Old Programs of Lack, Weeding Your Mental Garden, The Soul Plan, Peace of Mind, Becoming Conscious Authors: We Went to Our 5 Wise for Their 5 Whys---on What it Means to be Free
MilLana snow
energy healer, teacher, wellness entrepreneur
What Bob is pointing to here is the prison we build in our own minds. The constant story that tells us we are not enough, not whole, not worthy, not yet. This conditioning comes from everywhere: family, culture, trauma, even the very successes that were supposed to prove our worth. Over time, we start to believe the voice in our head more than the truth of who we have always been and never needed to prove. I’ve spent thirty years studying how to undo the programs of lack and more than a decade working with people all over the world. What I’ve seen is this: you are not who you think you are. The Self, who you really are—the quiet, steady presence beneath the noise, is already whole. Nothing about you has ever been lost or broken. Our mind may be filled with stories of fear, shame, or striving, but that deeper place within you is always there, waiting for you to come back to know that you are love and you are more than enough. Healing, then, is not about becoming someone new. It is about freeing your mind from those old programs of lack, the mental slavery that convinces you to forget who you really are. When you become present with what you’ve been taught to abandon or reject, something remarkable happens. The grip of the old stories loosens. The mind softens. The heart opens. And you begin to remember that you are already whole and already free. This is the liberation Bob was singing about. Not freedom given to you by anyone else, but the kind that only comes when you free your own mind and return to your true Self.
www.millanasnow.com
DEGANIT NUUR
DACM, celebrity psychic, spiritual teacher, founder of Nuurvana Clairvoyant Healing Method
Anyone who recognizes the quote will hear Bob Marley’s voice when reading it. You feel his soul. As a psychic, the transference of energy emitted through this quote is so powerful that I imagine, even if you don’t speak English, you’d still get chills. This quote is a reflection of how spelling can cast actual spells. This quote is infused with the frequency of freedom. It’s an invitation, an invocation that moves you deeply and you may feel called to action. If you know the song, you know this line comes just after the hook and namesake of the song, Redemption Song. The invitation is to manifest a new world together...which we can’t do while enslaved, right? Nelson Mandela lived this quote. They locked up his body for 27 years. But his mind? Untouchable. He refused to give his power away, refused to let hate rent space in his head. Rather than becoming a victim of his circumstances, he transcended them. That inner freedom didn’t just protect his mental health alone, it rewired the entire world. Our behavior follows our mindset. That’s the thing about mental sovereignty: it’s contagious. It’s empowering. It’s moving. It’s necessary for redemption, a revolution, and creation. When we’re constantly consuming (be it media, products, external validation, or otherwise) and hardly ever clearing, assessing, or examining, then what we consume starts to consume us. If you’re not weeding the mental landscape of that external messaging, there will be no space for your truth, and your authentic and original thoughts and desires, to grow. And sometimes weeding your mental garden is as simple as silence and stillness. Mental slavery can also look like doom scrolling, being reactive to your environment, living life on autopilot, and not taking time to yourself, to detox your environment, and weed your mental garden. Unlike Mandela, we become products of our environment, the fear culture, the hype, the dopamine highs and so forth. The objects we own start to own us. Emancipation from mental slavery isn’t just about planting new seeds of hope. For as long as your garden is overrun with weeds, any seed you plant won’t stand a fighting chance. And even it if did, it would have to grow in an environment that was not made for it to---thereby validating the weeds---the very world and culture we’re enslaved by. When taking a sacred pause, it’s like weeding the garden, first, and sitting on the fertile, expansive soil next. Only after sitting in the stillness and spaciousness will you start thinking new seeds of thoughts to plant. Otherwise you’re just planting other people’s thoughts in your mental garden and further enslaving yourself while calling it “manifestation.”
DEBBie FRANK
ROYAL ASTROLOGER + SPIRITUAL COACH
Despite our "click of a button" access to so much knowledge and information, we are more mentally enslaved than ever. Is AI designed for our freedom or for slavery? Are we becoming increasingly dependent on what can be found in the digital world that we have ceased to think for ourselves? Astrologically, the concept of freedom is defined by the planet Uranus which itself was discovered in 1781 at the time of the French Revolution. Its frequency is synchronized with discoveries, with overthrowing old systems and becoming truly independent. We all have Uranus somewhere in our chart. It’s the kernel of originality, inspiration and uniqueness which drives us to individuate and become who we were truly meant to be, not what someone else has assumed we should be. In my work I encourage people to think for themselves, to free themselves from old identities, expectations and patterns from the past. The magic of being alive is about our freedom of choice. Even though we live in a "free world" we consistently abdicate our freedom, preferring other people to make decisions for us. Astrology shows us that the soul plan embedded in our chart is ours alone and we have the free will to bring it to life in a range of human experiences. We have far more choice than we realize. We can choose our thoughts. We can reframe "what happened", and extract something meaningful from an otherwise difficult experience. We can choose what to focus on. Recognizing our power of choice is the ultimate personal liberation and in accordance with Bob Marley, no one but yourself can free your mind.
