Have you heard me say that “true freedom” comes when you love and accept yourself fully?  And does that trigger something in your mind saying “wait a minute… I thought true freedom comes from keeping God’s commandments!”?  This post will explain the difference, and bring them together.

Let’s start off with a visual –imagine someone in jail.

Think of how the average inmate might spend their day.  After breakfast, they go to their work assignment or educational class, followed by some recreational time.  After lunch, downtime, and dinner, there might be some program activities, TV, or socializing before bed.

(How do I know this?  Google.  Haha.)

Would you say that this person is “free”?  I wouldn’t say that anyone in jail is free…

However, now think of someone being held in a supermax prison.  They do not have many privileges like the inmate described above.  In solitary confinement, inmates might spend up to 23 hours a day alone in their cell.

How’s the first inmate looking now?  Pretty ………free??

Yeah.

Now take 2 different people, each in solitary confinement, and say that one is constantly tortured by their own mental state -whether depression, addiction, hallucinations, regret, or anything else.  While the other has a calm state of mind and is able to enjoy time with their own thoughts.

Both are physically contained the same, but one is experiencing freedom that the other does not have.

You could say the same for two people out of jail, living in their own homes.

There are different levels of “freedom”.

Ponder on the following quotes:

No matter what your physical living conditions are (noting that addictions and chemical depression, etc. will take their own toll), you can choose your thoughts and live a free life.  Or you can let your thoughts run away with you and be a prisoner to them.

The newfound FREEDOM that I speak of often on this blog is referring to how I feel after breaking free from the bars that were once in my mind.

I used to base many decisions on whether or not I thought others would approve of me.

“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner.”  -Lao Tzu

• I remember getting rid of one of my favorite shirts because I knew it was “out of style”, and I didn’t want to wear it (since others would “obviously” not approve of me if I did), even though I STILL LIKED IT!
• While working in groups, I have kept many ideas to myself because I was afraid that some people might not like my input.
• I have told myself that certain people are generally annoyed with me, so I tried to avoid them so as not to “be a burden” to them.
• I used to die a little bit inside when someone saw my messy house.
• I have many weaknesses, and I was previously ashamed of them and always tried to hide them from others.
• All of those thoughts and more kept me in prison!

It was (and still is) a process to break free, and I have never felt more free in my life!

So where does Jesus Christ come into all of this?  Isn’t keeping the commandments supposed to set me free?

*      *      *

You may or may not know that I was born and raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I’ve been taught righteousness from unrighteousness my whole life.  I know that God has laws and He gives us agency to choose whether we obey Him or not.  I know that Jesus is the Christ and that by Him and through Him, we can be made whole and free!

Referring to Jesus Christ as the “head”, Mosiah 5:8 says:

“And under this head ye are made free, and there is NO OTHER head whereby ye can be made free.”  (Emphasis added)

The kind of freedom this scripture is talking about is salvation, and doesn’t that seem like that would be the ULTIMATE freedom??

I have always thought so, but I’m not going to say yes or no to that.  I just have some scriptures for you to think about…

In Alma 34:34 we learn:

“…for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world.”

D&C 130:2 teaches:

“And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there…”

And verse 18 reads:

“Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection.”

Between those three scriptures, I gather that whatever is in our minds and hearts on earth will still be the same for us in the next life.

So, if you do not learn to love and accept yourself here on earth, it would only make sense that you will not just magically love yourself in the next life.

I used to feel like a bad person if I didn’t read my scriptures.  That was a judgement I put on myself, or rather a condition of love.  The idea was “I can love myself IF I read my scriptures.”

I’ve always known that God loves me no matter what.  But if I can’t love me if I don’t read my scriptures, then I won’t be able to allow His love fully into my heart if I’m not reading them.

Allowing myself to love and accept myself -even with no intention of reading my scriptures, has brought me back around to picking them up because I WANTED to, rather than because I felt like I should.

When I meet my maker, I want to see Him and know that He loves me just for being me.

That’s it.

There are no conditions on His love, and I want to feel that in His presence, rather than thinking that He loves me because I did a good job of keeping the commandments.

I don’t want to “live a good life” so that “He will love me”.

I want to follow Him because…… I love Him.

I believe that this thought deepened when I altered the way I see myself.

The motivation to make and keep my covenants changed once I stopped judging myself.  It took the pressure off and allowed love in.

Love.

Love.

Love.

God is love.

I do believe that exaltation is true freedom!

I also believe that if we love who we are -without any conditions, that we will enjoy our exalted experience that much more!  And feel that much more FREEEE!

You can experience this true freedom and prepare yourself for the next life.

It starts with transforming the way you view yourself.

Love yourself.  Accept yourself.

You have flaws.

You have weaknesses.

You might be kinda strange -who isn’t??

Approve of it all, and start bending those bars!

In what ways have you broken free from your own mind?  Tell me in the comments!

Empowering you to embrace your agency and liberate yourself through conscious choice!

Life is messy… and you can love yourself through it all!

Here’s a note to the perfectionist, you are loveable in your flaws.