From what am I free?

There’s a lot of symbolism in July 4, Independence Day, in the United States. As a nation, it’s when the Declaration of Independence is celebrated--we chose to rebel against England, our ruling country. As a colonized nation, we’d had enough. We declared ourselves free. Yes, there was a war or three afterwards where England tried to take us back. We’d have none of it.

You know, I think there’s a lot of other kinds of colonization from which we need independence. Maybe even liberation. Some experience that makes us want to have none of it again in the future.

Sometimes we need liberation from knowing, sometimes from.. not knowing. There are many things that we can let take over, direct, run, and command our lives. Thoughts, stories we’ve told ourselves, old ways of being--habits, practices, and more.

I choose to find those enslavers of my mind, heart, and soul, and to liberate from their hold. I choose new stories. I choose curiosity. I choose arms open to the sky from July 4 to the next July and well beyond.

How about you?