Financial freedom, like most freedoms, comes with attachments and assumptions. At the very least, it comes with individual ideas and constructs about what the phrase means and entails.

I can only speak for myself, but financial freedom for me begins with this: it means that I have more money coming in each month than I have going out and that the money coming in each month isn’t hard to create. In other words, it’s passive, or at least mostly passive. Why mostly? Because I haven’t found too many people, short of what we affectionately called a ‘trust fund baby’, that don’t have to put in at least a few hours a week to maintain the inflow of money that leads to that freedom.

I want to go further into this idea of freedom though. What if you enough money but you are in a situation that brings you sadness or fear or ill-health or chaos? Are you really free then?

What if you read the paper in the morning and allow it move you to tears at the seeming unjustness of so many events.

What if you have surrounded by people who, not matter what they are blessed with and experience, aren’t happy and complain about everything?

What if you haven’t learned to control your own emotions, your own thoughts, your own reactions and responses to the outside world?
[ad#ad-1]

How free are you really?

Why has this come up for me? Because I am visiting my Mom and yesterday had the pleasure of playing golf with my son, and his father (my X). The pleasure part was my son. My X just reminded me that though some have much, they really don’t have wants creates the ultimate freedom and that’s the freedom to really enjoy and relish life and what it has to offer.

I am reading a great book, Eat, Pray, Love by Elisabeth Gilbert

In this book, she visits three countries: Italy, India and Indonesia. I have just finished the Italy section and I want to read the entire thing again. It’s all about pleasure and really simply enjoyment and it reminds me to pay attention everyday to my awareness of this simple, yet profound aspect of my life.

So what will you complain about today? My challenge to you, when you find this post, is to go an entire day and complain of nothing. Be grateful, enjoy the air, the birds, the people in your life, find joy. Then you will be free.
[ad#ad-1]