gets a command from my heart, it can figure out exactly how to execute it to precision.  It is truly amazing.  In order to do that, I need to give my mind all the resources it needs to be fully successful, or at the very least, remove the obstacles in its path to success.

This month, I invite you to engage in a practice to amp up your love for your mind, its amazing ability to tell stories, the thoughts that it throws out there (mainly to protect you) that can be a huge stop sign, and all of the other little things it does that trip you up.  Realize, that your mind is truly like a large Army.  Willing and able to march in any direction at a moments notice, but, left with zero direction, will go in a million different ways all at once.  This month, we practice building our freedom, by using the strongest tool in our toolkit, our mind.  And, in order to do that, we start by nurturing it and giving it all the love and support it needs to continue to help us achieve every one of our dreams and heart's desires.

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This month we build our ability to create freedom from the less than desired circumstances, by building up our biggest ally in creation, our mind.  Here are some mind-loving practices:
1.  Meditation - you have heard it, you know it is good, but you still are not doing it... I have been there!  Take all the distress out of it.  Take five minutes a day (set your timer) to just sit with stillness. There are a bazillion ways to meditate.  Find a guided meditation/visualization (my favorite is Tree of Life with Jack Canfield, who he learned from Deirde Hade).  Listen to some classical music and just get lost in the music.  Stare out into space or nature.  Walk a labyrinth (to find one near you go to labyrinthlocator.org).