Liberate Yourself: Becoming a Beacon of Radiance and Vitality through Personal Transformation
What is personal liberation and what does it mean for you in your own life?
Personal liberation is the act of releasing yourself from the invisible, though significant, chains, bonds, and patterns of the society you grew up in and the people who raised you. These chains and bonds come in the form of beliefs, ideas, self-concepts, thoughts, and values that are not your own, that do not actually belong to you, and yet live within you and through you. They keep you chained to outdated beliefs, systems, and relational patterns that do not fit you and the desires you have for yourself and your life. For example, pushing people away when you really desire closeness, because you fear being vulnerable or being rejected. These chains of behaviors keep you imprisoned to the past and to ways of being that don’t feel authentic to you and don’t express who you truly are. They are heavy burdens, which weigh on your heart and take a toll on your soul.
Personal liberation is about freeing yourself from these roles, cycles, patterns, and ways of being. It is about returning home to yourself, your inner wisdom, and your authentic expression, so you can embody your purpose and live the life of your dreams, in which you wake up excited for the day, doing the “work” you love that gets to feel more like play, and are fulfilled by the people and experiences of your life. A life in which you get to live in harmony with yourself and the people around you. A life that feels like your own and that belongs wholly to you.
For example…
Let’s say you grew up being told you had to go to college, major in a specific field, get married, and have children to be happy…Let’s say you went to college, and majored in that field, but then you found you didn’t actually enjoy working in that profession. That everyday has been pretty miserable or you don’t enjoy it the way you used to or thought you would. Like maybe you were told you had to be a lawyer, when what you really want to do is run away from that and rescue manatees in Florida instead… Or maybe you didn’t meet a partner naturally throughout college or further education or work, but now you also don’t have the energy for dating or being a mother because you are so burnt out and worn out from going to school and being in a job you don’t enjoy. Or maybe you did meet someone and got married, but now that relationship is ending and you don’t know who you are outside of being in a relationship with another person...
This, or a similar variation, is almost always why women come to see me…They realize their whole lives have been spent listening to everyone else around them, bypassing their own innate wisdom, shrinking, abandoning themselves, and prioritizing others above their own needs and desires…it has led to being a woman they don’t recognize, living a life they don’t recognize or want, and they don’t feel fulfilled by…
And I have NO JUDGEMENT at all of these women and women like them, because I was one too once, and I did the hard, and sometimes grueling work, of freeing myself from the life I was told I had to live and uncover the life I am meant to live…
Personal liberation is a process.
It is an un-doing and rebuilding. We un-weave and re-create anew. It is about recognizing and releasing all you don’t want and hasn’t worked for you, with love and respect. While simultaneously, returning to the truth of what you do desire and how to uncover your authentic expression.
How do you access personal liberation?
Most women are looking outside of themselves for permission and validation. They are looking to society, their partners, their friends, their family, their peers, coworkers, and others to tell them how to dress, what to listen to, what diets to try, how to act, what is acceptable behavior...
They are looking for their approval and validation of their worth. They are looking for answers to their own inner conflicts within others and how others live their lives, and in doing so, becoming someone they are not. So many women do not even know who they are because they are so lost in, and emotionally and energetically enmeshed with, other people. Most women can’t tell where they end and where others begin because there is no clear boundary and no inner trust of themselves. Many women do not trust themselves to know. They have been made to feel small, as if their voice and needs don’t matter, and have internalized the belief that others are more worthy than they are and must know better. So they seek in others the answers that can only come from listening to the voice within, but that will never lead to true joy, fulfillment, or harmony.
What is needed is to rebuild a strong and loving foundation in the relationship you have with yourself. To return to the body and the wisdom it holds for you. To get curious about what is coming up for and within you and what is the root of these sensations. To remember you do not need anyone else’s permission to live as yourself or to create the life of your dreams! To know you can begin and take small steps to liberate yourself today!
And to stop looking outside of yourself for the answers, to stop investing your precious energy into things that do not reciprocate and appreciate who you are. To stop looking to others to love you better than you are regularly loving yourself. No one can give you the keys to freedom. You must find the keys within and use them to unlock each chain, to release each way you are held down or back by the burden of other’s expectations of you and how you should live your life. Freedom is about finding your own way, and knowing it is holy and sacred. It is about coming home to your body and restoring trust in yourself.
How do you strengthen self-trust and rebuild your intuition to liberate yourself?
The process of self-liberation must always begin with the heart. The heart is the doorway in which all inner work and healing must be done. We enter through the doorway of the heart, which allows us to see all through the lens of compassion, grace, and curiosity. These medicines are necessary for accurate and open-minded self-reflection, otherwise we only find criticism and judgement, which are unhelpful for the reprogramming and de-conditioning required to live free and thrive!
