Here in the U.S., we celebrate July 4 as a national holiday, marking the day that our forefathers signed the Declaration of Independence and officially cut governing ties with colonial powers in England. It is a strong and compelling document that provides a lot of inspiration for a lot of people. Of course I take issue with the “merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions” portion, but, hey, such is the multilayered reality of any historical event.
Freedom, however, is a very worthy thing to celebrate, so I hope you do today!
To help, here is a recap of some of my freedom-inspired writings and doings from the last year or so, in addition to my favorite freedom speech:
12 Ways to Feel More Free in 2007 – ezine article from December, 2006. (If you read it before, how are you doing at the halfway mark of this year?)
My Declaration of Independence – 3 minute flash movie I created to inspire cube-dwellers to leave the cave and stand in the natural light of entrepreneurship.
Stop playing small, a short podcast that encourages you to step out from behind the curtain, or someone else’s coattails and play big.
Freedom is not a state of employment, it is a state of mind – a post from last year about how your perception of reality creates it.
I Have a Dream, by Martin Luther King, Jr.. No matter how many times I hear this speech, I get shivers up and down my spine and tears roll down my face. What great inspiration for all of us to keep pushing for freedom in our lives, families, societies and world.
Happy Independence Day everyone, wherever you are. Maybe today is the day to set yourself free!
And I almost forgot … I am holding my free escape call today at 3pm Eastern for anyone who is serious about wanting help leaving the cube. Sign up here.
Awesome video, Pam.
It’s good to be reminded of the things one doesn’t miss!
Very inspiring flash movie. I specially like your logo of “declare your independence day”. I just started on the road towards my independence, its a lill foggy right now but i keep moving on. With blogs like yours, people like me get inspired to GETUP one more time to move forward when we stumble and fall.
Thank you for taking out time to create the movie and sharing it.
Happy Fourth of July, sis! May you celebrate your freedom in style.
This is a very nice post, and I really enjoyed the “12 Ways to Feel More Free in 2007” article.
Few people are truly capable of living in a glass house and few countries (if any) are free from blood on their hands. Still, when I reflect today, I find it a bit sad that patriotism has fallen out of favor. Perhaps that’s because, to me, patriotism is not about blind allegiance to a flag or government. To me patriotism is about faithfulness to a cause.
If we are not as just or as free as we should be, as a nation or as an individual, then we can and should work to get there. It is in our hands. Our government is flawed, as are all governments, but if I believe that enough of us understand and appreciate what those folks did for us in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, then today is truly a day worthy of celebration.
Perfect thematic tie-in! I remember it was that Flash movie that brought me here.
May ungratifying jobs one day be a quaint memory of how things “used to suck”!