Are You Being Held Captive?

One of the major current news stories is that of Jaycee Lee Dugard, the 29 year old woman who was held captive for 18 years after being abducted when she was 11 years old. From reports, she had ample opportunity to escape or make contact with her family or the authorities, working in the kidnappers' home-based business and enjoying use of Internet and telephones, as well as freedom of movement. Jaycee's story is an example of Stockholm Syndrome, in which captives begin to sympathize with their captors and adopt the captors' views, or think that they are safer with those who have abducted them.Despite having freedom available to her, Jaycee chose to stay with the kidnappers, enduring rape, even giving birth to 2 children fathered by Phillip Garido.

These stories are so difficult for us to fathom, as we question why anyone would choose captivity, choose to stay with their captors, never challenging or saying anything. Even with freedom at their disposal, they choose instead to stay. In this case, the captive was a child when abducted, but Stockholm Syndrome is reported even in abducted adults. It seems hard for us to imagine, yet it is a somewhat common occurrence in these situations.

While this concept seems shocking when we think of it in terms of physical captivity, most of us have succumbed to this affliction in our minds, our souls, our social and spiritual thinking, to some degree or another. We demonstrate this each time we agree to society's norms or fall victim to the rules that hold us back from our true joy, each time we follow prescribed thoughts and practices without question, afraid to step outside of the lines, afraid to be our true selves, willingly adopting the identity that was put upon us by parents, grandparents, teachers, friends, ministers, neighbors, peers - by our collective society, generally all well-meaning, but nonetheless restraining. These ideas are put upon us when we are young, like Jaycee was, and as we mature we begin to believe them, just as she did. We obediently follow this set of limits, confining ourselves voluntarily from the greater life that lies beyond, finding false comfort in our immediate safety or surroundings.

Once we have bought into sympathizing with our captor (the predetermined thoughts that society gives us through school, church, media, peer pressure), we are our own prison guard, relinquishing real life and freedom just to keep those around us happy, just to prevent their disappointment or rejection. It feels safe to stay within the boundaries, safe because we do not have to make decisions or be accountable, safe because we don't upset the apple cart of our own reservations. Even when we KNOW there is something better, even when we feel it deep within our souls, we are reluctant to accept it.

Marianne Williamson has said,
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

We do not fear being inadequate because that is what we are told either directly or in the more subtle ways that society, religion or individuals may tell us. We readily accept the negative things we are told..."You are not good enough..You are bad...you are not worthy...you are clumsy...you will never amount to anything...You are selfish...greedy...lazy...sloppy...not disiplined enough...disorganized...fat...skinny...ugly...dumb...sinful...
Once we attach to any of these negative thoughts, they are implanted upon our psyche like a parasite, eating away at our true greatness. Even when we succeed or hear good things, they come with conditions that keep us bound by more limits.

Our most difficult fear to overcome is the realization that WE have the power, that we are actually in control of our own destinies. This is partly because we have been taught that we are flawed and partly because we don't want to feel responsible for being more. It is much safer to just stay within the boundaries and limitations than it is to look this fear in the eye and overcome it. Yet, just as in the cases of many Stockholm Syndrome victims, we have the freedom to leave when we want to. Claiming our freedom may require that we turn our thinking upside down until we can reverse our distortions to find our truth, find our way back to our true selves, to our oneness with the Creator, our unity with the Universe and all that it holds.

Do you suffer from Stockholm Syndrome in your life? Are your views truly your own, or mostly from those that have been implanted in your mind, particularly when you were young and impressionable? Do you think of yourself as limitless or limited? I think that many of us set up our spiritual beliefs based on what is around us and what we have been told. We do not seek to see or feel more because we are afraid of seeing our power and greatness.

But the good news is that Stockholm Syndrome is reversible. Escaping captivity and living in freedom is as simple as changing your thoughts, adopting new ideas, opening your mind to realize that you are more, that you will no longer be limited by the boundaries that others try to impose. At this time in history, it is much easier to challenge our thoughts and open our minds because there are so many more resources available to us for communication and dialogue, and because more and more people are heeding the call to do so (safety in numbers!) Do not fear your freedom -embrace it. Embrace the power you have within you to choose a new life and new way, as so many others are doing right now. Look around, listen, read, observe, connect.

