Day 238: Internal Freedom
We are all going through a strange time in our lives, a time filled with situations none of us have ever gone through before and hopefully never have to go through again. Mixed emotions run rampant inside of us and conflicting thoughts keep circling, circling, circling inside of our minds. Nothing like this has ever been experienced by this generation and with any luck none of us will have to face something like this again.
If I had to guess what most of us are feeling currently it would be a mixture of entrapment, suffocation, loneliness, and confusion. These are strange times indeed and it is completely understandable to feel this way. What's important to realize though, is that such feelings will never be gone completely, even when we have come out on the other side of the situation we are currently facing.
We will face feelings on entrapment, suffocation, loneliness, and confusion at many times in our lives, not just right now. It's terribly unfortunate but no life is ever without difficulties. If you had to think back on different years of your own life, you would probably begin to realize you have already faced periods filled with similar emotions before. Maybe not such long periods of time, but you have faced such emotions nonetheless.
Our hearts and our minds long for freedom. Freedom not only from our circumstances, but from ourselves as well. We are free beings and yet we put ourselves in confinement more times than not because of our internal unrest. Life will eventually out us into circumstances where our literal freedom is restricted and in turn we will put ourselves into circumstances where our emotional and mental freedom is restricted.
Our internal entrapment happens when we do not have the ability to sit comfortably with ourselves at any point during our waking hours. When we are uncomfortable with the feelings swirling around in our hearts and the thoughts circling around in our minds. Internal entrapment comes when we are at odds with ourselves. Solitude, stillness, and silence becomes our enemies.
Many of us have felt this inability to engage in comfortable stillness recently because when we are entrapped internally our feelings of discomfort intensify during times of solitude such as we are currently facing. No matter what kind of circumstance we are facing, internal entrapment will always lead to even greater external entrapment.
We all long for freedom and one must understand that learning to sit with ourselves leads to freedom in even the most trapped circumstances. When we come to terms with the condition of our hearts and our minds, we will be able to endure the most trapped periods of our lives because we have learned an internal freedom.
Learning to make peace with the tempest inside helps us conquer the tempest we are facing outside. When we listen to and understand what we are trying to tell ourselves, we step in the direction of freedom. When this happens we have cracked the confinements around ourselves and built a mental resilience that will allow us to endure long periods of any time of entrapment.
Until Next Time,
Lillian Merritt
(Enclose or confine someone against their will)
Splinters ripple across the surface of the glass dome which holds an entrapped soul, one who is waiting for freedom. A freedom found when a restless heart learns the art of resting comfortably in solitude.