Freedom: Is it To or From?

Keep it positive, they say. Your choice of words certainly makes a difference.

There is a piece of paper in front of me. With a line down the middle. On one side of this line, it says “Freedom from…” and on the other side “Freedom to…”. It is part of the work with what Easy Being Free could be about.

Initial thoughts on freedom had me thinking about how to eliminate negatives in my life. Freedom from, say, commercialism, debt, overworking, stress, fear, the need for money, other people’s control over you etc.

In that process, I almost forgot to do the opposite: List things I would love to do. The freedom to, for instance, work more on creative projects, read books and maybe even do nothing. This second list is not as easy to do as the first one.

Of course it makes sense to identify things you don’t want in your life. But with everything there’s a balance. Counter-weigh them with positive examples. It is so easy is to end up with a “negative self-explanatory style”, as I think the psychologists say.

I can’t remember where and when I came across the Danish expression “Ord skaber virkelighed”. It basically means:

“Words create reality.”

It sounds a little clumsy in English, so maybe “words make reality” is better.

So we better choose some good words. To shape our reality. Our life depends on it.Photo by Kevin Lee on Unsplash

This text originally written for Easy Being Free, June 21, 2018.