The mind changes, or ceases to be the same, every time it becomes aware of something. Becoming aware is equivalent to completing a learning process. It is surprise and a smile at once. It is like lighting torches that had gone out, thereby dispelling all darkness or lack of clarity within it.
The ways of becoming aware, or the means through which the student can do so, are many and varied. The Spirit within you, or the Teacher within you, knows the tools you need to become aware for yourself and untangle the knots your ego has forged.
It is the awakened mind freeing itself from every form of suffering. It is cutting, one by one, all the cords of your self-sacrifice. It is opening the row of doors in the prison where you find yourself. It is dismantling, one by one, every self-limiting belief.
It is a long path, but a necessary one for the more materialistic aspect of the mind.
The shorter path is the path of the heart.