I Just Want to be Free - I Just Want to be Me!

It was a sunny Saturday in April 2003 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The Carolina-blue sky seemed to kiss the wavy waters as the gentle wind embraced the beach. After enjoying the beach for a while with my 16-year old daughter and husband, one by one, they ventured off to find a spot on the beach away from the water.

I stood close to the water barely wetting my feet and totally mesmerized by God's awesome creation. The voices of the beach-goers gradually faded as the sounds of the wind, the waves, and the seagulls emerged.

Suddenly, my attention was diverted as I noticed how my son and nephew were totally immersed in the moment. Challenging the sand that seemed to capture their feet with every enormous wave, they went from only getting wet from the legs down, to being totally drenched from head to toe. Forgetting about the hunger that occupied their every thought moments ago, they were simply enjoying the moment to be free -- to be free to be who they were.

As I stood there watching and smiling, my smiled turned to laughter as my eyes filled with tears at the unexpected experience of enjoying the same spellbound freedom that they were enjoying. I thought about life, and the choice that I have to be free. Then I thought about how countless of individuals are held captive in daily routines, never taking one moment out of the day to just be - to just be free.

After a while, knowing that this moment must end, I motioned the boys to come on to leave. They yelled, "Just one more time!" "Okay," I said, as I stood full of laughter and tears in my eyes, experiencing my moment of freedom -- as they freely enjoyed their moment without limitations. "One more time," they yelled repeatedly. "Okay, just one more time, " I repeatedly yelled back, until that moment finally did end.

My son and nephew will never realize how their expression of freedom evoked a renewed freedom within me in that moment, on that fine April day. The freedom of knowing that at any time I choose, I can be free to just be me -- just as I did that day. I will never let that moment, that experience, or that choice go.

What an experience it is to be free - to be free to just be me, without self-limitations, or the limitations of others.

What actions must you take to experience your true freedom today?

At any moment that you choose, you too can be free -- to just be -- who you are.

Think about it, experience it, live it, and never let it go!

-------------------------

Copyright 2003 by Audrina Jones Bunton. REPRINTING THIS ARTICLE: Permission is granted to reproduce or distribute this article only in its entirety and provided copyright is acknowledged. You can find other articles to choose from at http://www.purposefully-living.com/mailing%20list.htm

Motivational Speaker, Audrina Jones Bunton was born the seventh of eight children in her household in Pinehurst, North Carolina into a loving and committed Christian home. As she has 2 children, over 40 nieces and nephews and great- nieces and nephews, it is not unusual to find her under the same roof with many of her maternal five-generation family on weekends and on holidays. In her youth, she fondly recalls traveling throughout the U.S. with her family, as her parents ministered from state to state year after year-helping people as they traveled.

A graduate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with a Bachelor's degree in Sociology, Audrina is a Competent Toastmaster of Toastmasters International and serves as the North Carolina District Sergeant At Arms. She is a former counselor of the Durham Pregnancy Support Services, a Christian-oriented crisis pregnancy center in Durham, North Carolina and is currently a Social Research Assistant at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Audrina is currently studying at the Master's Divinity School in Evansville, Indiana with a combined concentration in Biblical Counseling and IABC certification.

She also serves as the Youth Director at the Come As You Are Evangelistic Center in Aberdeen, North Carolina where her mother, Lydia Jones is the pastor.

Modeling after a song that her mother so often sings, and one that Martin Luther King, Jr. often quoted, her life and speeches are based on the following lyrics, "If I can help somebody as I pass along, If I can cheer somebody with a word or song, If I can show somebody he's traveling wrong, Then my living will not be in vain."

Audrina resides with her husband William, and 2 children, Audrina Lorraine and William Woodrow.

In The News:


pen paper and inkwell


cat break through


Innovation and Competitive Advantage

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Imagination

Imagination is the unreal, real state of mind, where all... Read More

Facing a Resource Crunch? Read On!

Recently I read an excerpt from a new business innovation... Read More

Creativity Management and Good Ideas

Some ideas occur in the office and others occur away... Read More

Innovation Management ? Isolating Problems and Implementing Solutions

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Business Innovation ? Blocking: Saying YES or NO

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

All Fortunes Begin With an Idea!

A new idea is merely the combination of two or... Read More

The Hidden Superpowers Of Your Mind

The mind is an infinite wonder. It has the fantastic... Read More

Business Innovation ? Small Changes, Big Effects

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Do You Need A Business Plan If Your Idea Is New, Untested, or Unproven?

Who Should Read This Article?Anyone nursing a new (especially untested... Read More

Its A Quantum Thing

We don't need to understand quantum physics entirely in order... Read More

Innovation Management ? Developing Ideas Within A Framework

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Why Do We Suppress Higher Thought?

Throughout History we have imprisoned our brightest stars and thinkers.... Read More

How To Benefit from The Power of New Innovations in the Year 2005

How many times have you heard the phrase "knowledge is... Read More

Take Your Good Idea One Step Further

Whether you're an executive, manager, professional, or entrepreneur, you need... Read More

Innovation Management ? moving past the wall

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

The Pendulum Swings Right - A Major Shift is Happening Inside Our Brains

The world is now changing again, it appears. The logical... Read More

Business Innovation ? Confidence through Competence

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Process Innovation

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Seeking Initiative and Innovation? Reward Failure!

Based on Proprietary Research"If you want to increase initiative and... Read More

What Dreams Will Come!

As the pioneers of aviation took to the air (not... Read More

How To Be An Innovator In A World Of Change

Innovators are opportunity-oriented.What's the hidden opportunity in that problem? Where... Read More

Intuition: Your Best Career Coach

Since I derive most of my life lessons from reading... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management ? Decision Makers

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Color Your Life

Have you ever arrived at place in your career and... Read More

Creativity Management ? Theres Nothing New Under the Sun

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Creating Opportunity

An enterprising person is one who comes across a pile... Read More

Perfectionism - The Dangerous Trap!

Just when I have something figured out, along comes another... Read More

Life ? The Teacher

You've probably heard the phrase "repetition is the mother of... Read More

Business Innovation ? Confidence in People

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management ? Fast Feedback

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

A Time for Rebellion!

When is it right for you to rebel against the... Read More

Creativity and Innovation Management ? Joy and Sustainability

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More