On Choosing Opportunities for Freedom

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Between stimulus and response there is space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

I used to think of freedom as having:

  • Infinite time

  • Infinite money

But thinking of it that way at the very least is discouraging and at the most is foolhardy and dangerous. Why? Because it plunks the ability to feel free one million miles away for most normal people and says “Without these things you can never be free.” It situates the feeling of being free, of freedom, squarely out of reach.

You have to take a different tack with freedom—have to expand your definition.

We all want the wings and that feeling of freedom—it’s up to us to recognize that much of that feeling of freedom is within our control. It’s much wiser to cultivate our sense of freedom unreliant on external circumstances that are subject to change and out of our control.

We have the freedom to:

  • Lend our thoughts importance or not.

  • Find the space between stimulus and response (ie, find the choice between taking the bait and staying classy, the choice between moving closer or moving further away toward our loved ones in an argument).

  • Be merciful on ourselves with our thoughts; allow ourselves space.

  • Let life break us or choose to carry on; to give up or keep going.

  • Choose our mindset and attitude.

And most of us have many more opportunities for freedom throughout the day, but I’m aiming to focus on the freedoms that are inherently within us, indivisible, and not reliant on external circumstances. Remembering these is crucial. Remembering these is power.