As we celebrate the 4^thof July in 2012, may we remember the deeper meaning of freedom.  Real freedom is not only about being free as a nation, but being free from limiting beliefs, self-doubt, fear and negativity.  In honor of our inner and outer freedom, I invite you to read “A New Pledge” written by David Ault, a New Thought musician, keynote speaker and workshop and retreat facilitator.  I’ve shared this pledge at the Circle before, and because it is so powerful, I encourage you to read it today:

A NEW PLEDGE:

I pledge alle­giance to break­ing the self-imposed bar­ri­ers of my human­ness. I rec­og­nize that my time on this planet is pre­cious and lim­ited. Every day is a can­vas on which I can cre­ate. Every­day is an oppor­tu­nity for me to move in the direc­tion of the dreams and the expanded vision I feel inside. By set­ting aside petty griev­ances, past mis­takes, right­eous anger and my bro­ken story, I pledge to move for­ward and embrace the expe­ri­ence of free­dom right here and right now.

I pledge alle­giance to the expres­sion of my spir­i­tual hon­esty. I fully own the fact that my pres­ence here in this body and on this earth is a cel­e­bra­tion of unique­ness and impor­tance. Cre­ation makes no mis­takes. I am a cre­ation of life, of a higher power, of per­fec­tion. My rea­son for being here mat­ters in the grand divine plan. I must be hon­est with my con­tract of life and walk the path of my des­tiny with con­vic­tion, pur­pose and grace.

I pledge alle­giance to the quiet sol­dier within. I under­stand that the cham­pi­oning spirit that is already cel­lu­larly alive inside of me, that was already in place at the time of my birth, waits patiently for my cur­rent belief about myself to join it in its know­ing. I march for­ward towards a his­tory of my own mak­ing, wisely, lov­ingly choos­ing the means by which I spread my beliefs and con­vic­tions. I never make oth­ers wrong for their cho­sen path for I rec­og­nize the innu­mer­able roads that lead to the One.

I pledge alle­giance to a part­ner­ship with divin­ity. I choose to see oth­ers and myself from eyes that already view the whole­ness and per­fec­tion within. I do not enter­tain our past dam­age or encour­age us to iden­tify with it for I trust that a grander call­ing card has been printed for us to dis­trib­ute in pro­mot­ing our lives. I cham­pion all of us to cel­e­brate what is work­ing rather than what isn’t.

I pledge alle­giance to wise dis­cern­ment – know­ing when to speak and when to remain quiet, know­ing when to com­fort and when to leave alone, know­ing when to inter­vene and when to avoid res­cu­ing and interfering.

I pledge alle­giance to peo­ple and projects of sub­stance. I can­not travel this road alone. If there is any­thing we as a species need, it is each other. I actively choose to sup­port those whose work I believe in with my time, tal­ent and trea­sure. I joy­ously give to those whose inten­tion and pur­pose is for self-empowerment and the awak­en­ing of human­ity to its per­sonal mag­nif­i­cence. I rally to make oth­ers aware of such light bear­ers and do what I can to sup­port them in fur­ther­ing their vision.

I pledge alle­giance to the free­dom from com­par­i­son. I once and for all lay down my weari­some, stale beliefs of unwor­thi­ness and not being good enough. I know that my past does not define who I am. I am for­ever evolv­ing, grow­ing and learn­ing. I rec­og­nize that I am a mar­vel. I now choose oppor­tu­ni­ties to let my voice be heard; to let my light shat­ter the dark­ness of futil­ity so that every per­sonal dream is explored.

I pledge alle­giance in know­ing that things are not always as they seem. Just because some­thing can’t be seen with the phys­i­cal eye or ratio­nal­ized by our cur­rent mode of under­stand­ing does not negate its exis­tence. Under­stand­ing the dif­fer­ence between real­ity and illu­sion, I move into a fuller accep­tance of the non-physical – the mys­ti­cal, intu­itive, soul aspect of liv­ing that expands my con­scious­ness and deep­ens my days.

I pledge alle­giance to actions that ful­fill the great­est good for all. By becom­ing a gate­keeper of com­pas­sion, tol­er­ance and love, I move into a fuller con­vic­tion of pure intent with regard to the words that I speak and the choices that I make. I pur­sue a win-win in all activ­i­ties of life.

I pledge alle­giance to those who have gone before me, the ances­tral lin­eage whose courage, sac­ri­fice and con­vic­tion still live in my bones. I honor the priv­i­leges given to me today because of the sweat from their pio­neer­ing efforts and the for­ti­tude of their con­vic­tions. I give thanks for my respon­si­bil­ity in cre­at­ing the same for future generations.

I pledge alle­giance to a love that has no agenda. I no longer choose to give for what I might get, to manip­u­late in order to con­trol, to aban­don before I can be aban­doned, to tol­er­ate because there are seem­ingly no other options. I choose to love as a way of being. I am con­tent in my choice whether out­side cir­cum­stances respond or not. In being love, I cre­ate ful­fill­ment above and beyond what the human con­di­tion can provide.

I pledge alle­giance to the sacred­ness of laugh­ter, know­ing that the great­est heal­ing force that exists rever­ber­ates from the vibra­tion of this holy and irre­place­able gift. I allow humor, joy and erup­tions of laugh­ter to make their home in my heart. I let my phys­i­cal body respond to the sacred stim­u­lus and bio­log­i­cal won­der that laugh­ter cre­ates and vow to keep this attribute alive and thriv­ing all the days of my life.

Enjoy a happy and peaceful Independence Day.

Laura V Grace