Therein lies your way home.

Declaring Independence

Today is Independence Day here in the United States, which marks a remarkable moment when our forefathers stepped up to seek something more...to want a greater freedom to pursue their personal passions and happiness. It was remarkable because their foe was a much mightier and formidable opponent, yet these brave souls had the courage to want more and believe in something greater. In spite of conventional wisdom at the time, and although 80% of colonists were against this declaration and the impending fight, those few brave souls believed that they could win independence.

We are living in a time where much information is available to allow us avenues to declare our own personal independence...freedom from limiting thoughts that have been programmed into us by non-believers who cannot dare to believe in something greater, a power within us which can change our lives, heal us, and create miracles before us. Science and faith are converging in such a way that if we examine them, there is little doubt that there is a greater power accessible to us, within our grasp and control, which will allow us to create our greater destiny in ways we may never have imangined.

With this new wave of energy and faith that asks us to be more, there will be many naysayers, just as there were so many years ago when Independence was declared by the colonists...but the faithful prevailed, and greater things came of it. In 1776, the Declaration of Independence necessitated that a war be fought by those faithful, but our independence from limitation in this day can be won through peace, through love and acceptance shown to each other, through minds willing to lay down previous thought patterns and open to the possibility of more...more miracles in abundance.

You can take your own steps to join in the revolution of thought...by reading more, trying new things, opening your mind to new ideas, telling God and your angels that you are ready for more, ready to move into your real purpose in this life. If you ask sincerely, you will be shown opportunities for growth and new thoughts...open your mind and you will receive them.

Let this July 4 mark your Day of Freedom, the day that you declare your own will to move forward and be more.

Happy 4th to all!

The Illusion of Freedom

Election day brings us thoughts of freedom, which we tend to connect to laws and rights. In the United States, we have much more political freedom than many other places, yet we still impose shackles on ourselves in our daily lives. Our real freedom lies within us and within our choices.

So often, we trap ourselves in the norms of society and living on the path of the masses...the path that has been shown to us by a restrictive government that doesn't really want us to be self-sufficient, because that would usurp its power to control our choices...the path that has been shown to us by marketing campaigns that make us believe we will be happy if we believe their message or buy their products...the path that has been shown to us by religions that are afraid to look beyond their own restrictions on God because they might lose their own hold on us.

Despite our ability to have freedom in our lives, so many of us have succumbed to the illusion of freedom as a substitute, and have come up empty-handed, have relinquished true freedom of self in exchange for these illusions that don't really satisfy us, because we know deep down that there is more.

So many people are now feeling the call for freedom, the call for more that is real in their lives. I think that has created this energy behind the elections, yet I believe it is also displaced. Our leaders and our government would never guide us to true freedom, because so many of the leaders, in order to succeed in the game, have sold out to the need to control our thoughts with their sound bites, the need to have us dependant upon them for our solutions. The only way we can have true freedom is to go within ourselves to find our own souls, our own purpose for being here right now. It takes more than a bumper sticker or a yard sign or an "I voted" sticker to change our lives or our outcomes. We need to get real in our lives and be willing to make necessary changes to find our purpose, and therefore our true freedom. It is an important time in humanity's course, and one in which we can change the world. I believe each of us has a role to play, and the important roles will not be from elected officials, the corporate marketers, or the religious heiarchy; rather, they will be played by ordinary individuals who choose to step out of the ordinary and dare to be extraordinary.

This message will strike a chord in some who read it, who will know deep inside that they have more to do in this life and that this is a call to do it. If you have that feeling, consider it a wake up call, follow it, and do your part to change the world by living a more real life - one that dares to acknowledge the power that lies within each of us as individuals. Dare to be your true and magnificent self. Dare to know that you have the power of God's creative force within you. This is your real freedom, and it is time to claim it.