3/7/11—Losing Power

Today's Draw: The Devil from Infinite Visions. What holds power over you? What limits you? What keeps you from being totally free?

 

Many people will read today's questions and say "nothing holds power over me, I'm totally free." And those will be the people most bound to something in their lives because they are not even aware of the things that tether them...financial ...responsibilities, familial connections, addictions, defeating thoughts, memories from the past...the list goes on and on.

Even people who are single and live off the grid in the wilderness are bound to their wood chopping and food gathering...the essentials of survival. Simply by being alive and human, we are bound. But like the layers of an onion, those who are unaware of the things that limit or contain them are the most bound....and as we become aware and shed the attachments that don't hinge upon survival, we begin to experience freedom.

So think about the thoughts, behaviors and matters that hold you today. If you have to have a glass of wine with dinner every night, think of how that may or may not hold you. If you have a certain wake up ritual that never changes, think about how you're attached to that. The more we think of these things, the more we see that they're not as important as we think they are.

I've been bound to a shame around my body image all my life. I struggle against it and thus, never seem to make progress. Last night I was thinking how tired I am of the ups and downs of that...the decision to take control, then the acquiescing of that control...over and over again. What I really want is to be free of it. And while I imagine I'll never be totally free of it, just as we're never totally free of anything, I can certainly take back my power. And that's a start. What comes up for you when you think about this?