Are you enslaved or are you free?

Today I have no internet, my cell phone does not have a great signal and the telephone at home is out of order.  I live on a beautiful coastline, in a quiet suburb, in a small beach cottage which is tucked away in an area that only has a few houses. There is a  180 degree view of the most magnificent stretch of beach on the Dolphin Coast, in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.  There is a large hill behind the house and a deep valley next to it which means that there is limited access to the internet, which is often not working at all.

I love it!

It’s been holiday season here and I have been forced into a situation, without access to the outside world, creating the ideal situation for me to unplug and disconnect from the massive amount of information, that most people have access to, 24/7.

For now, it is ideal!  I love technology as it allows me to service and help people all over the world, but I have come to realise that constantly being connected to the barrage of information that is available, was causing a great deal of stress and tension in my life.

Overloaded with the opinions of others, constantly assessing, judging, comparing and criticizing every aspect of every sphere of life becomes the drug that is so easy to become addicted to.  It creates doubt, fear and worry when you can no longer make decisions based on your own “gut” feeling and you want to find out what others would do or have done.

Knowledge is power – this is true – but trusting yourself to make a decision and having faith and belief in the outcome is what makes us wise and isn’t that what knowledge truly is?  Learning as we navigate life so that we come to our own conclusions.

Where are you stuck in making a decision in your life?

I know that when I get stuck, asking too many people for advice often confuses me. The answer will come.  It will come from being quiet or it will come when you least expect it, while doing something out of the norm.  But it will come.

Inundating yourself with the opinions and advise of the thousands of people on the internet on Facebook or Google, means that you may override the innate wisdom that you have.  We all have it.  We have to learn to trust it or we run the risk of being in a constant state of indecision.

Can you unplug?  Ask yourself what your life might be like if you had to disconnect from the opinions of others, just for a while…. Maybe for a day?

How about switching your phone off for a few hours?

Give yourself some time to feel what it’s like to only listen to your own inner wisdom without wondering what anyone else may think about your life through the number of FB likes, comments or “selfies” that you post daily.

The moment is gone.  You either enjoyed it or you didn’t.

Once you rely on what someone else thought about it, after the fact, you become addicted to the opinions of others and might just get stuck trying to live your life according to the number of likes you might get when you post it – now that’s called enslavement – the direct opposite of freedom!

Are you free?  Ask yourself that question?  Really free?  Take a moment to reflect on your level of freedom.  If you feel that you have to do something and it doesn’t fire you up, burn inside you or excite you then it probably isn’t something that you have to do, its just something that you need to do.  That’s ok.  I need to sort our my taxes – I don’t love doing it but I know I need to do it.  I don’t have to do it, but there are consequences to that.  I can always get someone else to do it, if I choose to.

But I have to coach, I have to learn more about coaching, and I have to serve – it burns in me, it excites me and it fires me up every moment of every day and I can never get enough.  Now that’s freedom.  I am free to do what I love to do and there is nothing and no-one that can distract me from this because….. well, it is me!

If you feel stuck and want to experience Freedom, please contact me to book a session.  

Email: sharon@sharoncastle.co.za

Blog: What makes you happy?