I was reminded of a truth recently, “I am not my body.” 
I remember being introduced to this concept in the early ‘90s and it really blew my mind. “I am not my body, I am not my thoughts.” So who are you then? You are actually an energy greater than those things; you are a Soul having a human experience. You may have heard that before, but what does it mean? 
The truth of you is so much more vast then what could fit in this body you call by your name. Now, the negative ego would prefer you not realize this. If you identify with your body, it’s much easier to keep you in fear and keep you small. But that’s not the truth. You are a magnificent being, learning lessons in the school we call Earth. Yes, I’m talking to you, YOU are magnificent. Of course you like to pretend otherwise, because you have identified with, and made personal, everything happening to you. You have believed that your body is where the power came from, but it’s not. You play small because of this. But beyond the body, lies your connection to the Divine. 
The other key aspect is that you are having a human experience- so sometimes you’re going to forget your expansiveness and need to process your anger, grief, and pain etc. because you are human. The truth of you is much bigger then this body, but you are in this classroom to grow and expand, so you can’t deny the body.
Balance is the answer, no you are not your body, but you are in your body so love it and treat it with kindness. No you are not your negative ego chatter, so calm it, quiet it, and use the power of thought to focus your intention.
Don’t rely on your power, tap into the more of you having this experience and then open up to co-creating with the Universe. The truth of who you really are is truly amazing.

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When it comes to focusing, I can sometimes be like the dog in the Disney animated film Up, who will suddenly look off and get excited when he sees a squirrel. To me, self-help, and learning new techniques, can easily become, “squirrel!” It’s fun to learn more and more, but at a certain point, it can become an avoidance tactic. All that knowledge, but are you implementing and living it?
It’s very easy to go into resistance when it comes to focus and clarity, especially around our goals. The subconscious mind chatter comes up to make us avoid doing the work we know we need to do to manifest those very things. Sometimes it’s not even chatter; as soon as you go to focus and really connect to yourself, bam- it’s, “this room has to get cleaned right away,” or, “I have to run this errand now,” or someone suddenly needs help that only you can give. Notice how often you give in to distractions.
And yet, once we get focused and clear, the Universe will move mountains in support of our goal. This is one of my favorite quotes regarding this:
 
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.  Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.  All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets: Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.'”
from The Scottish Himalayan Expedition,1951 - by W.H. Murray
 
Focus on your dreams, notice where you get distracted and avoid, and begin now. The world is waiting.
 

I’m talking about freedom again this week, but this time, the freedom in your personal life. Freedom from, and freedom to. 
Sometimes, we spend so much energy thinking about the things we want to be free of: the beliefs, the behaviors, the limiting and stuck areas, that we forget to also focus on freedom to. If you only focus on freedom from, your subconscious will begin to look for more and more things to be free of, keeping you in an endless loop. I’m not saying don’t be aware of those things, because we do need to acknowledge and heal what keeps us limited and not free in our lives, but we need to balance it with freedom to.
We might resist the “to” part because, who are we without all those issues we worked so hard to clear?  Maybe you had defined yourself by your limitations; it’s how you see and experience yourself in the world. If you were always the person who struggled with X, then when you are free from that, what new possibilities have opened to you? You need to create a new definition of self. That can be scary because it’s undefined and unknown. Can you allow yourself to be more then your blockages? Can you allow in more happiness and joy? That is a threat to your negative ego, so maybe it feels safer to always be fighting the blockages versus owning your light.
Think about the freedom to. When you are free from that fear/pain/struggle/behavior etc., what do you get to do? When you no longer have those limitations, what light can enter your reality? Maybe it’s the freedom to express more joy, to explore your dreams, to follow your creative urges- can you give yourself some of that right now? Can you make the freedom to more powerful then the freedom from?
Give yourself the “to” part now. Don’t wait. Waiting for fulfillment is an illusion of the negative ego. You will always be waiting if it’s out there somewhere. Give yourself permission to enjoy the very things now that you are wanting in the future.
Try giving more attention and weight to the freedom to and see how it lifts you out of the endless cycle of clearing and healing the old.  Your future is now.

​Freedom- wonderful concept, but how much do you actually acknowledge or focus on it?
We’re very blessed in this country that we can vote, protest, wear what we like, worship as we choose- we’re lucky. Don’t take that for granted. The women in Saudi Arabia just earned the right to be able to drive. Drive! Something we were able to easily do once we turned 16. When you think about that, notice how many of your freedoms you don’t even honor, you just expect. 
The freedom of speech is one that I am particularly passionate about. The right to disagree openly with those in elected positions; to be able to say, “no, that’s unjust.” That is a powerful freedom. Do you use it? Same with voting: women went through hell to earn that right and now, people have become apathetic and don’t exercise the very freedom that was so hard won. 
It’s when you stop forgetting how lucky you are to have these freedoms and actually exercise them, that they can slowly be undermined. I won’t go into a whole lecture on the erosion of certain freedoms, but I will say, put value on it. Recognize how fortunate you are to be able to have many freedoms that other people are still fighting for. And there is much more work to be done, clearly. So use your voice, speak your freedoms in what you choose to buy, listen to, participate in, and give attention to. Value your freedom to be you.
 
Happy 4th of July!!!
 
P.S.- For fun, before fireworks start, ask your Higher Self to clear outdated parts of you with every explosion, and as the sparkles of light rain down, to help you become more of your truer self.

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