For most it was a short-lived adventure and then the reality of having to answer for your actions set in.

We attempt to recapture that feeling by repeating the things we did then. That's not choice, it's choreography.

Just suppose you always wanted to eat Cocoa Puffs for dinner but knew it would be frowned on by others. You went out on your own and voila, you ate a whole box by candlelight. Now what?

The second or third box didn't give you that feeling anymore but you kept on spooning it in searching for that new found freedom again.

We get locked into patterns of behavior that served a purpose then but are only detrimental now. By executing these same patterns, we are attempting to find that freedom again, which can't be found because we gave up our freedom of choice.

Patterns of behavior and freedom of choice are at opposite ends of the spectrum. When you have your patterns automatically choose you, you give up your freedom of choice, and the feeling of freedom remains elusive.

My experience is that your behavior is dictated by your patterns. That means if you developed a pattern of smoking, cigarettes smoke you. If you drink to excess, alcohol drinks you. If you overeat, food eats you (figuratively and literally). If you spend money you don't have, money spends you. There is no choice and no freedom when your patterns chain you to a behavior.

Your road to freedom begins with choice.

Free will and the freedom it brings begin when we notice that we have a choice. Up until that point, we are helpless slaves to our patterns.

You have an opportunity to choose each time you notice a patterned behavior about to kick in. Freedom lives in that choice point.

If you choose your pattern again, you have postponed your freedom again.

When you postpone your freedom, you waste your opportunity to choose. There is good and bad news attached to that behavior. The good news is you get another opportunity to choose the next time. The bad news is the next time may be too late.

Choice is genuine freedom.

The only question you have to ask yourself is, "Am I brave enough to choose?" because freedom is unavailable to the timid.

All the best,

John