Hello on Independence Day to those of you here in the U.S. And happy freedom-feeling to anyone anywhere!
May you have some moments today where you feel absolutely FREE to be who you are — however you are.
Check out those happy people dancing in a grocery store in the photo up above! I don’t know them, but I wish I did!
Don’t they look FREE? To me, they seem like they are expressing themselves out loud and feeling good in their bodies.
That’s what I hope for all of us.
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Today’s Celebration Moment is all about that feeling of being free to be who we really are.
Or, rather, free to be whoever we feel like we are in the moment!
I like the idea of freedom to not be tied to an identity.
Maybe in this one moment we can be someone brand new? Maybe there really is no past or future? Maybe we can “try on” a way of being that calls to us in the moment?
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Earlier this week, I hosted my group coaching circle. It is an intimate group of some truly amazing women who are all interested in practicing ways of coming home to themselves and to feeling more free.
The name of the group is Olly Olly Oxen Free, which is a nod to that moment in the game of hide-n-go-seek when someone shouts out that it is safe to come out of hiding.
In our group, there is a beautiful safety that hopefully allows each of us to express who we really are!
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The reason I chose this fun dancin’-in-the-grocery store photo is because one of the awesome women in my group had told me the story of being in the market and hearing the song “Brave” by Sara Bareilles come on.
(This song is one of our group’s “signature songs.” It reminds us to practice being courageous in living out loud.]
She said, “I love that the song reminded me of our group. And I had a moment where I considered breaking out into full song and dance up and down the grocery aisles. I didn’t do that, but I DID allow myself to sing out loud!”
What fun!
Of course I LOVED that she allowed herself to SING out LOUD.
As a celebration, I wanted to play the video for us all again when we met. So, I asked if she would share her story in our coaching circle.
When she told the story, someone else suggested, “What if we listened to the song and all imagined the group of us dancing and singing together in a grocery store?”
So, I played the video and we all got to imagine the silly freedom of breaking out into our own little flash mob in a grocery store!
It was AMAZING. It really felt like we were all together, just being silly and free.
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I’ve read that our bodies don’t know the difference between what is real and what we imagine. That when we visualize things, the body releases the same chemicals as when those things are really happening.
It felt that way to me when we were all dancing together in the grocery store — in my mind.
It felt like “practice” to me. As if I was practicing living out loud just a wee bit more.
Want to try it? Maybe today, in the name of freedom, you will allow yourself to close your eyes and experience a free-spiritness that you long for. Let yourself have the life you want — even if it is only in your imagination.
I bet you will be surprised by the JOY you feel!
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Thank you for being here and sharing in the celebration of life.
We can choose to have more freedom.
We can practice it!
Seek celebration — even in the dark corners,
xo Sherry