Friday, June 15, 2012

Freedom Series - Personal Freedom

I backstroke in the shallow swimming pool after dark, soak in the stars and feel my smooth hair sway around my head with each rhythmic turn of my arms. 

Unbusy Thai employees shoot pool at the bungalow bar beside, Freedom Bar, it's called.  Shirtless, they silently smoke hand rolled cigarettes and lean across the table to pocket their shots. The absence of sweaty Westerners and the silence of low season give way to the island itself, the palm trees, the occasional screeches of their nocturnal inhabitants, the calming crash of waves. 

Heat lightning sparks in the distance and all the constellations are upside down and me, floating under the stars.  Feeling Free.

What is Freedom?  What places, people, events (or absence of) cause us to feel free? 


When asking people a common response is travel, following dreams, having no obligation, some even say freedom from their own mind.  Many define freedom as escaping from themselves. 
I've found I feel the most free when:
-singing
-walking without destination
-moving through a new place, whether it be a bus, motorbike, airplane
-riding a bike downhill, not holding the handle bars
-dancing to live music
-not feeling controlled by time nor money, people nor things

What is your personal definition of freedom? 

This is how dictionary.com defines it: noun http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/freedom?s=t
the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint:
2. exemption from external control, interference, regulation, etc.
3. the power to determine action without restraint.
4. political or national independence.
5. personal liberty, as opposed to bondage or slavery

Please share your thoughts, ideas, stories and beliefs regarding freedom. 

As we are all fortunate enough to even come into this world with the opportunity to even address the ideas of Personal Freedom, let's use this as a celebration and an expression of gratitude.  Let's begin a discussion about Freedom, its definitions, its defiance. 

 What is Freedom?  What places, people, events (or absence of) cause us to feel free? 

Who do you see as being free?

What constrains your freedom?

When in your life did you feel the most free?

Thanks for your insight and your sharing!!