Pursue freedom at all costs.
"All misery comes from dependency."¹
Be free from the obligations of country, community, and family.
Be free from the habits, patterns, and mind we fail to notice.
Our youth’s ambition creates a life worth living. But it has a dark side: haste and greed. Ambition is both a Builder and a Collector whose motto is “more is always better.”
The Collector saddles us with baggage until we wake up one day and ask, “What is it all for?”
And then the march towards freedom begins.
Our unexamined baggage must be taken down, laid bare in the dirt, and asked, “how do you serve me now?”
The answer, more times than not, will be a form of your misery.
Throw it all away.
Move overseas so you can be immersed in a culture and realize it is not yours, and yours was not your choosing.
Collect an extra passport so you never have to bend the knee.
Move where you feel most free.
Train how to ride a motorcycle, sail a boat, and fly a plane. Mobility equals freedom.
Pick up camping out under star-lit skies so that your home never becomes your only refuge.
Grow your own berries and cukes so that empty stock shelves never worry your tummy.
Save more than you make.
Automate your income; nothing is as addictive as a weekly paycheck.
Meditate. Master and focus the mind so that it doesn’t imprison you from within.
Skip the small talk. Connect from the heart and you’ll never be alone.
Master the art of listening, but always make up your own mind.
Ignore the crowd’s exuberance; be neither the rebel nor the sheep.
Carry crayons and courage; draw your own lines and color them however you please.
With a healthy bit of distance you can appreciate everything as it is.
And then you’ll have no baggage left.
You’ll be free to…
move back to your hometown with ageless wisdom
spend time with who ever you like and with love in your heart
care for yourself and take responsibility for others
fight for any cause with a smile
Freedom starts with you.
¹Derek Sivers in "How to Live"
