True Freedom Is Not Just Pretty

It’s also messy, and that’s okay.

Photo by Tengyart on Unsplash

To ring in the New Year this year, I did something I’ve never done before.

For two days, I sat with a group of women in a meditation retreat online.

These women, like me, wanted freedom.

I went into this retreat wanting to be free of many things, like my busy, overthinking mind and lack of presence, the constant stress and worry that plagued me in 2020, the never-ending mountains of negativity I kept getting trapped under, my quickly-fading hope for a bright future, and my lack of belief that things can change.

I wanted to stop viewing my current “reality” as all there will ever be.

But I think most of all, I wanted to believe in possibility again, and in myself.

Obviously, that’s quite a list, and would be plenty of material to work with for a brief two days. (And probably even a lifetime!)

But as each person shared what they wanted to be free of, I found myself nodding in recognition and agreement. Oh yeah, and that too. I want to be free of that. And that! … And that!

I definitely wasn’t alone in my desire for freedom, and I felt a sense of community as I listened and saw the faces on my screen all mirroring back my own state of…