We must enter and access ourselves through the heart, which allows us to be present in the body with more comfort and ease. Returning to and being present in and with the body is crucial for personal liberation. Your body is your home. It stores and carries all you have ever experienced. A huge amount of the “work” of personal liberation is about returning to your own body and the wisdom stored within it. It is about releasing the emotions, the fear, the resistance to change that lives in your body. We want to help your body and Nervous System feel safe and comfortable. This is the process of embodiment and returning to the body to free it from shame, guilt, judgement, worry, anger and rage, frustration that does not serve the Soul’s purpose and Divine Mission. Personal liberation is about feeling the emotions and sensations that have been stored and stuck in the body, slowly and gently, without letting those emotions and sensations overwhelm or derail you now. It is about clearing out the old and outdated beliefs to make room for fresh, new perspectives and ways of being in relationship with yourself, your body, and the world around you. It is about building up the resilience and trust in yourself to navigate the choppy waters of life and overcome any and all obstacles that may arise during your journey…
So that when anger shows up, instead of making it wrong and banishing it deeper down within you, you welcome it and know it is okay to feel and express. In doing so, you free yourself from the anger and stop it from festering into rage and resentment. You stop living life from that place of anger, and start living your life from a place of presence and lightness. Feeling and releasing as you go throughout life. Each emotion is a message that needs acknowledging, and each emotion is potentially a clue to where there is ‘stuck’ energy or emotions within.
The soul comes to Earth to experience life here fully…which means to feel and experience the wide range of emotions and sensations of the body. From pain to pleasure. From jealousy to joy. The act of liberation is to stop defining yourself by these emotions and to instead see the truth of who you are: a divine being living in a body perfectly orchestrated for the purpose of this lifetime and the learning and being you came here to wholly experience.
Each emotion has the potential to awaken and expand different parts of you or your ability to hold greater levels of that emotion or energy in your body. For example, after healing trauma, joy can actually be scary and overwhelming for the body to access. It can feel too vulnerable to experience joy and so we help the body become comfortable holding more and more joy in time, starting out softly.
When we numb or suppress any emotion, we numb and suppress our ability to experience all emotions fully. Emotions and your body are the keys to your liberation.
What are ways you can liberate yourself and thrive?
Personal and spiritual liberation are a journey of shadow work and not just healing your shadows, but actually empowering your shadows. This is a process of not simply tolerating our shadow aspects, but of allowing them to be integrated within you, while also celebrating their existence. To go from the energy of “it is okay for me to feel angry” to “my anger is a sacred part of me that deserves to be expressed and loved!” Can you feel the difference?
Personal liberation is about celebrating you! It is about celebrating your uniqueness, your quirks, and all that makes you, wonderfully YOU! To celebrate your way of doing things, to honor how you view the world, to see the beauty of your heart and the way you love! It is about seeing yourself as your own muse and seeing your life as a tremendous miracle that deserves to be fully lived as your own! It is about following the whims of your beautiful heart and trusting them to lead you to the most magical places within, and around, you!
Personal liberation is about getting to know your true authentic, self, and then leading from an embodiment of her. Get curious about what you truly want and desire. Ask yourself “what is my way of doing this?”…and let the answer come to you as it is ready to reveal itself to you. Begin to question everything you do with a loving curiosity… “where does this behavior comes from?” “where did I learn this way?” “who taught me this”…then ask yourself, do these ways still work for you? Do they still fit in your life? Do they bring you what you desire, what you need? If not, make some shifts and tweaks. Sometimes the changes needed are subtle.
Journaling and writing through these questions, and exploring the ways you have been impacted by society and your upbringing, will help you uncover where you are stuck and where liberation is needed to free you and the energy within you! Empower yourself through this process of freeing what has been stuck within you and fully feeling all there is to feel and experience in this wonderful life full of miracles and magic! Trusting yourself and the Universe, and Taking aligned action with your heart and soul, is what creates a life of personal fulfillment and sovereignty.
Want to learn more and have support through your personal liberation and spiritual journey? Apply here for Private Soul sessions today! This journey doesn’t have to be lonely or complicated — Let’s bring you home to the joy, play, and ease! Together we rediscover the truth of you and restore you to the most magical parts of you!
Sarah Seraphina is a Spiritual Activator and Liberation Guide. She is the owner of Nurtured Essence, a healing space, aimed at helping women overcome their past patterns and fears, so they may thrive and live with more power, purpose, ease, and joy. She specializes in working with healers, recovering empaths and “Damsels in Distress”, highly-sensitive women, lightworkers, and women with a sacred mission.
