Hello July…Independence Is Yours to Declare

Welcome July. It’s summer! Warm days and nights, picnics, family gatherings, kids off school, vacations, fireflies and honeysuckle. Summertime equals fun times. As we approach July 4th two quotes come to mind.

I’d like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free and wanted others to be free. - Rosa Parks

Freedom is the oxygen of the soul. - Unknown

Take a moment and reread those, pause and think about how free you feel. Are you working to live or living to work? Are you enjoying the life you are living, or do you feel captive to it?

Facing struggles in life can make you feel as though you are being held against your will. It can make you feel boxed in, locked into a situation you cannot seem to find the key and unlock the box. Your freedom seems to be taken away, it’s hard to breath and your soul longs for a break in the sentence you’ve been handed. We need a rest to refuel, to oxygenate our soul. What do you need to escape from?

I assume that we all want to live great lives and create an environment of comfort, not just for ourselves but for our children and our children’s children. Great things for our friends and neighbors and future generations to come. I’d like to think we want more for them.

I go back over and over again in my mind of things I’d like to be remember for when I am no longer this earth. Ponder that for a moment. Where does your mind go when you think about this question? For me, I’d like to be remembered as a helper to those in need. Someone who gave love and compassion to others freely. A person who offered a safe space to enable others to invite in healing. I’d like to be thought of as a loving wife, mother, grandmother and friend. A person who really listened. A loyal, helpful human who wanted nothing more than to leave this world better than it was when I entered into it. This can be difficult to accomplish especially on the days where my energy is not receiving the oxygen it needs. I have bad days, and my goal is not to get stuck in those. If I do, I will not have free flowing energy to share with others. My oxygen level would be low, and my energy of my soul will decrease. Ok, so I gave you the thought process, now the action process. How does one accomplish finding the free energy spirit within our soul? 1. Be authentically you. Take off the mask of who you believe others want you to be. Allow the world to get to know you. 2. Pray, meditate, ask and listen. Lord, show me the way in which I can see the direction of the path I am on. Meditate on those thoughts. Listen to your intuition and take action. 3. I love to listen to music and dance it out. Music fuels my soul. What fuels yours? Maybe it is music, sculpting, painting, going for a walk or something else. Find out the thing or things that help you find clarity in your mind. What is good for your mind, body and spirit? Do those things. 4. Release anger and regret, offer forgiveness to yourself and others. and 5. Feel your emotions. Don’t hide them or mask them. They are part of your healing. Give yourself permission to have human emotions. Then repeat the steps until you find the key that unlocks your door to independence.

I quoted Rosa Parks in the beginning. Having not known her, I imagine in my mind that she had a similar personality to Mother Theresa; a small, gentle forceful woman of power. I believe she was confident in who she was. Who would have ever thought that sitting on a bus would impact so many people? She was her own hero in her story and by standing up for herself she took a stand for others to follow. She because their hero as well, without even realizing the affect her stance meant. I feel sure that she prayed and meditated for her freedom and the freedom of others. Actively releasing any anger which enabled her to have clear thought and confidence to be who she was, not what others expected her to be.

In retrospect, if I want to be remembered as a helper, I need to be open to helping. Action talks b.s. walks. I need to be open to show and receive love and compassion. To help in the healing process I need to be open to facing the healing process as well. I’ve always been taught to lead by example even if no one is watching. That is what make you a true leader, healer, human. You aren’t doing these things for show or to be recognized. You do them because it is who you are, your authentic self. We all have talents, gifts, wisdom and things to offer others. Every life blueprint is different. Let’s look at your blueprint. What makes you who you are? What are you passionate about? Are you stuck, if so, are you working to get unstuck? Have you taken a stand to declare your independence? If not, why? You can stand in fear or faith, what do you choose? My mom was on oxygen for a short time before she passed. The line to the oxygen tank was rather long so that she could move throughout the home. Sometimes, it would get pinched from moving around. Someone would have to search for the kink and untangle it, so her oxygen was not depleted. This is the same with our soul energy. Find the kink. How did it get there and how can it be untangled? We desperately need a good oxygen level for a healthy rejuvenation of the mind, body and spirit.

Are you okay with a life sentence of emotional imprisonment? What or who is stepping on your oxygen, lifeline? I work with a lot of clients who struggle with death, grief and the aftermath of how to navigate life after the loss. Grief is a big knot in our oxygen line. There are no instructions or magic cure that makes it go away. I watched a video and shared it on my social media the other day. A man was talking about grief being like a stone being placed in your pocket. You don’t get stronger because of the stone; the stone doesn’t get smaller or disintegrate. The stone is there, it will always be there. You become accustomed to having the stone in your pocket. Somedays you feel it more somedays you feel it less, but the stone will always be in your pocket. We can use this analogy for many things in our lives. We may have several stone. A regret stone, lesson stone, grief stone, trauma stone etc. Although they are heavy at times and may squeeze our oxygen line, we keep adjusting and chiseling through life. Searching and finding our authentic energy, through praying, meditation, asking and listening. Taking an active role in releasing anger, feeling our emotions, listening to music, allow the healing process to begin so that we can declare our independence.

Let me ask you, are you ready to pick up the quill pen and sign your own Declaration of Independence? I gained great wisdom from a Dove chocolate wrapper that said, “It’s time to write your own fairytale and be your own hero.” Sometimes life is like a box of chocolates…. A lot of great wisdom for a small nugget of chocolate.

I pray that you live the life you love and love the life you live.

Blessings

Stacey

Watch this segment of Tuesday Talks at 10:30 https://fb.watch/t3XVIYyFUr/