Freedom of Thought

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The other day I was taking a walk on the homestead by myself. I walked to a stream crossing we call “the cold pool” – a short but deep section of the creek that runs through our property, fed by a short waterfall. Sometimes, my husband and daughter go swimming there. I have to admit I’ve never dunked in past my knees because it’s way too cold for me, but it’s the only place in the creek where you can sit and bob around like you’re in a spa – except much, much colder.

This is the place where, in the summer, the brook trout like to hang out frequently. When we all take walks together as a family, everyone’s talking and walking so loudly that when you come to this spot and peer in, the fish scatter. It’s fun to see them, but it’s only a glimpse.

On this particular day, I walked up really quietly and slowly to see if I could see them without scaring them off. There were a couple fish in there near the surface, just slowly swimming around. I stood for several minutes watching them in awe, just taking in the beauty of the scene. It was so meditative. One was nice and big and spotted, maybe almost a foot long, and the other was a bit smaller. They were doing interesting things – like coming up to the surface for a second and putting their lips on the surface of the water, and then diving down, and they were almost dancing with each other.

And the thought that came to my mind was, “They’re playing!”

As I watched, I realized something: they were coming to the surface and putting their lips there to catch bugs. This whole dance-like movement was just them eating bugs. They were just doing what fish do, not some anthropomophised activity that I conjured in my mind.

This got me thinking: this is how we’re different than fish, and many other animals. We interpret. We have deeper thoughts that just impulse-action.

There’s this story told by David Foster Wallace in a famous commencement speech. It starts like this:

“There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes “What the hell is water?”

His goes on in his speech to talk about how two people can interpret the exact same experience in completely different ways, and he also touches on the concept of freedom near the end: the freedom to learn how to think (as this was a graduation speech), and how awareness is available to all of us as opposed to the default setting, the unconsciousness of swimming through water and not even knowing what it is.

The reason I’m also sharing this parable is the fact that it has fish in it, and it points out how our world is completely different from an animals. And what makes us different is the meaning we ascribe to all our surroundings, all the words, and actions of others we encounter. Can you imagine living life completely in a default setting? Yet in some aspects of our lives, we continue to do it – think the treadmill of achievement.

Freedom is one of my core values, and one aspect of freedom is thought freedom. We as humans have the privilege of freedom of thought: the ability to interpret and to solve problems. If you look up definitions of ‘freedom of thought’, it often says something like “the fundamental right to form and hold opinions without interference.” We have the ability to think what I want.

Yet, our thoughts can become a trap and lead to us not feeling free. You may have a thought that has turned into an unwritten rule: that your career has to look a certain way or you’re not successful, or that you can’t leave a certain job. This is the kind of thinking that leads people to feel stuck.

So many limiting beliefs keep us on the treadmill of achievement, it’s hard to even list everything. Some notable ones are fixed beliefs about your abilities, also called the fixed mindset, guilt that you will leave patients and colleagues in some sort of irreplaceable lurch if you change your work-life balance, beliefs about backlash you might get from friends, family, or coworkers for making a change they don’t approve of.

Guess what? You are perfectly capable of scrapping that thought and thinking differently. That’s the freedom part. It’s estimates we have thousands of thoughts per day, but not all those thoughts are necessarily true. There’s bound to be some that are misinterpretations, some false beliefs and such in there. When you realize that not all your thoughts are truths, this in itself is very liberating!

Developing your ability to analyze your thoughts is one way to nurture your freedom of thought. The other big way is to practice mindfulness. When you consistently practice, even for a few minutes a day, something changes inside you. You cultivate the ability to become an observer of your own thoughts. You can pause for a moment and see the thought and consider it before taking action. Like instead of lashing out at something someone says, with mindfulness you are able to think for a moment before doing that, and maybe turn it around to a more calm and measured response.

Both these techniques for thought freedom are also in the Lean Out Confidence Course; if you listen to the podcast, you can get a coupon code for $100 off! I invite you to go deeper in your understanding and practice of both thought analysis and mindfulness.

The last thing I want to mention related to thought freedom is about expressing your thoughts. Think about love: You are free to love whoever and whatever attracts you, and that’s a wonderful thing. There’s room for everyone here, and for everyone’s specific passions. If you’re into doing something that’s far off the golden path of your profession and you want to spend some of your precious time on that thing, even if it means spending less time at your job or doing your job differently, you have the ability to do that!

This is why I continue to put out podcast episodes. Today’s is #100!

The freedom to be yourself in your various environments, both personal and professional, is an important part of living a balanced life. A life free from burnout. If you feel like you’re always wearing a mask to fit in, the emptiness will eat at you until something gives – like your physical or mental health. So I challenge you to also consider this. If you’re involved with something that doesn’t allow you to be yourself, consider how you can leave that situation. Maybe it’s work, maybe it’s a relationship. You will feel freer and more fulfilled as a result.

Do you feel like you have freedom of thought? Can you express yourself freely and authentically? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment below!