Junto
April 2022
It’s spring break here in Washington and now that travel restrictions to Canada have loosened my family went up north. I am home with my dog and cat enjoying the quiet. With changes to my schedule, I’m relearning how to balance my time. With a never-ending list of things to do, I find myself struggling to decide.
For this month’s Junto, I want to talk about freedom.
There are a lot of definitions of freedom and living in the land of the free there are specific ideas of what this word means. Before watching the video I want you to take some time and write down a list of words that you associate with freedom (I’ll share mine at the end of the email).
Do that now…..
Now that you’ve got a foundation for what it means for you here’s the video:
For this month’s Junto, I want to talk about freedom.
There are a lot of definitions of freedom and living in the land of the free there are specific ideas of what this word means. Before watching the video I want you to take some time and write down a list of words that you associate with freedom (I’ll share mine at the end of the email).
Do that now…..
Now that you’ve got a foundation for what it means for you here’s the video:
I love this for a couple of different reasons.
There are a couple of Viktor Frankl quotes that came to mind that run in line with what Robert Greene talks about here:
- My list wasn’t close and it reframed freedom a bit for me.
- He talked about improv.
There are a couple of Viktor Frankl quotes that came to mind that run in line with what Robert Greene talks about here:
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.”
“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to shoes our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
With my family out of town, I wanted to try some training with our dog. As I was walking him Saturday morning I deliberately dropped the leash. With this new ‘freedom’ he started to walk faster and got ahead of me. So I stepped on the leash. This pulled his head down toward the ground which he didn’t like.
It only took a handful of times before the dog started to anticipate the tug on the leash. In that moment of anticipation, he slowed down and looked up at me.
This new 'boundary' created a new dynamic between the two of us. It has become a game during our walk and provides some mental stimulation. He listens better, walks better, and the experience is more enjoyable for both of us.
There are still times when I have to remind him where the boundary is. He gets excited when we turn the corner to go home or sees a walker. But the discipline has already provided a little more freedom while we walk.
The questions I want you to think about over the next couple of weeks are:
Looking forward to connecting with you in a couple of weeks,
Wade
It only took a handful of times before the dog started to anticipate the tug on the leash. In that moment of anticipation, he slowed down and looked up at me.
This new 'boundary' created a new dynamic between the two of us. It has become a game during our walk and provides some mental stimulation. He listens better, walks better, and the experience is more enjoyable for both of us.
There are still times when I have to remind him where the boundary is. He gets excited when we turn the corner to go home or sees a walker. But the discipline has already provided a little more freedom while we walk.
The questions I want you to think about over the next couple of weeks are:
- What aspects of your life do you enjoy freedom from mastery?
- Where do you want to have more freedom?
- What do you need to develop to get to that freedom?
- What parts of your life feel like freedom but are really slavery?
Looking forward to connecting with you in a couple of weeks,
Wade