Awakening

Photography by Sr Pablo Boutou / Editing by Jordan Simms

When does it all start?

The knowing. The thinking. The understanding. The enjoying. The fearing. The hearing. The listening. The sharing. The opening and the closing. The running away. The fighting. The crying. The dying. The losing. The winning. The pretending to win so as not to lose face. The laughing. The smiling. The pondering. The wondering. The wondering why the word pondering is in your vocabulary. The singing. The dancing. The loving. The hating. The hating because there is too much loving. The protesting. The procrastinating. The pretending and the honestly not pretending. The acting. The flirting. The showing and the telling. The growing. The changing. The being.

The awakening.

Do we awaken when we are born? Or is it when we come of age? Is it every morning we awaken? Or does it happen only once in our lives? Do we awaken alone?

This is my awakening. Age twenty. 2011.