Cultivating Freedom

“Freedom is cultivated within.”  So said the speaker on a video I watched last week.  With all the ongoing angst in the world, he encouraged us to recognize that there is, indeed, plenty of suffering, but also much happiness.  When I hear things like that, I often think of a client I once had.  I don’t know how I would have managed to keep my spirits and attitude up like she did.  She was disabled, had no support system, very little money, few resources.  She often couldn’t make it to our appointments but would call me.  Always her conversations included, “God is good all the time, Miss Kath-a-leen.  “All the time, God is good.”

Her attitude exemplifies what the speaker was promoting; that is, that we stay aware of what we are cultivating within ourselves. That is what carries the potential to impact the outer world. 

I think also of Victor Frankl, the Austrian neurologist, psychologist, philosopher, and Holocaust survivor.  Frankl famously said: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing:  the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s own way.”

As we make our way through a chaotic election cycle, I have considered what strategy I will use to maintain my equilibrium.  There is an approach in singing when you have some kind of “muck” in your throat affecting your voice, that you “sing above it.”  My intention in the coming days and months, and beyond, is to “sing above” the fracas.

I would encourage you to ponder what you are cultivating and to seek a means to live as peaceably as possible within yourself.  Blessings on your endeavors to do so.

The invitation is open to share “two cups of tea” anytime at Hope’s Café, or anywhere you share companionship and conversation.

May we be bearers of hope, the “wait staff” of Hope’s Café for each other and all those we encounter.  Shalom, Kate