It’s True: You Are Free

“Man is free at the moment he wishes to be.”
— Voltaire

Speak the Truth

Madeline¹ is a client and health care professional who is realizing the power of communicating more effectively with her patients, staff, and others. Recently she summed up the benefits of what she calls “communicating clearly while holding my peace”:

“I get to walk away unburdened and free in many ways. What I have found amazing is how the truth of a situation just kind of rises to the top like cream. I have also seen that some folks operate with smoke and mirrors quite a bit. My new way of communicating blows all that stuff away so there is really nothing to hide behind. Most things just lay bare and hopefully we can move on.”

Truth, communication, and freedom — a correlation most definitely exists.

Pick Up The Key

What is the truth of your situation or whatever is challenging you most at this time? Before any significant progress can be made, it is essential to get real and tell the truth to yourself. For example, you may have some valid gripes about your work environment, but aside from those, you know deep down that you’ve wanted to make a change for years. Likewise, the truth about a relationship that irritates you may be that it’s time for you to no longer allow what you’ve previously tolerated.

The whole truth encompasses much more than the factors that constrain you; it includes what is within your power to change. What’s the part you can do something about? Is it an attitude, a new way of seeing yourself, a better way of communicating, or an action plan to formulate? The key is within your reach.

Exercise Your Freedom

We often perceive ourselves to be more limited in our choices than in fact we are. Do not dwell on where you feel constrained. Instead, realize how you are free.

This Week’s Call to Action:

• Where in your life have you been operating as if imprisoned or unduly limited by your choices? Does it involve your job, a relationship, your time, having a voice?
• Decide to do something you have been meaning to do or have just realized you are free to do. Whether on a large scale or a more subtle one, it does not matter. Do this because you can. Notice where you are free, realize what might be possible, and take action.

Exercise your freedom, demonstrate that you value it, and freedom flourishes.

“It is not the fact of liberty but the way in which liberty is exercised
that ultimately determines whether liberty itself survives.”
— Dorothy Thompson

Notes:
¹Name changed for privacy.