freedom
Freeing Ourselves from Our Personal Prisons & Flying Free
This is the year, the month, the day, the hour, the moment that we can set ourselves free. Free from the constraints of worry and holding on to the past.
It's all too easy to cling to yesterday with white knuckles, even when the present and the pending future is full of unlimited possibility.
"Anything is possible," declared my yoga instructor this evening.
I remember thinking the same thing when I was a youngster. Magic was in the air in those days. But as we grow into our adult costumes, it's easy to get lost and forget that the magic and the miracles are still around.
And so, moving forward into a space of freedom -- I'm thinking it means living for now. Letting go of my conception of what should be. Loving without condition. Loving with a rawness that can only be found in the authentic now.
Freedom comes in the moment -- when you are in a flow. Yes, a majestic beautiful flow. It comes when we lift our heads and our chests to the sky. When we dare to look into a stranger's eyes and smile.
Freedom comes when we love freely, without rules or chains. The mind must find a sense of peace, if true freedom is going to reign.
It's easy to cling to the past. To talk about what is dead and what has died. Whether it was a person, a relationship, or a dream. But there comes a time -- to let it all go and claim that gift called freedom.
Pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. When pain arrives, it's important to feel it -- to own it -- to accept it -- and then let it go. Otherwise suffering becomes all we know. We become caged and freedom turns elusive.
But now it's time to breathe. It's time to claim the miracles and the magic that float through the universe. That live in our veins.
The winds of freedom have arrived, and it's time to fly.
- Jen Engevik
Project Be Bold
Coldplay's Paradise and Going Bold!
Enjoy this video from Coldplay. Reminds us that sometimes we just need to break free from the confines of our minds & realities...and do something wild and bold!
The songs lyrics are as follows...
When she was just a girl
She expected the world
But it flew away from her reach so
She ran away in her sleep and dreamed of
Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise, Para-para-paradise
Every time she closed her eyes
When she was just a girl
She expected the world
But it flew away from her reach
and the bullets catch in her teeth
Life goes on, it gets so heavy
The wheel breaks the butterfly
Every tear a waterfall
In the night the stormy night
she'll close her eyes
In the night the stormy night away she'd fly
and dreams of Para-para-paradise...
Don't let life slip away...grab on with your bristly trunk and just go for it!!!
My Search for Boldness Takes a Turn
It is already the 3rd day in May of 2010. Where does time go? 
This morning I've been thinking about the idea of being bold and what I should be learning out of this project. Am I a bold individual? I ask this of myself and my answer is yes and no.
For instance, would I jump out of a plane and sky dive my way back to earth? Probably not. Would I eat worms on a dare? Definitely not. Would I stand up for my inner-truths even if it meant death? Maybe...hopefully yes...but then again maybe I'd wimp out in the end.
My quest to be bold easily extends to my everyday actions which may include -- do I work out or not. Yes! I'll do it! Or will I apply myself to my work and give it my all? Yes for sure, I'm in! But these things are mildly bold.
I want to be bold in my thoughts and actions, yet sometimes I'm just a plain wimp. I worry about the people I love, I fear that I'll never add up to much of anything, I get caught up in my fears that the economy is going to plunge again and take me down with it, I look in the mirror and see wrinkles springing up and cringe, and my list goes on.
Am I bold? Today...maybe not. Tomorrow...hopefully so. The next day, who knows? I'm starting to keep a list of the thoughts I have that keep me from making bold choices in life.
On my way to the coffee shop I'm now sitting at in Gothenburg, Sweden, I made a list that included:
1. I would love to own my own house, but what if it never happens.
2. Finishing a book or even writing one that appeals to people may never occur.
3. What is my purpose on this earth anyway? Is there one?
The truth is. I've always wanted to live an adventurous life. I crave. I hope. Something inside of me is seeking something grand. Yet my limiting thoughts at times get the best of me. Being human is a tough enterprise.
A friend of mine sent out an email to a bunch of people and something that he said jumped out at me just before I started this post:
Yet, when you remain blinded by need, the need for self-importance, your inability to pierce the veil will remain. Then, you will only see the limitations of another--the mask, the illusion that they project upon time and space. And, you will only experience your own limitation that seeks an audience for acknowledgment.
Hmm...Bob, what are you trying to tell me? The world? Am I to look away from my limitations and then I'll find happiness?
He answers:
We must learn to be in this world as if we are a traveler, a passerby. To reach and grasp that which happens in this life reaches and grasps an image, the image we hold. It is what we might call the perfect life. And when that images passes without being fulfilled we are left with an opinion that binds us. And, it is this opinion that causes the mask, the illusion that continues to bind you to form believing that you are this body/mind expression. You will become deceived as this distortion will bind you to itself.
Holy shite!! Ok so, my quest for boldness. Maybe it should include more letting go than grasping for boldness. Maybe it should include more smelling the roses and smiling, or more writing for the sake of my love for writing -- not for a result.
Bob? Any more wisdom you can lend here?
To lift yourself free you must first lift yourself from yourself. Oh yes, a daunting task as everything you think you are is bound to the belief's and fears; hopes and regret that you sustain out of "necessity."
We must learn to be: free from conditioning (determinism), free from opinion, free from the prison of our self-image, free from our notion of being an individuality, and most importantly free from the need for freedom..
It's strange how we grapple with things and then the answers arrive when we'd least expect them. I've been searching for boldness and have woken up lately feeling that I'm behind the curve -- and today it reached a head as I rode on the tram. And then Bob's email arrived for me to see less than an hour ago.
My search for boldness needs to be more of an acceptance -- and less of striving fest -- I need to bask in the perfection of the moment and apply my skills to the world as I can. One step at a time. I can't scramble for and grasp onto freedom. I must release it all to the winds of destiny and continue to walk my walk.
That's what I'll do...
- Post by Jen of Project BE Bold
Freeing Ourselves - February 15, 2010
In our pursuit of freedom and creativity, we should continually strive to give our loved-ones and friends space. Space 
to make their own decisions -- space to have independent thoughts -- space to develop other friendships -- space in the kitchen -- space in the car -- space in their own minds. When we bind those we love in our web of needs, expectations, attachments and fears, we lose. Our "love" for the people around us becomes a binding contract that stifles rather than an exercise of unconditional giving.
Kahlil Gibran writes in his most highly acclaimed book The Prophet, "Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup. Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone...and stand together yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart. And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow."
Dare not to have any expectations that weigh a person down, rather be thankful beyond all belief that they are in your life!!
By providing freedom to our loved ones and friends, we will in turn free ourselves.
Now, go out and make bold choices today!!
- Team Project Be Bold