Freedom

Day 119. Freedom.

Wars are fought for it, lives lost in pursuit of it. Mankind around the planet searches for freedom, relentlessly searching for something we are already.

Each of us is in truth an unlimited idea of freedom. Everything that limits us we have to put aside. Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

I know it doesn't seem like we are free. There are many things grabbing at us, blocking our ability to do the things we want. Work, family obligation, governmental regulation. To cut through all the things in our way, we must start with the reverse approach: believe we are free, and push away the things that restrict it.

Those of us with jobs can't just walk away from them, but we can do things to make their demands less intrusive. Money isn't the only reason we work, but since it's the main factor we have to choose a job where the rate of pay is high enough to maintain the lifestyle we want. So lowering our material demands means we can take a job that requires less hours, less commitment: there's more freedom.

All those things we do with family: soccer practice, gymnastics, trips to the mall. Apply the same principles: lower expectations, remove the things we really don't need, gain more freedom. It's great to be involved, but really, what's your ten-year old going to do with what she learned in pottery class? Fine if she's going to become an artist, but just because all the other cool girls are doing it doesn't mean she has to as well. Maybe the freedom to sit home and watch movies with the family means just as much.

Stuff. We all know we don't need all that stuff. With less stuff, we can work less, so we can play more. That's more freedom. Forget the big screen television, the whole family can snuggle on the couch for that movie even without it. And afford to buy popcorn. Because freedom is cheaper than we realize.

Lesson One Hundred Nineteen: Don't fill up your life with things, free yourself from them.

 611 to go...