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To me, there’s only one definition of success: Freedom to live your life the way you want without hurting others.
Living the way you want means suffering voluntarily. People will get upset with you, maybe even abandon you. You have to do hard things. But on the other side of suffering is freedom.
“To be free, you have only to make the decision to be free. Freedom is waiting for you—anytime you’re ready for it.” — Harry Browne
Understanding who you are and what you want is an ongoing process. It ends when life ends. You can never 100% know yourself. That’s the most important thing about self-knowledge. If you think you know yourself, you have a long way to go. People change. If you commit yourself to a life of growth and freedom, you are not the person you were yesterday. Today is a new day. And today, you have the chance to be different.
Without core values we’re aimless. And aimlessness is the enemy of freedom.
“When I discover who I am, I’ll be free.” ― Ralph Ellison
To be truly free, you have to put your own wellbeing first. But instead, we think we need to be kind, nice, and self-sacrificing. It’s a naive way of looking at life. The truth is that we’re afraid to be honest with others and ourselves. The truth is that you are the most important person in your life. Yes, you’re more important than your kids, parents, siblings, friends, and the rest of the world. Why? Because if you’re strong, all those people I just mentioned will thank you for it.
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
The ultimate way of making yourself useful is by being an accountable, responsible, strong, and stable human being.
“Freedom (n.): To ask nothing. To expect nothing. To depend on nothing.” — Ayn Rand
To grow, you must do hard things. That’s the purpose of life: To make yourself useful, to contribute, and feel good about what you do and who you are. And you want to do things in your own way.
Use that pain! Welcome it. Don’t avoid it. It’s merely pain. On the other side, there’s freedom.
Our lives are dedicated to the avoidance of suffering. We do everything to be comfortable and to feel the least amount of pain. And that’s exactly why we’re not free.
“Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone bears great calamities with cheerfulness, not through insensibility but through greatness of mind.”
“A true friend is someone who lets you have total freedom to be yourself – and especially to feel. Or not feel. Whatever you happen to be feeling at the moment is fine with them. That’s what real love amounts to – letting a person be what he really is.”
“A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither. A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both.” — Milton Friedman
“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” — Albert Camus
To be emotionally free, you’re always in the moment, experiencing whatever is in front of you.
“Nobody can bring you peace but yourself.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
“This is the highest wisdom that I own; freedom and life are earned by those alone who conquer them each day anew.” —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
When you’re free from worry, stress, and negative emotions, you will have enough energy to improve your life anyway.
That’s why free people are often wealthy too.
“Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire.” — Epictetus
if you’re not physically restrained by anyone, you’re unfree because of your own decisions. Your decisions led you to where you are.
Everything you do must be a decision.
A free person respects another person’s freedom more than anything else in the world. Why? Because freedom is the most important thing.
You are only your own boss.
Everything you do in life is your choice. Even in the bleakest circumstances, you decide to endure it. You never surrender your power to someone else. You protect your own kingdom with your life. Never, ever, will you give up your sovereignty.
“Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect.”
“You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.” ― Toni Morrison
Life is change. Nothing in our power can change the nature of life. To find true freedom in life, we must accept that life is unstable.
Adapting to change is real freedom.
“Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.” —Sigmund Freud
Merely accepting uncertainty is not enough, we have to strengthen ourselves by giving up comfort too.
“Be patient and tough; someday this pain will be useful to you.” — Ovid
If the price of being honest is judgment or sadness, so be it. You’ll still be free. That’s the real prize.
“The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.” — James A. Garfield
Instead of fighting with people who are not compatible with you, seek people who share the same values as you.
“I wish that every human life might be pure transparent freedom.” — Simone de Beauvoir
“Real freedom is having nothing. I was freer when I didn’t have a cent.” —Mike Tyson
“Perhaps the biggest tragedy of our lives is that freedom is possible, yet we can pass our years trapped in the same old patterns.” —Tara Brach
“For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
To be truly a free spirit, you should have zero expectations. Most of us have expectations about everything.
Being free means that you want freedom for others too.
A free person is altruistic. A free person wishes the best for others. A free person wishes that others are free. And expectations are the enemy of freedom.
“Men talk of freedom! How many are free to think? Free from fear, from perturbation, from prejudice? Nine hundred and ninety-nine in a thousand are perfect slaves.” — Henry David Thoreau
True freedom means you’re not concerned with other people’s opinions, views, and actions. You also don’t have the need to explain why your ideas and actions are the best.
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
“When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everyone will respect you.” ― Lao Tzu
“Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.” — Confucius
