A Lasting Freedom

Written by: Marc Lehmann
June 2, 2008

What is it to be free? In it’s simplest form you could say it’s simply free will. Physical, mental and spiritual free will being a base human experience of Freedom.

Sustainability is all about lasting indefinitely. Anyone or anything oppressed or without freedom is not likely to have a sustainable existence. Be it a species, a minority group or you stuck in a life you may not fully and wholeheartedly love.

To obtain a sustainable existence socially, economically and environmentally you really need to operate from a space of freedom. It’s actually not that hard to get to this point, a big piece of it is seeing what it is that oppresses you.

Freedom from Benchmarks

Do you suffer from keeping up with the Jones syndrome? Are you climbing the corporate ladder? Are you constantly comparing yourself to other people you know or read about in magazines? Well if you are doing these things you are benchmarking yourself. Benchmarking might be owning you, enslaving you.

Have you ever met someone who doesn’t care what people think of them, their extrovert behaviour, their eccentric character? It’s refreshing, it has a freedom and a full of life feeling around their existence. A sustainable existence in character you might say.

If you constantly listen to that shoulder devil saying “you should have achieved X by Y and U haven’t” then let it go! Tell that shoulder devil to get lost. Be powerful about it. Freedom often comes from being powerful. A few people like Gandhi and Nelson Mandela spring to mind.

Have yourself operate above the level of the rat race. You will probably operate a little slower, with a little more relaxed attitude. No doubt you will consume less, need less, want less. This way of living will have you spending more time with family. For some it means working with the environment not consuming it. For others it’s about more time for yourself, living your life for yourself and not for everyone else sucking energy and life from you. Ironically as you gain more time for yourself, you find yourself wanting to help others in need, the environment, people and causes. You can create a very sustainable life, you are the creator.

The Freedom of Self Expression

Why do you have to do the job you are doing? Why do you have to wait for retirement to learn to paint? You don’t. Expectations of things needing to be a certain way, of life happening a certain way, of your story of your life going a certain way can stifle your self expression and oppress you to a point of never creating a revolution in how you live your life.

The rat race can steal your time away from you. Choosing to be self expressed in your choice of career, in your hobbies, sport or artistic endeavours can lead to a job that you love. All of a sudden you might just find yourself making a living doing something you love, that you are passionate about. Your work becomes your play, your work life balance becomes sustainable.

Make sure you’re the puppet master of your life. Recognise when others are pulling your strings or if it’s your shoulder devil benchmarking you against everyone else around you.

Freedom of conscience

Underneath many of us know we can do better in creating a sustainable life. I covered this in last month’s article. When you can operate your life knowing you aren’t a drain on other people, the environment or your bank account you will feel the sustainable existence that can bring happiness and self expression to your life. Making sure you don’t live at the expense of others, that you buy ethical goods, that you don’t throw the potato peels in the bin instead of the compost, will give you a freedom of conscience every day. Knowing you are being true to yourself, allowing your ’self’ to ‘express’ can and will alter your life.

Marc Lehmann is one of the founders of Saasu.com and is committed advocate of sustainable business practices and lifestyles | http://www.thecalmspace.com/about#marc

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