How do I process grief about losing my childhood innocence and freedom?

Mirabai knew something about this—she left her family home at a young age to pursue what her heart demanded, and that choice came with a particular kind of loss. You can't get those years back. What you *can* do is stop pretending they don't matter. The grief is real because something real was taken, whether by circumstance, necessity, or your own becoming. Start by naming it specifically: What freedom are you grieving? Was it freedom from responsibility? From fear? From having to choose? Mirabai's devotion didn't erase her losses; it gave her a container for them. You might journal about a specific memory that holds the weight of what you've lost, then sit with it—not to fix it, but to acknowledge it fully. Some days that's enough. The examined heart, as Mirabai lived it, means looking directly at what hurts instead of performing 'having moved on.' Your childhood self's losses deserve that honest attention. From there, small questions can emerge: What would that younger version of you want you to know now? What freedom, however different, might still be possible?