© 2016 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM. World Rights Reserved.
Americans are passionate about freedom. And we are not the only ones. Freedom calls people to act passionately, in different times and places around the World. In 1776, the new United States of America, the former 13 colonies, signed into law a Declaration of Independence from its mother nation, Britain. In “the Colonies”, the fighting continued for a number of years. Today, the U.S.A. and Britain, now the United Kingdom, have a robust friendship and often partner to fight international conflicts together. They unite in the cause of freedom.
In 1789, in France, the economy was out of balance. (Does this sound familiar?) Many poor were starving while the nobility partied in very lavish style. (Does that sound familiar?) When Queen Marie Antoinette was told urgently, “The people have no bread!”, she famously replied, “Let them eat cake!” She had no idea of what a limited income was. People protested the inequalities of French life, and many were imprisoned in the Bastille, a former fortress converted to a prison. Finally, on July 14th that year, 300 protestors attacked the Bastille and literally pulled the walls down. The people dethroned the monarchy. A good day for the people’s freedom and a bad day for the monarchy and the elite partiers. Point made, new government. A new national motto evolved: Liberté – Egalité – Fraternité (Liberty–Equality–Fraternity).
July 14th is now celebrated each year as French Independence Day, or La Fête Nationale, in France and a number of countries where people of French origin live. In the U.S., the holiday is known as “Bastille Day”. But in France and elsewhere, the focus is on French freedom and the strength of the Republic. Wish your French friends, “Vive la France!” and don’t mention the Bastille. Celebrate it on the 14th in your time zone, and think FREEDOM, along with the French.
Now be honest: are there forms of freedom you want in your life? Are you willing to work for them? What are you willing to do, to get what you say you want? Make a list and keep imagining the possibilities, and how you can leverage life to move more and more into those possibilities. Happy Bastille Day—I mean, Vive la Liberté’! Celebrate and be grateful for your freedom. And that’s Upbeat Living!
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Energy – Peace – Meditation
- Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert. She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. She is the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within: Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition(http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc ). Her newest book is Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine, available through her office. Just email SacredMeditation@kebba.com.
- For an appointment or to ask Kebba to speak for your group: bookings@kebba.com .
Healthy Happy Loving Life! 
What forms of freedom do I want & how hard am I willing to fight to get them? Great question! I think it’s normal for freedom to be hard-won, but sometimes it’s hard to persevere when the going gets tough. I sometimes have to give up for a little while & then try again.
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Sweet Jeanine, I’m glad you give yourself a break from time to time. Changes of pace are part of nature. Some humans don’t see it and think they must press on at the same full bore all the time. That can’t work forever. Blessings!
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Bless you, Kebba, for permission to take a break! Even when I do it, I don’t always do it with my own blessing. Now to work on agreeing with you. 🙂
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