Religious Zen

Get freer!

The constraints of normal society often make us feel trapped and claustrophobic. While not necessarily bad or wrong at all, millions of people all over the world have responsibilities such as working to pay off bills, supporting and taking care of a family, or fulfilling social engagements among friends. There are also the everyday chores of cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, and other general maintenance things.

Sure, they can be fulfilling. Sometimes, though, the primal aspect of a human screams, “I want to be free!” Well, you can feel free from the constraints of everyday life and the obligations that they bring. I’m not saying you need to abandon you job, family, and go join a hippy commune or nudists colony somewhere. Far from it. I’ve put together a list of ways that one can simply and gradually begin to feel freer in everyday life. I hope you enjoy them.

1. Take off your shoes and socks.

Shoes and socks aren’t bad. In fact, they’re great! They have allowed humans to explore the harshest of environments and march collective trillions of miles every year. In the beginning, though, humans didn’t wear shoes. Because of this many froze to death and developed gangrene until they did invent shoes, but that’s not my point. One way of feeling more free from everyday society is doing something that everyday society doesn’t do, namely wear shoes and socks.

If you live in a nice area with plenty of grass, why not walk barefoot and enjoy the cool earth underneath your feet? Many have this notion that there is broken glass and venomous insects in every square inch of grass on the planet. This isn’t true. Take a walk with your more primal, freer self and begin not wearing shoes or socks in places where you don’t need them around your house or on the lawn. Walking outside barefoot to check your mail is one way to be more free. The idea is that your actual self rather than some long-dead cow hide is making contact with the earth, which brings us everything we need for life and living in general. So go out, try it today!

2. Take off everything else.

As long as you don’t have your blinds wide open, obviously it is legal to go about naked or nearly naked in your own home. Depending on how comfortable you feel about your body, perhaps start with taking off a shirt or wearing less around the house? This goes very much a long with my first point, but takes it a step further. There is nothing to be ashamed about with the human body. It is a very beautiful and efficient thing, no matter what shape or size it comes in. Do not allow yourself to be conditioned by society that you need to look perfect in order to wear less. There are billions of people that don’t look perfect, and yet are beautiful. If you aren’t one of the perfect people, then you are still one of the beautiful folk.

If you aren’t comfortable with your body then get comfortable! Make a conscious decision today to simply know that you are exactly who you are meant to be, and nobody but you can have any say in it. Make a connection with the same you that came out of the womb with nothing, and yet now you are clothed and fed and doing well for yourself. You deserve to get into the suit that nature made you, because it is your’s and no one else’s!

3. Go camping.

I love camping. Nothing makes me feel free and able to forget about my worries more than getting back to nature. Sleeping in a tent in the woods at night, with the sense of wonder, and the beautiful chorus of nature’s creatures, is absolutely wonderful. If you decide to go camping, though- really go camping. If you are one of those that takes a giant RV with water, and electric hookup as well as all the other amenities that one can have, you might as well prop your house up on wheels and take it with you. That, or perhaps buy a house with woods in your backyard. This tends to be a very artificial way of getting back to that nature. The true primal human yearns to revert back to a time of simplicity, when gathering food and staying safe were the biggest concerns in everyday life, if only temporarily. There weren’t homes as we know them today or central air conditioning.

It really is simple. Get a tent or some sort of shelter, find a nice place to put it, and stay there. Enjoy natural stillness that nature can bring. It’s not in a hurry to go anywhere. The trees that surround you will be there for many, many years, not in a dash to pay bills. This is a great place to meditate as well if you aren’t easily distracted by the sounds of the earth. Many people actually use those sounds to reach a ‘oneness’ with nature. Be thankful while you are there and be sure to leave everything exactly as you found it. The world gives us so much, at least give back by not taking any more than we need.

4. Take time to travel.

This may be more simple for some than others. Sometime during the course of a year, take time off work and travel, but with one difference: avoid all the tourist areas (unless you are in high-danger areas like the middle east and certain parts of asia, etc.). They generally contain high-priced stores and a tourist culture rather than the actual culture of the area.

Traveling is a great way to feel free, of course, and why not? You are breaking loose from your homeland and experiencing real world situations and culture. You can learn far more from really traveling the world and experiencing what it has to offer than any 4 year bachelor’s degree at a university (unless your major requires you to travel!).

5. Give more love.

Love?! Who needs it? Well, everyone, really. Loving others as well as being loved is a great way to feel free. Why? When the weight of the world is resting on my shoulders it is always a very empowering thought to know that I have people that love me. Whether I succeed, fail, go crazy and invest all my money in a worthless venture, or become a monk somewhere in the Himalayans, I’ve got people that love me! Knowing that I have that support and foundation pushes me to go the extra mile in whatever I do.

Do you feel like you do not have people that love you? Or perhaps they don’t love you enough? The surest way to get love is to give it. I sense this every time I bring flowers home to my wife and she spends the rest of the day catering to my every need. Well, she does that anyway- but this time it’s with more gusto and self assurance. You can’t beat a thing like that. Give your love out in abundance and you’ll get it back several fold.

So there you have it,

2 ways to feel more involving yourself,

2 ways to feel more involving the world,

and 1 very powerful way to feel free involving others.

As usual this isn’t an end-all-be-all list so if you do something that makes you feel free, let me know!

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