The last time I felt free...
"The last time I felt free was when I danced without worrying if I danced well.
The last time I felt free was when I lost track of time.
The last time I felt free was when I didn’t have to take care of anyone or be responsible.
The last time I felt free was when I knew where the night began, but not where it would end.
The last time I felt free is when I actively engaged with the unknown, with curiosity, in a playful way.
The last time I felt free is when no one else’s opinion mattered more than my own."
Last week, I was playing a game with a friend and these were my answers to the question: “The Last Time I Felt Free...”.
I asked them: “what is it for you?”
“When I went diving in the ocean last summer,” he said.
“What makes that a feeling of freedom for you?” I asked.
“I feel playful, unrestrained, unbounded. I felt at one with the underworld of the sea.”
I just love the word“ Freedom”— it means so many different things to different people.
How can we define freedom?
as from something or freedom to do something?
as a sense of peace?
as a sense of lightness?
as safety?
as being yourself?
Perhaps the word “surrender” comes up a lot: we feel free when we can surrender into ourselves, into an experience, into each other. Like the feeling you have during a tantric massage or when you dance.
Our relationship to freedom is as complex as our relationships to self, to family, to culture, to government, and to history.
So many of the answers I’ve heard about freedom have had to do with daring, going beyond a threshold, but there’s always a secondary experience of safety. We feel free when we can let go because we know there’s someone else who can receive us. We feel free when we can climb to the top of the rock wall because we know the rope will catch us. We feel free when we can cry or laugh aloud without judgment.
Freedom involves authenticity, rebellion. We feel free when we decide how we want to live and how we want to die. We all need freedom and security, which is why when the world doesn’t feel safe, we often don’t feel as free.
I’m curious about how you make your own moments of freedom.
Let’s Turn the Lens on You
Finding small moments of freedom.
Answer the prompt: “the last time I felt free…”
Recall that feeling or experience in as much detail as you can.
Write it down.
What are three defining emotions you associate with your experience of freedom?
What activities do you associate with those emotions?
Can you do one of those activities this week?
PS: This is one of the most beautiful dance I have ever seen. You can feel the passion, the connection…the freedom..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdkAlYXQJs0
Love
Rosie