From Bondage to Freedom

From Bondage to Freedom.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. What moves me from bondage to freedom? What are the next smallest steps that I can take to claim more and more of my own freedom. More and more of my own agency. In a culture where we have lots more imitation than integration how do I know where I am on the spectrum from bondage to freedom?

The first question that comes to me is what are the determining factors? I have landed on four things, the people you know, the places you go, the stories you tell, and your relationship with grief.

The people you know: We attract who we are to us. The universe wants to prove you right conscience and unconscious beliefs. It will send people to you to reinforce your belief systems. If a part of me believes, even unconsciously, that I don’t deserve to be treated with dignity and respect I will attract people who will reflect this to me through the way they treat me. Trauma wants to be healed, this is one place where we can look for clues for our own discernment of what wants to be healed in us.

The places you go: I am at the airport right now headed to another place I have never been before. As I travel I always look for treasure and I always find it. Each trip changes who I am, sometimes in little ways, sometimes in very big ways. Each place I go expands not only what I know is possible through difference but also who I am. Each new experience Shapes me, opens new questions in me, grows my capacity to hold more complexity in the world.

The stories you tell: The stories we tell makes all the difference. I can tell the same story as a victim story, as a warrior story, or as a wisdom story. Whichever I choose will either lead to more bondage or more freedom.

Your relationship with grief: I believe if we don’t know how to grieve, we don’t really know how to live. Being fully alive, being free, requires us to have an intimate relationship with grief. Grief isn’t an event but a relationship. And as all relationships it comes with all the range of emotions. One of the reasons that this is so important is because we can’t open up to something new until we are willing to let go of something old. Until we release the grief we are carrying there is no room for the things we say we want.

At the beginning f this year I asked to learn what it would mean to have all of my relationships rooted in freedom. My relationship to myself, to my family, to my friends, to my clients, to my work, to the divine. What I am learning is that all my relationships are ultimately rooted in my relationship to the divine.

Quanita Roberson

FYI: We are offering a grief workshop soon:

Grief and Praise Circle: An Online Offering in a Time of Transformation and Change

April 29, 2026 at 6:30pm (EDT) - 8:00pm (EDT)

Hosted by: Quanita Roberson

For more information go to: https://www.nzuzu.com/retreats