How to Find Freedom NOW

What if there was a way to feel liberated right now without needing to have your viewpoints accepted by others? Would you be interested? Or do you, instead, subscribe to some future point in time, when certain “others” will finally understand you and your viewpoints?

I used to religiously listen to certain Christian talk shows on a daily basis, until one day…I noticed I was snapping at my children for interrupting the important show I was listening to. What was I unconsciously saying to them? I realized, without truly feeling this way, that my words and actions were saying, “You, and what you have to say are not as important as this talk show.”

Listening to these talk shows, I became aware that I grew increasingly upset and agitated about the perceived wrongs in the world. Every day, there was another topic and well-known guest interviewed whose main intent was to make me more aware of the immorality or lack of Biblical standards being adhered to in the world.

I asked myself,

“Am I finding new ways to live in peace and love in the world, or are these shows taking me farther from where I truly want to be?”

A strikingly similar occurrence happened to me one summer day as a teenager visiting my grandparents on summer break. My sister and I had discovered attention-grabbing fictional books which seemed shocking to my young mind. I couldn’t put the books down, and anyone who interrupted my reading risked being assaulted by a barrage of painful ammunition shot from my mouth. One day, I realized I was alienating the people around me, and no book should separate me from another, even for a day!

For the biggest lie spoken in my head was, “You can pay attention to them after you finish this book. You can make it all up to them later.” But later, there was always another book or something else coming between me and the ones near to me in my life! Can you relate here, at all? For me, this awakening to my insanity, created the catalyst needed to end my recreational book reading for several decades.

The day I realized my increasing agitation focusing on the negative activities of the world, I also ended my daily appointment with this source of greater angst delivered in the form of Christian talk shows.

Am I saying you also should stop listening to Christian talk shows?  No, I’m not.

For me, I realized a pattern of insanity which caused me to feel MORE separated and divided from others. Perhaps this is not the case for you. However, I do urge everyone to ask yourselves the all-important question: Is this helping me to find what I truly want out of living…or not?

What does any of this have to do with whether your viewpoints are heard or accepted? I’m so glad you asked!

You see, if you take the time to uncover the need for your viewpoints to be accepted, you will realize it is caused by a story your mind is telling you. Your mind is saying, “When _____ finally sees things from my perspective, we will be able to have peace between us.”

What you really want is peace.

Why don’t you have peace now? “Well, it’s because we have a difference of opinion, of course,” you say. Do you realize that you can not have peace right now because of something your mind is telling you?

If you got sudden amnesia and couldn’t remember all of these important issues your mind is telling you must be made right, would any of the things keeping you from internal peace be an issue anymore?

I know this seems crazy, but whatever problem you think you have right now, if your past mind were to suddenly be disconnected from your body, do you realize you would be sitting in peace and gratitude?

Can it be true, that it is only thoughts in your mind which are standing between you and peace?

Let’s see for real.

Take a deep breath.

Let it out slowly, focusing on the feeling.

Take another slow breath and let it out.

Focus on your inner being, as you breathe in and out in a relaxed way.

Here, there are no thoughts to interrupt your peace.

Here, in your beingness, you always are.

Take comfort in knowing this peace is always with you, and the essence of who you are.

Here, your viewpoints can sit on a shelf, while you commune with what never leaves.

Did you find it? Is the peace here, after all; simply covered by thoughts in your mind?

Maybe you’ve felt unheard, misunderstood, or unvalued in your life. Maybe your life or opinions have never seemed to matter.

Perhaps you see injustices or wrongs that need to be made right. Maybe you feel the world is doing it all wrong. Maybe you are right. Maybe you’re not.

One thing I have seen in my lifetime, is people at odds with one another. So many different viewpoints. Can we just put down our virtual weapons for a bit? Can we search for and discover what we hold in common, rather than what differences we hold?

What makes us each unique is special and given to us by God. If it were not for our differences, we would all be boring sameness. But what if we, in our efforts to make our unique selves known and accepted in this world, have overlooked the essence of what holds us all together and makes us one?

If you, like me, have longed for real peace in this world, and not just a peace that comes and goes, join me here on this blog, where we will discover peace-filled ways of being “within this world, but not of this world.”

Katy Jean Marzolf