What does freedom mean to you? What kind is most important? How do you know when you are liberated?

The way Janis Joplin sang it — “freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” Flip the maxim and consider the corollary. Certain kinds of freedom give you everything to gain.

There are many dimensions of freedom if you think about it. There’s freedom from things like fear, or anxiety, or deprivation of some sort of another.

Then there’s freedom to do things. To go where you want when you want. To be creative. To move your body, improvise a dance, or innovate your art.

Then, of course, you have freedom of choice. Which can be tricky. Personal autonomy and the agency to choose the things that build the life of your dreams is a worthy goal, especially when balanced with the awareness of our interdependence and a firm handle on the value of cooperation.

In the supermarket, it can be too much. Decision fatigue is real, and sometimes it’s less strain to simply shop somewhere smaller with a good selection of the essentials. If you’ve ever been stuck staring at a wall of different tomato sauces while being too hungry to make a decision, you know what I mean.

The freedom I’m thinking about today is the kind that lives inside you. I once spent some time with someone, only to realize upon reflection that one of the things that I said didn’t sit right.

I found myself replaying the scene in my mind, thinking about what I might’ve said differently. It was bugging me, eclipsing my present moment experience. I’ve learned to recognize the feeling. If I observe myself ‘rehearsing’ something I should say, or should have said, it’s a huge red flag.

I recalled what my creative colleague Laura Cirolia said to me some time ago. “You have to get clear, and then drive straight into it!”

So I decided to get it off my chest. I sat down, cleared my head, and settled my thoughts. Made the call, got the pleasantries out of the way, and brought up the sticky moment. I shared that it had been bugging me, and that I wanted to clear the air, and was sorry that that I wasn’t at my best in that moment.

The relief was palpable. They thanked me profusely, and boom! just like that, my mental skies were clear again. We carried on like old times. Moment acknowledged, apology accepted, air cleared.

As soon as I hung up, the words of Martin Luther King Jr. resounded in my head. “Free at last! Free at last!“ I was liberated from the maze my mind had become.

This kind of freedom is there for anyone. You just have to have the guts to seize it. Postponing a sticky conversation can seem easier in the moment, but the longer you let something like that fester, the more toxic it becomes.

You have agency inside your heart and between your ears. Tending to your internal state is self-care of the highest order. Drive head on into any stuck energy and keep your channel clear.

Much love and happy dancing till next week!

Merci et à bientôt!

M+

ML #674

Mark Metz
Monday Love Movement Calendar