Change, Development and Personal Freedom

The essence of human life is change and development. We are always changing and developing mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically. It is part of our nature as human beings to always strive for more, whether it is for a better job, a promotion, to win a championship, to build relationships or to expand our knowledge. Our desire for more is even represented when a man is courting a woman, or vice verse, or through advances and improvements in business and technology. Change and development constitutes being alive; it constitutes living. Why is it our nature to always be changing and developing? It is because we long for personal freedom, which is expressed in living a life we love, experiencing true joy, and having the ability to truly and genuinely express who we are to the world.

With that being said, change is inevitable. The Earth is always moving, the sea gets wider each year, there are both droughts and surpluses, lives are lost while other lives are born, and the sky is always moving, the ocean is never still, seeds are always being planted in soil and trees are always growing. Yes, it is evident that change and development are inevitable. As human beings we are forever changing and developing both physically and emotionally. Unfortunately, however, in many cases these are the only areas in which people change or develop, excluding mental and spiritual growth in their lives.This is because some of us are suppressed by dogma. It is not uncommon to be in an environment or in a relationship that refines our philosophy and oppresses our zeal and the expression of our true selves. Some of the people closest to us - mainly our loved ones, are often the culprits who diminish our fire; they doubt and criticize our ideas, our goals, our dreams and our aspirations. They tell us to behave, to play it safe, and advise us not to take risks. They influence us down a pathway of conformity, which leads us not to life, but to a mental and spiritual death.

Conformity means living in fear of rejection and being caged by the opinions and values of others. This is no way to live because you are not living your own life, but the life someone else has planned for you. For example, we have always been taught to go to school, get good grades and get out and get that high-paying job. This is the way of most of our society. We were told that the better the job, the better the pay, and the better the pay, the better the life. It is sad because so many of us give up our true passions in order to be able to get that “good job.” We were taught that in order to survive, we have to work forty hours a week for forty years of our lives to make an income. We are still taught this today despite the fact that the job market is horrible and that over half of college students are not getting jobs after college. We are still taught this despite the fact that student loan debt is the largest debt in the country, surpassing credit card debt. We all know this, and yet we have been taught no other alternatives and many of us have not tried to find any. We have not been taught alternative ways to not only survive, but to thrive! Now I am in no way proclaiming that school and jobs are bad because they are very beneficial, but what I am expressing is the fact that we as a people continue to do what we have always done. We are at times stuck in our ways and apply what worked in the past to the present and the future. We are often not open to change and development and we expect this of others. This is not the corridor to freedom.

Along with being suppressed by societal dogma, we often put our own lights through self-oppression. Self-oppression is guided by how we think. Understand that our thoughts dictate our feelings, our feelings dictate our actions and our actions dictate our results. With this understanding, we often think negatively of ourselves or of certain situations, which keeps us from advancing; it keeps us stagnant. To go outside the norm, to be different and to truly express ourselves is a risk. Our brains are wired to keep us alive by shielding us from danger and discomfort. This is how we survived evolution, but realize that nothing or no one great ever came from being in a comfort zone.

Greatness, happiness, true joy and true freedom lie outside our comfort zones. It was not easy, for example, for a small-town southern Baptist preacher by the name of Martin Luther King, or a Mexican farm worker by the name of Caesar Chavez to publicly stand up and question a system of oppression that had been plaguing people of color for years. It was not comfortable for civil rights activists to stand up to the Majority, but they did. Now look at what has become of their discomfort and their bravery. Likewise, it is not easy to get up in front of an audience and act, it is not easy to get up in front of thousands of people and show yourself off as a model. This is all true, but look at what has come of actors like Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Ellen DeGeneres, or models like Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks. It is not easy to take a risk and put all of your chips into a single idea, but look at Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs. These are all people who chose to defy the odds and chase their dreams. They have reached a level of personal freedom in that they are doing what they love. You can do it, too!!!!

In pursuing our passions and desires, it calls for us to change and develop into the realms of our physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually higher selves until we are ultimately free. This is living.

You just have to defy and reject the negative voices in your head. If you change your thoughts, you will change your world. You choose who you want to be, you choose what you want to pursue, and you go after it with love, passion and vigor as if your life depends on it, because it does. Know that you deserve greatness. You deserve happiness. You deserve your personal freedom. 

Lastly, recognize that you are alive not just to merely survive, but that YOU ARE ALIVE TO THRIVE!!