Choosing freedom thoughts
“To live continually in thoughts of ill will, cynicism, suspicion, and envy, is to be confined in a self made prison-hole.”
— James Allen
Reflection
James Allen warns that to “live continually in thoughts of ill will, cynicism, and suspicion” is to live in a kind of self‑made prison. Freedom does not begin with a change of scenery; it begins with a change of thinking. As long as your inner world is ruled by bitterness, envy, or hostility, no amount of external liberty will feel like enough.
Freedom thoughts are not naïve. They do not deny that people can be unjust or that life can wound. But they refuse to let those realities write the final script of the heart. A freedom thought says, “What happened to me is real, but it does not get to define who I become.” It directs attention to growth, forgiveness, and responsibility instead of endless blame.
You may not be able to control every story that has been written into your past, but you can decide what kind of story you will write from here. When you choose thoughts of forgiveness, possibility, and self‑respect, you open the door to new responses. You stop acting only as a wounded victim and start practicing the dignity of a healed person.
Little by little, those choices loosen the grip of old chains. The people or events that once dominated your inner conversation lose their power to control you. That is the essence of choosing freedom thoughts: you decide that your mind will no longer be a holding cell for everything that hurt you, but a workshop for the life you are called to build.
And that’s worth thinking about.
— Vic Johnson
Putting It Into Practice
- List one recurring bitter or cynical thought and ask honestly how it has been limiting your choices.
- Write a new thought that affirms your freedom and responsibility, and repeat it whenever the old script starts playing.
- Take one small action today that a free, hopeful version of you would take, even if you do not fully feel it yet.
One Question To Ponder
If your mind is either a prison or a place of release, which role have your dominant thoughts been playing lately?
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