Happy Independence Day to all of my fellow Americans!

This weekend we celebrate the freedom of choice.

Dr. Viktor Frankl, one of my greatest mentors, was a brilliant psychiatrist captured by the Nazis and imprisoned in a series of concentration camps. His notes of his work and all of his possessions were seized. Stripped of everything, literally and figuratively, he was given a number to replace his name. “The experience of camp life shows that man does have a choice of action,” Frankl stated in Man’s Search for Meaning,

“Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress.”

Dr. Frankl realized this truth when he wrote, “What alone remains is ‘the last of human freedoms’—the ability to choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances.”

Those are very wise and applicable words then, and today. When we place ourselves in a victim role, we are victims. We do create our own realities. However, we have a choice in how that reality looks, as co-creators. We can choose to create a different perception, a different reality.

Here are three major patterns we choose daily, I encourage to you to consider carefully as you go throughout the rest of this remaining year:

1) Thoughts are powerful; they are the seeds of ideas, beliefs, creativity, attitudes, knowledge, wisdom, and reality.

Thoughts can be our best friends or our worst enemies. Not by happenstance do thoughts come to us; these powerful seeds come to us through choice. Choice and thoughts are action movements, directed by us, whether we are conscious of these activities or not. The key lies in awareness of these two incredible gifts—thoughts, and choices.

2) Once we do become aware of our mental models, we can make a conscious choice to change or expand some of our lenses.

We can choose to take a step to the left or the right and have a different view, a different perspective, and perhaps a broader perspective. The beauty in all of this is not just to recognize the mental models in ourselves, but also to recognize the mental models of others with whom we communicate. We all have deeply ingrained beliefs that color our world, so the power comes in recognizing these tendencies in ourselves and in others. Can you imagine how much more effective our communication can be with this level of understanding?

3) Where love and spirit are internal to us, fear and ego are external.

Turning to others for approval or acceptance, points us in the direction of ego, external to ourselves. When we live in the past, we live in the ego. Reliving those events, involving externally generated relationships, can cause tremendous pain or hurt. Each time we choose—yes, it is a choice—to live in the space of fear, we give away our power. We give it away to people or circumstance—an external event. When we retain our power, we are empowered and we then live in a place of love and spirit.

There is so much going on, post-election audits, politician squabbles, and the news isn’t always supportive of a love or spirit mentality. This Independence Day, I want to refresh your mind - move to a place of awareness, consider how you make your daily decisions, find your place of power and be the change our country needs right now.

Start one person at a time - beginning with yourself, you have that freedom to choose.

Let freedom ring!

With love,

Maria