www.debbiefrank.com
MICHELLE MURPHY
MEDIUM + GUIDE
Yes, Bob Marley. Absolutely. But how? I used to love a good debate, a real discussion, until I learned that some fight dirty, sling chaos, serve up angry word salad instead of facts. A person can lose their mind in the noise. A person can become reactive, taxed, defensive, bitter. This doesn’t feel good. This feels constricting; this doesn’t feel like freedom. In fact, a knee-jerk reaction is a form of disempowerment. Devoid of thought and often rooted in fear, it only propels greater and greater action and reaction, validating the power of our opponent. There is no strategy or voice or agency in angry reaction. I’ve noticed that when nerves are frayed and defenses are high, my IQ seems to dip and I get caught in loops of frustration like a dog chasing their tail. It’s all so reactive. Viktor Frankl famously summarizes freedom as the capacity to choose one’s attitude, to "choose one’s own way". Frankl was speaking as a holocaust survivor. His words teach that, regardless of circumstance, choice always lives in the fraction of time between event and response. So how do we slow time to catch choice? I’ve learned a few things. We must pick our battles wisely, remembering our core values. Protecting ourselves from overwhelm, we often try to create boundaries. For me, and for many, boundaries are more complicated than "yes, no" moments. Like flimsy curtains dividing smoking and non-smoking zones on a plane circa 1983, boundaries to a highly sensitive person can feel useless. Staking claim on space can sometimes feel like an invitation for judgment. An empath feels it all. When becoming a responsible, boundaried person in place of who we are expected to be, no imaginary wall can keep out the sense of disappointment others have. In feeling it all, at times it’s tempting to just give in to the noise, to self abandon. But at the root of self-determination lies peace of mind, and while knowledge may be power, peace of mind is freedom. We must choose our inner dialogue above all else. When we understand ourselves and stand by what we value and require, we begin to know our minds. Self awareness is a virtue that lives within us and, once felt, cannot be changed. In knowing and living from this internal world of integrity, we make greater, more vast and dense, the space between event and response, filling it with observation, curiosity, and self respect. We live self-determined in mind, even while the external world may tilt in chaos. We may not always be happy, but we can certainly be at peace in our integrity. None of this is indulgent pseudo philosophy. Being at peace, holding a solid sense of self, rooting all in freedom of thought is integrity itself, and can only help calm. Dignified self-awareness is self determination, is the freedom Bob Marley speaks of so beautifully, and is always a choice.
elana kilkenny
Intuitive Counselor + Sacred Home Designer
So much of our experience of life has to do with the content and energy of our thoughts. On any given day we can be flooded with thousands of them. Our thoughts can empower, and our thoughts can disempower. Cultivating a practice of being aware of our thoughts and becoming more conscious "authors" can deeply transform our lives. Often our patterns of thinking will challenge us, so cultivating a curious versus judgmental mindset when working on shifting our thoughts is often very helpful. While we can get support with techniques, healing modalities, and practicing more grace around our thinking...ultimately shifting our thoughts is an "inside job" and it's up to us to make those shifts. A few tools I use with my Psychic Life Coaching clients to help free the mind are, shifting focus from your analytical mind to your intuition and heart-centered intelligence. This involves listening to your intuition, distinguishing it from your analytical mind through the feeling it leaves in your body (open versus constricting, or warm versus cold), and grounding yourself in the present moment via breath and embodiment. Morning Pages à la Julia Cameron's book, The Artist's Way, to start your day, and a gratitude practice before bed. Tip: be specific with what you're grateful for, you will connect to it deeper than being too general. For example: "I'm grateful for feeling supported in my conversation with my friend today at Cafe Cluny" instead of "I'm grateful for my friends". Meditation: try a guided meditation perhaps if you're a beginner or going through a particularly stressful time. Practice different "line readings" of your thoughts. Substitute a curious phrasing like "I wonder..." or "What if..." with "I should", and other phrases that are more self-critical. Paradoxically, shifting your thoughts can take time, as we have grooved neural pathways that develop around them. It's also true that each time we make a conscious choice around our thoughts our perception can instantly shift in that moment, and we can forge new neural pathways. Cultivate patience and deeper kindness with yourself around your thoughts, and get professional support if you're feeling stuck around it or experiencing anxiety with processing trauma or depression.
www.elanakilkenny.com
