Let Freedom Ring!

Hello All,

I am hoping you guys had a spectacular 4th of July! I had a splendid weekend in the woods in Pennsylvania, picnic-ing and setting off fireworks with family. It was very restful and peaceful, but still with lots of laughs. I may or may not have spent my actual fourth of July drinking wine and watching the neighbors on my Dad's cul-de-sac shooting off fireworks illegally (looks around guiltily). I've also been keeping up with my usual 5,000 blogs, and there was a lot floating around about what freedom means to you. I actually feel quite blessed, as I think my life affords me quite a bit of freedom. There's always room for improvement; financial freedom would afford me even more freedom of course...but compared to much of the world, and even a lot of people I know, I really can't complain. So what DOES freedom mean to me?

Freedom means the ability to set my own pace, speak my mind, and take time for myself when I need to. It means respecting the opinions of those who love me, but making my own decisions. It means pursuing only the paths I think are worth pursuing, creating my own vocation, and taking at least some time every day to live as if I'm on vacation. I feel so blessed to be living this vision every day and in closing want to encourage you to pinpoint what 'freedom' means to you, and to take concrete steps to obtain it.

Peace, passion, and love.