Another 4th of July.  Got me to thinking about this latest go around of fireworks, hotdogs, and flag waving.  Every year, we Americans celebrate our independence according to the history books, and celebrate our right to have a day off.

But what if this 4th of July was more than that?  What if we celebrated independence of a different kind?  What about exploring and committing to a different perspective of freedom?  How bout freedom from the attitudes, assumptions and behaviors that keep us from doing the things we can do?

Today can be more than the average 4th.  Today can be the day you declare independence from the thoughts that are holding you hostage, the patterns that are keeping you from living into your greatness.  The illusions that keep you stuck in scarcity are the very illusions that rob you of your freedom -- freedom of happiness, peace of mind, and ease.

What is your deepest yearning of freedom for yourself?  Who do you really want yourself to be?  Today you can let go of looking for yourself in other people and other things by realizing that you already are ALL that you want to be.  You already have the capacity to be that free. You are that free - it is the illusions that create a smoke screen of need and perceived imprisonment. 

Remember Nelson Mandela?  Imprisoned for 27 years in a cell just like this one at Robben Island, the South African leader endured countless abuses.  Yet, his captors could never imprison his mind.

He declared himself to be free, every day -- even if only in his mind.  But that was more than enough.  That declaration was his transformation out of his dark, tiny, filthy prison cell.  For Mandela, his mind was an oasis in the midst of hopelessness.  For so many of us that have so much, our mind is a desert in the midst of an oasis.

Today you can begin.  Just by making a simple, but profound shift in your thinking.

Today you can begin to be free. 

Declare it!