I will never forget the day I passed my driving test and was handed the car keys to my VW Beetle. This was the day I got to drive on my own. I knew how to use the gears and how to steer the car, and I knew the rules of the road. I was ready to go and explore. And it was because I knew the basic mechanics of how to drive and respect the rules of the road, that my somewhat restricted and confined life suddenly opened up and became more expansive. That open road was my ticket to freedom.

Learning how to live life is not so easy or strategic as learning to drive a car. None of us are given a manual at birth with instructions on how to live. Yes, we’re occasionally given some advice, but basically, we’re on our own. We come into this world and stumble our way through hoping to get it right. For some of us, it’s as if we drive through life never getting out of second gear – we’re unaware that there actually are fourth and fifth gears.

I spent most of my life driving through life with the handbrake on. We all know how it feels to drive with the handbrake on – we’re moving but not with any ease or speed. It’s quite an uncomfortable ride. And as soon as we take the brake off we’re immediately propelled forward.

I was moving and getting stuff done in my life, but I was always aware of that lack of ease – that feeling of hesitating and being held back. Little did I know that I was the one who was putting on the handbrake.

To be able to take our human handbrake off we have to understand how we humans work – how the equipment of the mind works. And we also have to understand the laws and truths the govern us. We have to understand who we really are at our core and that all of our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are not the real us. They are all learned habits of thinking.

Are you passing the test in life?

Are you beginning to see that your personal handbrake is made up of feelings of insecurity, scarcity, inadequacy, and not enough-ness?

And are you beginning to see that those feelings you experience are habits of thinking you’ve picked up on your drive through life and also from the back seat drivers who have accompanied you and told you what to do?

Can you see how all of those thoughts and feelings have contributed and created the road-blocks, driving down dead-end streets, and sometimes accidents?

All made up by you.

Seeing this allows us to get in the driver’s seat of life and stop acting like a passenger. This is how we take off our human handbrake.

This is your open road – your ticket to freedom.