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    A Little Book on Big Freedom: Discover the Four Elements of Transformation
    A Little Book on Big Freedom: Discover the Four Elements of Transformation
    A Little Book on Big Freedom: Discover the Four Elements of Transformation
    Ebook145 pages1 hour

    A Little Book on Big Freedom: Discover the Four Elements of Transformation

    By Heather Ash Amara

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Air. Fire. Water. Earth.

    The four primordial elements not only inform our physical lives, they are potent symbols for aspects of our inner selves. When we learn to harness their power correctly, they can lead us toward radical personal transformation, or what best-selling author HeatherAsh Amara refers to as Big Freedom.

    Drawing on her extensive background in European and Toltec shamanism, Amara deftly explores each of the four elements and explains how they relate to your inner world:

    • Air: The art of seeing yourself and the world with clarity
    • Fire: The art of cleansing what no longer serves you
    • Water: The art of being open and creating space for change
    • Earth: The art of nourishment and self-care
    Packed with exercises and meditations at the end of each chapter, this book offers a clear path to finding your own Big Freedom, one that involves tearing down any inner walls made of fear, judgment, or regret, and building a profound friendship with your truest self.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHierophant Publishing
    Release dateApr 9, 2019
    ISBN9781938289903
    A Little Book on Big Freedom: Discover the Four Elements of Transformation

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      Book preview

      A Little Book on Big Freedom - Heather Ash Amara

      Introduction

      In oneself lies the whole world, and if you know how

      to look and learn, then the door is there and the key

      is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either

      that key or the door to open, except yourself.

      —Krishnamurti

      Freedom.

      The word has an inspiring ring to it, one that promises release from bondage and stirs pure possibility. Its Old English and Germanic origins point to something even deeper, linking it to the word friend through a shared root that means to love.

      Sometimes we use freedom to mean the ability to move around unfettered in the world and express ourselves openly. We can live where we want, associate with whom we want, and read books like this one in ways we mustn't ever take for granted. This type of external freedom is incredibly important. But the subject of this book goes even deeper.

      This book is about another kind of freedom—one which can only come from the inside. This is the freedom from inner negativity, harmful self-judgment, self-limiting beliefs, and emotional pain from past experiences. It's the freedom that grows from a profound friendship with our truest self, in which our beliefs and actions come from a place of love rather than fear. This is the freedom that blasts open your heart, pumps courage into your veins, and brings the knowledge that while you may not have a choice in what happens in the world, you always have a choice in how you respond.

      This is what I call Big Freedom.

      In my view, each of us is born with Big Freedom. You can see this in the eyes of a newborn baby, which reflect not an ounce of judgment or self-criticism, but rather a sense of wonder, awe, gratitude, and curiosity.

      Yet as we grow up, things begin to change. We start to build walls around ourselves based on fears, beliefs, and traumatic experiences. Looking back, we see that some of these walls were necessary at the time; they likely protected us and kept us safe. But without us realizing it, these protective walls can become a prison and separate us not only from potential danger but also joy and connectedness.

      One of the benefits of being an adult is that you get to break free of these confinements and choose how you want to live. You get to build the home of your dreams and live in Big Freedom—right now.

      Imagine yourself as a house. Your mind, body, and spirit are contained in this physical form. You have been building the house of yourself since childhood, very often basing it on other people's designs. Now, as an adult, if you had every resource at your disposal to remodel your life, how would you choose to do it? How would you make it a home base for the expression of the Big Freedom that is your birthright?

      Whenever you begin any remodeling project, the first step is to assess the stability of the current structure. Do the floors of your internal house rest solidly on an abiding connection to your inner truth? Or are they precariously balanced on false beliefs and outdated agreements that you created or were told as a child? A shaky internal foundation allows anxiety, fear, and a feeling of scarcity to prevail throughout your home.

      Our existing foundation was created early in life, sometimes from tiny events that have an outsize impact on our thoughts, feelings, and actions. Once we understand the mechanics of how our old house was built, we have the knowledge to then roll up our sleeves and begin rebuilding ourselves from the inside out.

