find your freedom

By Max Eames

You can’t put a price on finding out what makes you feel free! At this particular time of year, when the sun isn’t shining as much as you’d prefer, you may be feeling the limitations of your life: you’ve got bills to pay, jobs to go to, people to look after.  Fair enough.  Almost everybody does.  But it’s up to you to decide what these things mean; you can view them as a dead-end or you can see them from a different, more positive perspective.  It’s up to you.

It is the interpretation of your responsibilities that makes the difference in how you view them.  As a psychotherapist, I have observed that we can often just decide to be happy.  It’s as simple as that.  This is an idea you may find hard to swallow, but I’ve seen it many times.  If you can decide to be happy – no matter what is going on around you – then you are 100 per cent accountable for your own choices.  

What does it for you?

Why is it so hard for some of us to get in touch with naming the things that make us feel free? You might believe that having a passion or a dream – at least right now in life – is a bit self-indulgent, or even impossible. But is it? Most of us absent-mindedly defer our passions. Months go by. Then years. Then decades. Maybe eventually we decide it’s ‘too late’. But it’s never too late.
What would it be like to construct your life almost entirely around your passions? It’d probably take a lot of drive and guts, wouldn’t it? If you’re like most people you would have to make some changes, or let go of a few long-held myths about what precisely is holding you back – besides the lack of funds. By all means, proceed with caution, but you’ve got to put the key in the ignition first.  

Downshifting

As often as you can, be in touch with who you really are – then everything else will have a tendency to fall into place more naturally.  In fact, more and more of us know people who’ve decided to discover who they are through a process known as ‘downshifting’.  Downshifters eventually walk away from high-powered careers in the City, move to somewhere like Bexhill-on-Sea, adopt a Springer Spaniel for the kids, and open a second-hand bookshop within walking distance of their beach hut.  It’s a dream come true, and they love it even more than the kids do. 
There are times in life when you’ve got to lose something to find something.  To my mind, living the life you want to lead is worth more than having a whacking great pay cheque.  You can’t put a price on finding out what makes you feel free. 

Max 

Max Eames grew up in California, but settled in the United Kingdom after completing an honours degree in Florence, Italy.  His varied career has included work as a chartered architect and a restaurateur.  A London-based psychotherapist, he facilitates long-lasting personal transformations for those who recognise the need to challenge both self-defeating behaviours and self-limiting beliefs.