Is Awareness the Same as Freedom?

April 14, 2025
|In Mindfulness
|By Ashraf Monzer

Awareness and freedom
Becoming aware isn’t the same as becoming free.

After years of reflecting on mindfulness, I’ve come to question something we often assume: that awareness automatically leads to freedom.

But… does it?
If awareness is the key, what exactly are we becoming aware of?
And if freedom is the outcome, what are we being freed from?

These aren’t just abstract ideas for me—they’ve been real, lived questions.
And over time, I’ve started to see that awareness is not some detached state.
It is always awareness of something.

This insight is one I’ve learned through the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and the Plum Village tradition of Buddhism—a path (Buddhism) I’ve been walking for over a decade. And it has stayed with me:

Awareness is always awareness of something.

So it follows:
Freedom is always freedom from something.

What do you want to become aware of and free from?

For me, it was the long-standing impact of being bullied.
If you’ve read the About Me section, you know this experience shaped much of my early self-image. Over the years, I developed defense mechanisms to protect myself—mechanisms that, at some point, stopped serving me.

When I began to look deeply, I could see how this past was still present: in my thoughts, my relationships, and my patterns.

And that’s where awareness became something more than observation—it became a doorway.

A doorway to understanding.
To healing.
To freedom.

What do you want to be free from?

I want to be free from the unconscious protections that were once necessary but are no longer true to who I am today.

I want to live a lighter life.
One not defined by the past, but informed by it.
A life that doesn’t project old wounds onto people I love.

Because by freeing myself…
I free others too.

A question for you:

What is it that you want to become aware of?
What do you want to be free from?

Not in a grand, life-changing way.
But maybe just in this moment, right now.

Bring a little compassion to it.
Let the answers come when they’re ready.

Other Reads:

Here’s more about mindfulness on this link.

Learn more about healing your inner child on this link.

External Resources:

Zen & Engaged Buddhism:

Plum Village 

EIAB