40 Ways to Determine Your Level of Inner Freedom

Want to know how free you really are? Good! You’re about to be presented with a unique opportunity to learn all about your individual level of inner liberty.

Assembled here for your self-study is a special kind of test. But, don’t worry! You can’t fail this examination. This test is unlike any you’ve ever taken before. It’s designed to help you gaze into yourself and then use what you see there as a gauge to help you determine your level of freedom.

Here’s how it works.

Here are 40 simple internal indicators for evaluating how far along you actually are on freedom’s path. As you review each of the inner liberties on the list, just note mentally, whether or not that particular freedom belongs to you. If you have to think about whether you’re free in one way or another, you’re probably not as free in that area as you’d give yourself to believe. Relax. This is to be expected. Which means let’s not forget our aim in this evaluation.

[pullquote]Our intention is simply to learn what’s true about ourselves, not to prove anything to ourselves.[/pullquote]

You may find parts of the list surprising. If that happens, let it. And then feel free to consider you never knew such a freedom could exist for you because, until now, you were sure you had no choice but to live restrained in this area. Now, you know better! Allow these 40 types of freedom awaken and stir that secret part of you, that knows living in any kind of bondage is a lie. Then, follow your own natural sensing all the way to the free life.

You’re Well Along Freedom’s Path When:

1. You have no desire to change places in life with anyone else.
2. You step over setbacks without stopping or looking back.
3. You don’t think about your sex life.
4.  You accept and appreciate praise, but never take it to heart.
5. You don’t overeat or feel driven to diet.
6. You meet and do what’s true without fear of the consequences.
7. You really don’t want anything from anyone.
8. You stop thinking about how much money you may or may not have.
9. You don’t carry any regret from the past to your present.
10. You have no interest in old resentments.
11. You start spending more time alone and enjoy it more.
12. You stop dreaming of the perfect vacation.
13. You lose interest in trying to win mental arguments.
14. You’re neither frightened, nor shocked by the evening news.
15. You stop making deals with yourself.
16. You dress for comfort, not for compliments.
17. You don’t blame anyone else for the way you feel.
18. You forget what it was that you didn’t like about someone.
19. You’re awake to and spontaneously considerate of the needs of others.
20. You see beauty in life, where you never could see it before.
21. Your life gets progressively simpler.
22. You see where you’re wrong sooner than later and stop defending yourself faster.
23. You do what you don’t want to do and with a lighter spirit.
24.  You’re not afraid of having nothing to say or do, if that’s your true condition.
25. You can take criticism without cringing away from the truth that it may hold.
26. You aren’t concerned about what others may think of you.
27. You stop trying to make others see life from your perspective.
28. You enjoy the sound of silence as much or more than the sound of your own voice.
29. You see the same unpleasant traits within yourself that have made you shun others.
30. You say what you want and not what you think others may want to hear you say.
31. You actually enjoy hearing about the good fortune of someone else.
32. You see more and more just how un-free you and others really are.
33. Your moods are fewer, lighter and move on much quicker.
34. You see society is destroying itself and that the only solution is in self-change.
35.  You can listen to others without the need to tell them what you know.
36. You don’t find a thrill in any kind of fear.
37. You know that forgiveness of others is the kindest thing you can do for yourself.
38. You realize the world is the way it is because you are the way you are.
39. You’d rather not think about yourself.
40. You can’t come up with one good reason, why you should ever be anxious or frightened.

To help speed your inner progress, go back over the entire list of freedoms at least one more time. In your second review of these forty points of freedom, notice which ones are most attractive to you. Mark down their corresponding numbers on a sheet of paper.

For instance, as #27 points out, maybe you’re weary of being caught in that familiar losing battle of trying to make friends and family see life through your all-knowing eyes. It took a long time, but you’re beginning to see just how blind you’ve been. Now, you want to be free of your own inconsiderate and impatient egotism. But, try as you may, something within won’t let you let go of your unconscious certainty that you know better than anyone else. Good! You may not know it yet, but you’re drawing near a very special spiritual victory.

Or perhaps like #10 on the list suggests, maybe you sense how self-destructive it is to resent someone else. And you’re tired of being a slave to refueling your own burning mind. You want to be free of those internal, infernal fires. Again, that’s good. Now you know two important things:

• 1. You’re not as free as you would like to be.
• 2. Something is interfering with your wish to be free.

It may not seem so at first, but your new findings are a great start. Now, keep going. Use this list and your discoveries to help you ignite your wish to be free. Then step back and welcome the spiritual firestorm. Watch as it burns away the ties that bind. This is what it means to let the Light fight for you.

(Excerpted from “Freedom From the Ties That Bind” by Guy Finley)