"Let freedom reign. The sun never set on so glorious a human achievement.” Nelson Mandela

                On July 4th, 1776, the United States adopted the Declaration of Independence, celebrating their physical separation from Great Britain.  Decades later this day is marked with festivities, fireworks and a day off.  To the north, July 1st marks Canada Day; a celebration of unity, not separation, as individual regions formed the singular country of Canada.  Unity and separation seem to be polar opposites and yet both are cause for national holidays.  In this week with two major North American celebrations that symbolize the unity of a nation, it begs the question of liberation – does it require separation or does it require unity and did independence already exist because both nations were free to exercise their option to choose?

                For years I have taught on success in direct sales.  For me and my fellow trainers, the messaging of ‘firing your boss, time freedom and passive income,’ have been a unifying flag waved through the hotel conference rooms and seminar stages of the world.  We have shared our techniques and tips on how to achieve personal freedom knowing that some will indeed experience the bliss of walking away from years of toil, while others will continue to choose struggle.  Some will separate from their jobs and toxic environments to attain freedom and ultimately unite under a banner of possibility thinking.

                I have also observed that freedom truly is in the eye of the beholder.  I have known people who absolutely loved their jobs and felt free in their profession.  I have also known people who have achieved enough residual income to live a fairly brilliant life and who are gravely unhappy and feel overwhelmed and exhausted.  Lastly, I have met the children of poverty and prostitution who feel free with a warm meal and a roof over their heads.  Could personal independence be a choice and not a destination?  Do we need a physical day to celebration independence or can we merely decide that we are already free because we live in a country that allows us to choose?

                Last weekend riotous protestors created chaos in the heart of downtown Toronto, also my hometown.  I felt so sad to think that the image of my birth city is to many, one of arrests and police in riot gear.  Organizers and security alike had created the opportunity for the protestors to gather; in fact they were already free to express their opinions.  Some had taken the day off of work to exercise their independence only for the end result to be an eruption of violence.  The point is, that despite the existence of the freedom to publicly gather without repute, some choose to believe that the only expression of independence is to create a state of violence.

                In some countries, public displays of protest are met with execution.  China may have hosted the Olympics however the Tiananmen Square massacre was only in 1989, just over twenty years ago.  We still live in a world where billions do not have true independence whether it is due to a subjective and totalitarian government or the recklessness of dictators and rebels who cut off aid and food supplies, spend money on war and lasciviousness so that the people suffer. 

The reality is that by virtue of reading this, you are already independent.   You may not like your job, you may be in a relationship that isn’t overly positive, your health may not be where you want it to or perhaps you have a business that hasn’t truly reached momentum.  My honest response is that you already have your freedom.  You can choose to be like the rioters in Toronto who behaved like spoiled two year olds tantruming, pounding their fists and expressing obtuse frustration or you can choose to be like Nelson Mandela, who although physically imprisoned was already free in his mind.

If you have been educated to read, have food in your stomach and a computer with which to view this then you have indeed created your reality.  You can perceive that you are facing strife, struggle and are anything but free however the truth is that as long as you have the freedom to choose, then you have your independence.  We are blessed to live in countries where we do have choice, where governments allow peaceful protests, where children are given free education and although, we may have had some setbacks, ultimately we can all achieve a higher level of independence in knowing that we are already free.

I encourage you to think deeply about the things you may be complaining about.  We all have choices and choice is the expression of freedom.  You can lead an extraordinary life by virtue of deciding that although there may be some things you wish to change, your life is already extraordinary.  Separation or unification are only a matter of semantics; they are not necessary actions to obtaining independence.  You do not have to act to achieve freedom; you can choose for today to be your personal independence day, the day you made the decision to realize that you are already free.