Are You Free Yet?

People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought, which they seldom use.     ~ Soren Kierkegaard

We have love affairs...some are romantic - others are with our home, a job, a hobby, etc. But we sometimes have others with things like despair, loneliness, dis-eases of various types of the mind, body or spirit. They are habits...some learned, acquired, accepted, and, too many, destructively held onto. Sometimes we don't realize they are there. We get used to them or have lost the ability to spot them. I've had relationships like that, jobs like that, eating habits like that, and even apartments like that. I have found the causes end up to be some combination of a lazy spiritual practice or a fear of success, being shackled by shame, boxed in by blame, gated in guilt, rotting in resentment or some kind of apathy because its “too late” or "I'm not smart enough" or something else enough or too much. Sound familiar?

If we take heed to Thomas Troward's decree that we are here to be happy, it's also irresponsible. But it's your right...you were born free to choose.

Being a citizen of the U.S., we are given many freedoms. Freedom of speech, unrestricted movement, religious beliefs, and others. Being an individualization of that Creative Power of the Universe, it is our birthright to have the exact experiences we desire. But, too many times, we waste the infinite possibilities the Universe has given us with these habits of hassles & unhappiness. But it's your right …. have at it!

I don't think that's what any of us really want, these hassles and unhappiness. Yes? 

I think we desire to move past the negative past. Yes? 

I think it is time to divorce, dissolve, resign from, split away, terminate, separate, vacate, abdicate, and just darn quit having hassles in our lives. Can I hear an “aye” to that?

Hell, let's Amen to that!

The freedom we seek is to use our own mind and body, to live our own life, instead of the life of the belief system. When we discover that the mind is controlled by the Judge and the Victim and the real "us" is in the corner, we have just two choices. One choice is to keep living the way we are, to surrender to the Judge and the Victim.

The second choice is to do what we do as children when parents try to domesticate us. We can rebel and say "No!" We can declare a war against the parasite, a war against the Judge and the Victim, a war for our independence, a war for the right to use our own mind and or own brain.   Don Miguel Ruiz, THE FOUR AGREEMENTS

Nobody likes to hear that the junk occurring in their lives is brought on by the same Power that brought the wonderfulness in their lives: their thoughts and feelings ... their beliefs. But it's true. The great thing about that is that we get to choose what we want in out experience ... Prizes or Plunders? 

I'll give you a moment to decide.

There is one mind common to all individual(s)... Every(one)... is an inlet to the same and to all of the same ...once admitted to the right of reason...(you) are made a freeman of the whole estate. What Plato has thought, he may think; what a saint has felt, he may feel; what at any time has be-fallen any (person), (they) can understand. Who hath access to this universal mind (each and every one of us) is a party to all that is or can be done, for this is the only and sovereign agent.                                                     Ralph Waldo Emerson, from his essay, HISTORY

That's you. The only and sovereign agent of your life. Each and every one of us...you, you, you, me...
are responsible to declare our independence from lack, strife, any ideas that do not fulfill our mission to vibrate at the speed of the Divine. And with this independence, we shall infuse energy, vibrancy, love, and peace into ourselves, our Center, our city, our state, country, and the world.

In TOMMY, Peter Townsend wrote:

I'M FREE- I'm free,
And freedom tastes of reality,
I'm free-I'm free,
And I'm waiting for you to follow me.

That is what we are going to do today, declare our freedom to ring in Truth. Declare our freedom to be in joy. Decree that we have the freedom to expect goodness, prosperity, vitality and vibrancy, love and respect, creativity and happiness.

And so here now is our New Thought Declaration of Independence:

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one person to dissolve the bands and bonds of struggle, strife, lack, and faithlessness, which has connected them with a life that does not serve their greatest good, and to assume among the Power of the Universe, the separate station of Prosperity to which the Laws of Nature entitle them, a decent respect to the opinion of one who speaks in Truth requires that 

they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 

I hold this Truth to be self-evident, that I am created equal, that I am endowed by my Creator, that which is within me, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and Happiness. That to secure these rights in my life, beliefs are instituted by me, deriving their just powers from the consent of my Mind and the Law of Cause and Effect. That whenever any Form of My Beliefs become destructive of these ends, it is the Right of Me to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new thoughts, new feelings, new perspectives, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing Its powers in such form, 

as to them shall seem most likely to effect my Safety and Happiness. 

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Beliefs, long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience has shown, that many times I am more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right myself by abolishing the beliefs to which I am accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce Me under absolute or partial lack, it is my right, it is my duty, to throw off such Beliefs, and to provide new thoughts and feelings, new perspectives and beliefs, for my future security and happiness. 

Such has been my patient sufferance; and such is now the necessity which constrains me to alter my thinking and my Beliefs. 

Part of the history of my present beliefs is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over my happiness. 

And so I now declare, with full knowledge and embodying of the One Power within, that One indestructible, absolute and self-existent Cause. With that Spirit expressing through me, which is the Unity of all life, I claim and swear to use my creative thoughts to think from that eternal goodness, that eternal loving kindness, and that eternal givingness of Divine Intelligence. To act, be, and surround myself with love, abundance, vitality and vibrancy. To think, reason, and live without the bondage of any negativity from my past, without the consciousness of “no” or the shoulda/woulda/coulda of “not yet”, without the fear of a future I get to create, without water cooler gossip or the news and opinions of CNN, MSNBC, FOX NEWS, NPR, or any government or religion that may be running around in my mind like a rat in a cage, like squirrels in a whirling dervish, like chattering monkeys – 

invading my consciousness. 

I, therefore, do, in the Name, and by Authority of my birthright as an individualization of the Source and Substance of All, solemnly publish and declare, that I Am that I AM, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent of destructive thoughts and beliefs; and that I Am that I AM, is absolved from all allegiance to negativity, and that all connection between me and the State of Lack and Limitation, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as a Free and Independent personalization of God, I engage my full Power to levy Peace, Prosperity, and Love in my life from this day, forward. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection and Power of the Divine Intelligence within, I pledge to my Life and sacred Honor. 

Let us sign our signatures in the air; thus committing to this Declaration of Freedom, for yourself and the betterment of our world. And as you do, say these words: "I declare my independence from that which no longer serves my greatest good."

GOD BLESS YOU AND 

GOD BLESS YOUR FREEDOM! 

Affirmation Today I choose abundant life. I choose the freedom to express my perfection. Today I choose to feel life, embracing it fully!

Today I choose to love everybody, knowing there is always more good than bad in everyone.

Today is the day I choose to live my Declaration of Independence, knowing my Word, my vow, my declaration is powerful, palpable and shining brightly in my life right now!