FREEDOM FROM WORRY
Our thoughts keep racing around in the future ... where we spend too much time
creating confusing games with countless options, decisions, and what if’s. Worry is
unproductive, unnecessary and totally useless. Statistically, most things that we worry
about do not EVER happen, so worry is a needless waste of our creative energy.
"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow;
it empties today of its strength." — Corrie Ten Boom

FREEDOM FROM CONFUSION
People who live with integrity, who focus on their values and on developing
their personal character, are rarely confused. They avoid intellectual clutter, know who
they are, what they stand for, and have clarity about where they are going in life.
"Because clarity and enlightenment are within your own nature,
they are regained without moving an inch." — Lao Tzu

FREEDOM FROM PRETENSE
This vital element of character revolves around integrity, genuineness and sincerity.
Webster defines it as "being credible" and "worthy of trust." To improve our personal, local and global
relationships we must fully embrace our AUTHENTIC SELVES ... and release all need for pretense.
"A bizarre sensation pervades a relationship of pretense. No truth seems true.
A simple morning's greeting and response appear loaded with innuendo and
fraught with implications. Each nicety becomes more sterile and
each withdrawal more permanent." — Maya Angelou

FREEDOM FROM COMPLEXITY
We exist in a world that asks us to live complicated, stressful and complex lives ...
and if we are not careful, we can lose ourselves, our values and our joy by falling
prey to the ever-increasing demands on our time. SIMPLICITY requires us to slow down
to consider how our lives reflect who we are and, most important, what we value.
"Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life,
and the labors of life reduce themselves." — Edwin Way Teale

FREEDOM FROM FEAR
It's vital to remember that freedom from fear can exist only in the
PRESENT tense. To overcome fear’s seduction, we must stop being trapped
between the past and future and move to where freedom lives: squarely in the "Now."
For only here are we free to want what we have, do what we can and
be who we are ... so that our life can have meaning in the world.
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else
is more important than fear." — Ambrose Redmoon

FREEDOM FROM CRITICISM
Other folks can have any opinion, make any remark, or be as "critical" as they wish. That's their right.
But, we also have the right to IGNORE them! Read and embrace Terry Cole Whittaker's
bestselling book that says: What You Think of Me Is None of My Business
Declare independence from those who regularly criticize, but fail to offer constructive assistance.
"Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain ...
and most fools do." — Dale Carnegie

FREEDOM FROM ISOLATION
To experience the freedom that comes from the warmth and companionship of
sharing our innermost thoughts and feelings with another human being, we must step out
of isolation and allow others to get close. "Today, I will get to know the real me by first
taking a personal inventory, then I will practice being completely honest with another person."
"Despair and isolation are my greatest internal enemies; I need to remember
I am not alone, even when it feels that way." — Audre Lorde

FREEDOM FROM COMPULSIONS
To some degree we are all compulsive — over-working, over-spending, over-worrying
and over-consuming in a variety of forms. We have believed that the only solution is CONTROL,
but in trying to control our compulsions, they inevitably control us. SLOWING DOWN creates a space and
freedom from driven-ness, giving us increased sensitivity and time for more positive thought and action.
"A person is rich in proportion to the things
he or she can afford to let alone." — Henry David Thoreau

Declare YOUR independence from old patterns, habits, 'shoulds'
and relationships or addictions that have limited you.
Determine to live your life to the fullest — to explore your potential
and live according to your own conscience and highest aspirations.
Want what you have — Do what you can — Be who you are!



Created from Bits and Quotes on Selected Websites & My Own Personal Life Experiences and Philosophy
~ Chelle Thompson, Inspiration Line Editor ~