About stuckness and limitation
…we're free?
They say we're free to be ourselves, free to choose our destiny. But don't you ever wonder, "If I'm so damn free, why do I feel so limited?"
Human beings aren't naturally limited. We've accidentally put ourselves in bondage by using our freedom selfishly. We think we're more free if we use our freedom for selfish purposes: to get what we want/avoid what we don't want - without regard for others or the resulting problems. Wrong!
The truth is, choosing selfishly is not more free, and choosing for love and rightness does not limit us. There are infinite options and possibilities in both, but selfish living hurts and imprisons us.
Here are SIX ways it happens...
1. Getting trapped in smallness. When we obsessively pursue selfish goals and objects of selfish desire, we feel narrowed and small — trapped in a vortex of obsession with what we want. Feeling like a slave to our selfish desires and impulses, we lose touch with our true power and freedom.
2. Getting stuck in selfish habit patterns. When we “freely” pursue what we want, we may keep going even when our actions are hurtful to ourselves and others. When we make a bad choice repeatedly, it becomes a bad habit. We stop seeing it as a choice. We feel stuck. Very UNfree! Yet it’s still a choice!
3. Getting stuck in avoidance. When you freely avoid doing what you don’t want, certain muscles atrophy. You get weak. Dysfunction results. And that dysfunction cripples you and restricts your freedom—until you decide to face your challenges and rebuild your muscles.
4. Inability is wish fulfillment for the unwilling. An “easy” way out of higher responsibilities —like love, caring, giving, etc. —is to believe you can’t do it (e.g. I can’t do math. I can’t dance. I can’t do relationship. I can’t love). The result? You gradually “buy” inability, getting smaller and less capable than you truly are.
5. Avoiding responsibility makes us feel powerless. Selfish people are quick to blame others for their ills. “It’s my circumstance, my upbringing, my mate, that makes me this way.” But wait! Displacing responsibility for your life and love disempowers you. Remember, you can’t solve a problem you don’t have.
6. The best, most fulfilling possibilities in life are beyond the reach of selfish people. A selfish person can’t support close intimacy or cooperative alliances with others. So they live in their tiny boxes, alone —deprived of the beautiful experiences love creates, feeling locked out of love.
Real freedom comes from living as your heart would have you live, free from the chains of selfish habits and pursuits.
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