What does it mean to be free? It has taken me close to 46 years to figure it out. Freedom should be simple but yet I have been in my own inner prison all these years. Now there have been many times throughout my life that I have felt this type of freedom and at the same time it wouldn’t last like I wanted it to. Why? Well growing up I thought freedom was the American Dream like many of us are taught. Family, Successful Career, Nice House, etc. When that was not working for me, the outside stuff, I learned how to go inside my own soul and define what freedom is for me.
Freedom is living in the present, having a connection with God and being my True-Self- ME.
Writing this book has helped me come up with a simple definition of what freedom looks like to me. Here are some examples of what freedom looked like when I was younger to my adult life.
When I was child I loved playing sports in the front yard, mostly alone. I would throw the baseball in the air and make diving catches, throw the football and score the game winning touchdown, etc. There were no worries, I wasn’t thinking any negative thougths of worry or anxiety. Now from the outside one may think oh that is a little boy playing in the front yard, how cute. The reality is back then I was defining what freedom looked like for me: I was living in the present, I truly was not alone, God was playing with this little boy and most importantly I was being ME- My True Self – a young child just being himself doing what he loves- Being Free.
At the age of 29 when I was married, a father, had a successful business something was missing. It was my Freedom. I started to ask questions like Who am I? What is my purpose here? This was the time I started working on the inside me.
|
Now growing up as a young man from 15-24 I was able to experience a little of that freedom from my physical fitness routine. Yes, working out alone lifting weights, boxing hitting the body bag I felt that same feeling I did when I was a little boy for only a short time. Again like in the front yard- I was experiencing living in the present, connecting with God (though during this time period I didn’t know it) and most importantly I was being my True-Self Me.
Then at the age of 29 when I was married, a father, had a successful business something was missing. It was my Freedom. I started to ask questions like Who am I? What is my purpose here? This was the time I started working on the inside me. This was when the concept of Spiritual Fitness was created. It would take time. The outside world for me was a struggle over the last 17 years because I was missing being my True-Self. However, I’m very grateful for all the good times and all the pain and suffering as well. It has been through this inner work- yes its work that I realized I was the creator of all this and how powerful we all are. Then when my outside world was starting to collapse with the end of a 17 year marriage and another startup-venture going by the waste side, I was determined once and for all that I would create a life of freedom for myself.
There are many people to thank on this journey, everyone played a role. Humbly I thank God for always being with me, not giving up on me and preparing me for the path ahead- Living a life of being in the present, connection with my Creator and being my True-Self- ME.
How would you define freedom? Your freedom?
Live Brave,
Chris
____
This article originally appeared on Chris Forte’s Blog
The role of men is changing in the 21st century. Want to keep up? Get the best stories from The Good Men Project delivered straight to your inbox, here.
Photo credit: Getty Images
“FREEDOM is not to be able to do good or evil, but to be able to recognize evil and naturally avoid it, and to always do what is good naturally and spontaneously.”
Quoted in “Jesus: Fallen?”
http://www.orthodoxwitness.org/jesus-fallen