      Faulty Foundations

      Each of us is formed and informed by certain core experiences. The following story is an example of a situation that activates common themes many of us experienced early in life: disappointment, confusion, misunderstanding, and fear. As you read it, see if you can remember any experiences in your own early life that created similar feelings within you.

      I am three years old, playing with my rambunctious eight-year-old sister. We're laughing and gleefully running around the house, arms waving, feet barely touching the ground.

      Suddenly, I hear a loud noise behind me, and I turn to see that my sister has accidentally knocked over a vase, which has shattered all over the floor. We freeze and look at each other, wondering what to do next. My sister shakes her head and says, We'd better clean this up before Mom comes back inside. But when we go into the kitchen to get the broom, we decide to have a snack first. Before long, the two of us are laughing and playing again, forgetting all about the vase.

      Meanwhile, our mom has been outside working in the garden. She is hot, tired, and still upset over an argument she had with Dad earlier in the day. She's thinking about everything she needs to get done and trying to fortify herself to push through her current state of being physically and emotionally overwhelmed.

      Mom's not-good day is about to get worse.

      As she walks into the house, she hears my sister and I laughing and running around. Then she sees her grandmother's vase—the only thing her grandmother had ever given her—shattered on the floor.

      Even though she has rarely yelled or gotten upset with us, today she just loses it. She starts yelling, Who broke my vase?! Who broke my vase?!

      My sister and I come running into the front room, both scared as she shouts at us about the vase, demanding to know who broke it.

      In a panic, my sister points at me and says, She did it!

      I look at her, and then at my mother, stuttering, I . . . I . . . I didn't—

      You! Go to your room now! Mom yells.

      Now, close your eyes for a moment and imagine that you are a child and that you have just been punished for something you didn't do. How does this feel in your body? What thoughts are beginning to cycle through your mind?

      You might have a strong emotional reaction, a tingling that fills you from head to toe. Physically, you may feel a churning in your stomach, a tightness in your throat, or a tearing feeling in your chest. You might be angry and feel betrayed. You may feel scared or confused.

      The emotion itself is not the problem, but what we do next creates the fodder for most of our ongoing suffering as adults.

      We tell ourselves a story.

      As a little kid, consider some of the things you might tell yourself to help make sense of what just happened:

      Mom loves my sister more than she loves me.

      People will lie or betray me to serve their own interest.

      If I lie, I won't get punished.

      It's not safe to play or feel joy; I'll get in trouble.

      I can't trust Mom.

      I have to be extra careful and earn the feeling of love and safety.

      I'm bad, clumsy, and stupid.

      Material objects are more important than people.

      Life's not fair.

      Any one of these thoughts could be nothing—like a dandelion puff blowing in the wind and not taking root. Or the puff could land on fertile soil and start growing roots and shooting out leaves. Before you know it, a whole field of weeds has sprouted. These tiny thoughts have immense power—not their own power, but the power we give to them. We are incredible creators, but what we often create is based on the seeds of false thoughts that, when planted, take root and blossom into agreements that we make with ourselves and with others.

      While the situation with the vase is a relatively minor trauma, the point is to see how a brief incident can plant seeds of doubt, confusion, and misunderstanding, which can then grow into larger agreements that affect our entire lives until we investigate and uproot them. The child in this scenario might not even remember the incident when she grows up, but you can see the impact it could have on her thinking—especially if things like this occur on a regular basis. On an unconscious level, she will literally create a reality that will grow from this handful of childhood agreements. These beliefs will become a shaky floor for all her future actions.

      Take a moment to reflect on your own experiences.

      Where have you erected jail-like walls based on past stories?

      What are the stories you tell yourself that make you feel helpless or victimized instead of powerful and confident?

      In what ways do they limit how you perceive your life story, your talents, and your possibilities for the future?

      For many of us, there are more than a few of these in a variety of areas. Sometimes we have told ourselves these stories for so long that we no longer recognize them as stories. We mistake them for the way things are. Unearthing these beliefs can take time and energy, but we must reveal

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