We had our first true frost this morning, and I love the special way the light reflects off of the trees, the brush, the pasture. I am learning that awakening is gradual and always-evolving. I used to think of the process as being awakened, but now I see it has to always be in the present tense, because it is never done. I am always searching to understand who I am, what I want, what I need to change. I am always learning that change never stops, never slows. It is our constant, our reality, the fulcrum around which our lives turn. Constantly, I receive the gift of awareness – seeing the work I have to do, the things I need to face up to, the person I want to be.

I am learning that freedom is learning not to want things, but to accept what I have. Real freedom is a release from want. Our culture terrifies people by convincing them that money and vigilance are  the key to security and safety and health well-being, and the core of my awakening is seeing that those messages are false. Security comes from the process of awakening, of shedding conventional wisdoms about life, from listening to the messages inside, not the warnings outside.

This is the message of the first frost for me, the light framing the world beyond, awakening the ghosts in me.