Positivity: Freedom

Freedom is a wonderful thing.

Freedom means you and you alone get to choose the life you want. You can work a job of your choosing, have the relationship you want, be with the people you prefer, find and experience life in whatever way makes you happiest.

Many of us take freedom for granted. We get caught up in the day to day things that often feel as though they take away our freedom. We have jobs, other people counting on us for things, times that we have responsibilities that cannot be ignored. We feel enslaved and trapped by those things, and we do not see the freedom that still exists for us.

Here in the United States, we can choose whatever jobs we like, whatever people we want to associate with, where we want to live and who we want to be. There are outside influences and other factors at work that often make those freedoms seem less visible, less possible…but they are here none-the-less.

On this day in particular, Memorial Day, we take the time to stop and reflect and give thanks for all those who gave their lives to protect our freedoms. Freedom is so paramount in our national make-up, and in all reality in all human desire, that people will fight and die to free people from oppression and tyranny and extremism.

We also take for granted that freedom means different things to different people. Even in a land of great freedom people still struggle for equality, they struggle to be allowed to marry the person they would choose, they struggle to be equal in the eyes of all. We neglect that increasing freedoms among ourselves is nothing but a creator of greater positivity, and in truth means greater good for all.

Giving more freedom to more people does not take away the freedom we already have. Equality of pay for women and marriage rights for homosexuals and religious rights for any and all denominations hurts no one. Freedom does not mean excesses and taking freedom away from anyone else, it means even more freedom for all.

On this day when we honor those who gave their lives so that others might be free, let’s think about all the positive things we have, and the positive things we can have for ourselves because of those sacrifices. Let us also acknowledge that more freedom is more positivity, and the world can never have too much positivity within it.

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action. Knowing that more freedom for more people means better experiences for all, we can honor those who gave their lives by celebrating and embracing the freedom we have.   By choosing to expand freedom to a greater number of people we not only empower them, but we empower ourselves. When we feel empowered, we often spread that feeling to others around us, and as such can build more positive feelings. We can use the positive feelings this generates to dissolve negative feelings. When we take away negative feelings, we open up space to let in positive feelings, and that is something we can be grateful for. Gratitude leads to happiness. Happiness is the ultimate positive attitude. Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.

This is the sixty ninth entry of my Positivity series.  It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone.  Feel free to share, re-blog and spread the positivity.