Is freedom a choice that comes from within?

Well hello again everyone.

I am fresh from my 10 day trip to Japan and I have to say that I have discovered a new and exciting paradigm – travelling without my laptop.

The freedom and relaxation I felt was extraordinary and much more than I had anticipated.

Days seemed long, luxurious and endless and my level of contentedness was like nothing I have ever felt. Perhaps this can be attributed to the calm nature of my travel companion ha ha ha – but I also feel that it had a lot to do with my totally cutting off from technology and simply being in the moment 100%.

Plans were loose and free and after my 10 minutes on Facebook to post for the ABTY page each day –  that was it. Done and dusted. Technology was a thing of the past.

Television was also a thing we didn’t contemplate as we didn’t have an English channel in most places we stayed. So evenings were full of conversation, lovely dinners or simply the contemplation of the days events as they had unfolded.

And this my friends, for me, brought untold freedom.

Freedom from what you may be asking?

Freedom from answering multitudes of emails.

Freedom from being constantly connected.

Freedom from spending time mindlessly scrolling through Facebook or watching TV, seeing what other people are doing with their lives and then wondering if I am doing enough.

Freedom to simply be me and take in my surrounds and my company as it entered my domain.

There was no thought of what else I could be doing, or should be doing.

There was simply what I was doing in that precise moment each and every day and it was a magical experience.

Even being lost in the rain in Tokyo for 2 hours unable to find our hotel, seemed perfectly reasonable ha ha ha. I figured we had nowhere else to be, so why not just take in the beauty and ridiculousness of that moment and our determination to find our way home without a taxi ha ha.

Freedom from comparison with the rest of humanity was the most pointed thing that I felt during this 10 days.

Freedom to just BE.

Instead of doing  - I found myself simply being – and what a JOY it was.

This got me thinking about the nature of life itself and if we have got it all wrong.

What if our purpose in life is to focus on being rather than doing?

What if our true freedom rests in this one concept?

I mean – we can choose what we do each and every day – so what if we chose to be a little more focused on how we exist in the world, as opposed to what we do in the world?

How would that change us individually and as a society in general.

What if we were all primarily focused on our being rather than our doing?

This is not to suggest that we all sit about doing nothing and contemplating our navels – on the contrary. But what if excellence was measured by the “being-ness” of what we do as opposed to the “doing-ness” of what we do.

There is this great quote by Peter Drucker:

” There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”

And I feel, this idea feeds into this a little bit.

What is the point of doing something if the motivation and feeling behind it is not credible and pure?

What if excellence was measured by our state of mind, our heart, our sense of calm, our sense of compassion and our sense of joy as we go about whatever it is we choose to do – as opposed to excellence being calculated by what we do in and of itself and the result of that effort?

Again – of course we should aim for excellence in all we do – but what if a little more of what was considered excellent were the ancillary benefits of the actions taken, as opposed to the actions themselves?

And this brings me back to my holiday in Japan and the idea that freedom is a choice.

Each and every day we have the choice to cut the strings to a variety of things that keep us bound and tied down to unhappy situations. We can choose to continue on like this or we can choose to change the situation.

Sure – we all have responsibilities and I am not suggesting for a minute that people blindly disregard those – however – we do, at all times have the option to exercise our freedom of choice and this comes from within us.

We can choose to turn off the TV and go within for some rest and respite.

We can choose to limit our time on our computers and social media to give us a break from the outer world and allow us to connect with the inner world of ourselves.

We can choose to get away for a day – a week – an hour – whatever is possible for you and nurture ourselves for some time to regenerate our life batteries.

The choice is your own.

So – I ask you now:

Do you need to stop, take a breath and replenish your energy?

Do you need some time away from technology and the constancy that it represents?

Do you need a break?

Then – choose freedom.

Choose to unplug from the technological world and instead plug into the people and things around you.

You may be surprised at how wonderful it feels.

And you don’t need to travel afar to do this. Simply unplug your laptop and turn off your phone for a certain amount of time.

It may be 6 hours each day.

It may be one full day each week.

It may be an entire week once a month.

Simply choose what works for you and rediscover your world without technology and its constant need to be addressed. And instead – address yourself and your needs for that time.

It is so simple it seems a bit ridiculous to even write about it. But there you have it – often times it is the simplest things in life that bring the best results.

So therein lies my wisdom from my trip to Japan ha ha.

#DiscoverYou, #LoveYou, #BeYou

- Christine