I’m very happy to tell you — this post was first published on
Maria Shriver’s Official Website.

Enjoy the read!

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As soon as you realize you have the freedom to change and create your own life, you’re empowered and the things you want most you can begin to have.

Even though change takes work – persistence, patience, probably some stalling and starting over — change will happen and you’ll be free, if you dare to try.

If you don’t try, don’t go after the life you want, you’ll continue to feel imprisoned and be painfully trapped.

Coaching clients often tell me:

“It’s impossible to change…I’m stuck because of my circumstances…Change sounds great Michael but not everyone can stop being a victim.”

I happily disagree!

I will – or – I can’t

You have the freedom to change how you think — change how you see things — change how you’re living your life at any moment because…you can change your mind. You can shift your way of thinking no matter what your wounds or tough circumstances may be. That’s the miracle of change and possibility.

Remember the words?…where there’s a will there’s a way. Well — it’s a tremendously valuable motto to help propel you towards what you most want. Trust your will power and also learn how to summon it and promote your determination.

The freedom to change is alive in you. It’s active, always there, vibrantly willing to help you improve and see things in a new and better way so you can move forward and achieve your dreams.

I will is very different from I can’t.

Will is a power state of mind with positive energy. Can’t is a dead end road.

We tell ourselves stories that we can’t do something and that’s where you get stuck in the mud. Stuck in yourself because you believe your story and aren’t willing to change. You think you can’t and you won’t even try to be free!

Fight for your freedom

Here’s a beautiful letter I received from a coaching client who bravely fought for freedom in the service of our country and, who’s also finding his own personal liberation as he changes his life and career.

“After the 9/11 incident, I left the corporate world to fight the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite two challenging tours, I made it out of the military physically and mentally intact.  Moreover, I was energized with a sense of bravery and fierceness that I had worked hard for and earned. I was ready to transition back to the corporate world carrying these two things in my back pocket. Seven years later, I slowly lost those traits. In some ways I’d gotten lost in the shuffle.

…[Life Coaching] has provided me much insight about the me that I once knew and insight about myself that I simply disregarded or was not aware of. [It] provided me a fair and balanced perspective in reasons for many of my career choices and also provided perspectives that I would have not otherwise considered.

Below are the top things that Life Coaching helped me realize:

1. What I was and what I am can be reverted back because it is a choice that I can take. In my situation, it is a positive version of regression.

2. We are sometimes our worst critic. While that can work against us, it’s also important that we are kind to ourselves by acknowledging that we are successful in more things than we think or are willing to see.

3. Dare to dream and pursue your dreams. If Walt Disney can pitch the idea of a mouse for his proposed theme park then choosing a career that balances passion with practicality is not far reaching.

4.  Since life is truly short, then why not pursue those things that evoke our heartfelt passion? To live life with passion is to live life to the fullest.”

♦   ♦   ♦

You can hear this man’s heart singing out with personal freedom. When you see the logic and the facts for change it makes for happiness and success. Again — you’re free to choose change.

4 calls to freedom

Often the lives of other people and their words will give you the courage and strength to try to change, to be free and succeed. Who comes to mind for you?

I’m always moved by these words of freedom by Thomas Jefferson in — The Declaration of Independence:  

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Civil rights activist Rosa Parks courageously chose freedom in 1955 when she refused to give up her seat in the ‘colored section’ of a bus for a white person:

I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free…
so other people would be also free.

International author and teacher Dr. Wayne Dyer defines freedom like this:

Freedom means you are unobstructed in living your life as you choose.
Anything less is a form of slavery.

Holocaust survivor and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl lived through hell and gained his freedom with this state of mind:

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

Freedom is an integral part of your daily life. It’s your opportunity and chance to live as you will.

Connect with what you desire.

Connect with your dreams.

Connect with the truth of your life.

The choice for FREEDOM is all yours.

Look for it, find it and wrap your entire self around it, hold it tight, treasure it and go after creating and living the very best life you can image with all of your might and love.

Give yourself permission to change and be free. You do have the authority.

Be brave. Be bold. TRY!

Thanks – Michael

Please share this post with your friends.
And also take a look at – Nobody Puts Baby in A Corner.