September 4

FREEDOM MONTH: DAY 4: “A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.” ― Dwight D. Eisenhower

I am inclined to believe I have certain rights, and to fight for them, as if they were the most important things in my world. This quote reminds me that “freedom from” is much greater than “freedom to.” It keeps me grateful, at peace, and right-sized with the world.

I am free of chronic, debilitating, active addiction. I am free of the shackles that held me locked into that addiction, if I choose to be. I am free from your judgment of me and how that used to drive my life and behaviors. I am free from putting everyone’s needs and desires ahead of my own. I am equally free from being so self-centered that all I thought of was self.

I am free from the bonds of self-loathing and the cycle of self-abuse that is ongoing, active addiction. I am free from the stories that held me in their thrall for nearly an entire lifetime. I am free from the beliefs and old ideas that were handed to me all my early life. I am free from patterns and cycles of behavior that I was powerless to stop as long as I did not question those beliefs.

I am free from the hatred of my life that I got from others who judged and hated me for not being who and what they wanted, for their own purposes.

And, today, I am free to choose another way of believing, if I am willing to work really hard to keep it. I am free to do whatever I want, if I remain willing to pay the prices for it. I am free to live in ways that feed my spirit, no matter what others think. I can walk away from making others happy (or them believing that, or me) and the consequences of letting them off the hook, as well as myself.

I am free to do those things that continue to bring me a sense of the goodness of the Universe and my place in it. I am free to think well of myself and others, no matter what I or they may do.

I am free to walk away clean if I make a mistake. I no longer believe I am the mistake. I am free to be wrong and clean it up.

I am free of the things that kept me locked in to a downward spiral of addiction. I am free to be whomever and whatever I feel called upon to be and do. I am free to believe in the Universe and all its gifts.

I am free to love and be loved. I am free to see the beauty of life for myself and others. I am free from the blinders of negativity and delusion. I am free from the bondage of SELF.

I am free to laugh…and laugh A LOT at my past and its crazy beliefs. I am free to sing and dance and jump and roll on the ground if I so choose. I am free to be as happy as I like. I am free to see that I am as happy as I choose to be.

And, because, most of all, of Step 9 and the things I have cleaned up in my life and relationships, I am free of the burdens of guilt and shame that kept me from ever truly loving this person that is created by a Loving Power. I can finally see and love her. She is glorious and free!