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4 Keys to Freedom

By on May 20, 2020
Keys

By Nicole Moorey

“She decided to trust what she felt, to know what she knew, and to dare to imagine an unseen order where she might be free.” ~ Glennon Doyle

Like so many others, I recently enjoyed Glennon Doyle’s latest book, “Untamed”. This was the first book of hers that I’ve read, and the promise of women’s empowerment drew me in.

Part memoir and part personal growth book, she offers honest highlights from her recent life and helps readers share in her lessons learned. I was hooked from her prologue, ‘Cheetah’, which also cued her anecdotal and metaphorical writing style. This opening also introduced the powerful message of her book – the importance of accessing and trusting ourselves.

I cannot emulate her words, which I encourage you to read for yourself. Instead, I’ll share just a small part of her work to give you a sneak peek of her wisdom and inspire you to apply her advice to your own life, as I have done to mine with great success.

4 Keys to Freedom

My favourite is ‘part 2’ of her book, where she shares her 4 keys to freedom. Here’s a brief  summary of how your emotions, intuition, imagination and courage – that you may have learned to hide to keep others comfortable – will help you return to who you are.

1) Feel It All – “Feelings are for Feeling”.

Feel everything, especially the painful emotions, rather than distracting or numbing from them. You can be free from the fear of feeling pain, if not from the pain itself. You can become the woman you’re meant to be next by venturing into the feelings you have now.

2) Be Still and Know – “If you just stop doing, you’ll start knowing.”

Instead of looking to everyone and everything else for answers, look within yourself. Ask yourself the big questions in life, go within to where your Self, wisdom, intuition or God lives and await the subtle nudge toward your next right action. The more consistently, bravely and precisely you follow your ‘Knowing’, the more beautiful your life becomes.

3) Dare to Imagine – “Perhaps imagination is not where we go to escape reality, but where we go to remember it.”

You must first imagine on the inside what you wish to create on the outside. If you feel discontent, it’s your imagination trying to get your attention by whispering ‘not this but that instead’. To honour your dreams, write them out for yourself answering: What is the truest, most beautiful story about my life that I could imagine?

4) Let It Burn – “We must be committed to holding on to nothing but the truth.”

If you want to create something new for yourself, you must be willing to release what is no longer true for you. It may feel ‘safer’ or ‘good enough’ to stay as you are, but you would lose everything that was meant to be and you are worth more than that. In doing so, you will be full of what is true for you in this moment – neither right nor wrong – and you can revise that with what’s more beautiful for you until infinity.

Which of these 4 keys will you practice to move closer to your most free and authentic life?

I practiced all four keys to successfully navigate a stressful decision about where to move my family. It was a bonus to learn that I could follow this process myself, and my husband (the other person involved in the decision) could follow his own process, and together we came to a great resolution.

I felt all the discomfort and worry, confident it was part of the process rather than a sign we were off track. I was still with myself on walks in nature, ‘heard’ my nudges and knew my next steps. I felt relieved to not look to others (except my husband and kids) for their thoughts and opinions about what was right for my family. Imagination saved the day when one option fell through and a dream about the best option became reality. Now as part of letting it burn, I’m enjoying every minute of our present home, I’m gradually saying goodbye while packing and purging and I’m looking forward to our next place – the home of the truer, more beautiful version of our family.

So until you have a chance to read ‘Untamed’ if I’ve inspired you to do so, keep Glennon’s words at hand to help you be brave enough to set yourself free . . .

“Breathe. Don’t panic and flee. Sink. Feel it all. Be still. Imagine. Let it Burn.”

 

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33Nicole Moorey knows books have the power to change lives, and loves contributing these women’s empowerment “book referrals” to Simply Woman. As a SWAT Master Empowerment Coach, she connects women with themselves, others and nature so they can truly be themselves and enjoy what matters most to them in life.

www.nicolemoorey.com
www.facebook.com/nicolemooreycoaching

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