The Struggle is Real
Spiritual Awakening.
We know its something we yearn to find. Scrolling our social media feed, we see picturesque scenes of yogis on beaches at sunset, ornate displays of crystals and herbs or people in deep meditation. The truth is, spiritual awakening is not a cake walk. It's not peaceful or pleasant. Many times, the road to spiritual awakening is downright torturous at times.
No one talks about the agony involved in the awakening process when you have weeks of sleepless nights - whether too emotional to sleep, buzzing mind or firing aches and pains in your body. Or when a trauma of your past rises to the surface for healing, only to find yourself triggered and having a nervous breakdown. Opening pandora’s box can lead to a happy life, but the road there is treacherous. There will be moments you will have to take a deep breath and pray for peace. Learn about some of the obstacles you might encounter on your spiritual journey to enlightenment.
Skeptics
While pursuing your beliefs and finding your truth, external forces will test your inner confidence and resolve. As you begin to explore subjects of interest, you might share these new concepts with others as a way to better understand them for yourself. Not everyone will be receptive. When they start to question you, you might end up questioning yourself. I know I did. I questioned my own sanity for a time, due to the radical response of scepticism from family and friends. Despite this setback, I used their doubt as a powerful catalyst to practice harder, research more and do my own experiments - especially with others with the same interests. I spent those sleepless nights outside staring at the stars. I asked for guidance, prayed for answers and sometimes talked to the vast nothingness of the universe for hours on end.
Have you ever been that person to share your ideas and beliefs, only to be told its not real or that you are crazy – to have someone insult you? I am here to tell you : you are not crazy. You are courageous to share your inner workings, exploration and your newfound perspective of reality. It is important to be excited and to change the lens you view your world through. You are brave to explore out of the box concepts and find your truth.
The pursuit of your truth is the real struggle. Ignoring the naysayers and finding a way to discover if what you believe is in fact the truth. It is one thing to blindly believe in Aliens, and a whole other thing to wander out into the dead of night, call out to the sky and stay up until the break of dawn trying to capture proof that Aliens exist. There is a lot to be said for someone who can go to such great lengths to prove to themselves that what they believe is real. Some of those experiences may fall short of your expectations, but I hope you go out and try again. With persistence and determination, you can get results.
Doubt
Fighting the urge to quit or doubting yourself is one of the hardest challenges to overcome when beginning your spiritual awakening. That little voice of self criticism that whispers “You are crazy, what are you doing?” when you are doing something that challenges your beliefs. Ask for a sign. Always ask for a sign, if you are mired in confusion and self criticism. The universe will respond with synchronicities and signs.
It is a painstaking process, finding practices that work and support your spiritual development. You can spend thousands of dollars on classes, workshops or sessions and receive conflicting information from multiple teachers who claim their way is only only way to do the practice they teach. You might question if anyone knows the answers you seek. As an example, although there are thousands of teachers teaching Reiki out there, not all practices are the same. Not all Reiki classes even teach the same things. Why is something with the same name so different across the board? When you involve spirit, things no longer can be generalized. We are all unique, we have different pasts and backgrounds and ways of learning. There are infinite ways to ground yourself. There are infinite ways to apply Reiki to your life. There are infinite roads to ascension and enlightenment. Some practices or fields of study may not be something that resonates with you or something that just doesn’t work for where you are in your ascension process. Do not doubt the practice, doubt the method. Try your best and if it still doesn’t work after a good go at it — take a different class, learn from a new mentor, or try your own method. Get creative and listen to your intuition. Ultimately it comes down to there being no ‘right’ way.
Discernment
There are people in the spiritual community who are disillusioned to believe they have all the answers and that they are the only ones that can lead you to your enlightenment. It is simply their ego running rampant and in turn, they are taking advantage of people who are vulnerable and many times misleading those people due to their own ego-blindness. Although there are individuals who are wise or gifted beyond the imagination, no one — NO ONE can tell you your path. You are your own authority. Only you can decide how your body and spirit work. You need to discover it yourself. You may need to tweak different things, but you will eventually discover your own path. Have discernment in who you entrust your spiritual journey with.
Take a chance to step off the beaten path and be a trailblazer. Connect within yourself for the answers. Listen to the wind, rain, birds or your own breathing and be present in this passing moment. Answers do come. When you focus on your body, letting your emotions and your mind move through you like a river, answers have a chance to float on by.
Once you have been practicing and exploring your own gifts and interests, you might one day be faced with people (or spirits) who do not have your best interests at heart. Learning to follow your intuition and listen to your body will come in handy. Practitioners of channeling or psychic abilities using clairaudience, clairvoyance or any of the like, can get interference if foundational practices such as Grounding, Protection and Boundaries are not stable and enforced regularly. Use discernment and ensure you are getting clear, unobstructed information.
Changes
On the path to spiritual awakening, one thing you might expect is change. One thing you might not expect is that the change is changing things you didn’t want to change. Sometimes on our spiritual path, when we are aligning our inner world to a higher frequency, our outer world begins to shift too. Your diet could change. Your body could shift. You might lose your job or your relationship might end suddenly. Having such drastic modifications to your life might make you question if the steps you are taking to better your life, make your life better. Take heart that these changes are in favor of your subconscious desires and that your sacrifice is worth the heartbreak. When you are raising your frequency, it is only natural that anything in your life that do not raise in frequency with you, will no longer be in alignment with you. You are getting better and they are staying the same. If your friend of 25 years starts picking fights with you out of the blue, take a break. Give them time to catch up or drop off.
Another unexpected change that can happen from raising your vibration, is toxic people from your past might reconnect with you. If you are raising your vibration, they will feel the energetic tie between you two weaken and they will reach out to leech off your energy again. These are the people who show up out of the blue, make you feel amazing for a while, only to use you or cause drama and then bail again. They are dependent on your constant attention and focus directed at them. If they keep you distracted from self improvement, they can utilize the syphoned energy to boost their own self worth and sense of self. They need that validation and you don’t. (Look into cutting cords, protection, shields, energetic boundaries to address this problem). Let them go. Let them create their whirlwind of chaos so you can pursue your inner peace.
You may have heard the term, “Ascension Symptoms”. This refers to physiological changes to your body such as insomnia, lethargy, buzzing, mood swings, changes in vision, hot flashes, minor aches, high pitched ringing, and more. During certain times in your ascension, you might find yourself having odd changes in your body that are out of the ordinary. They are caused by your body having to acclimate to the raise of vibration in your consciousness. However, if these symptoms persist they could be part of a medical condition and I encourage you to seek council from your medical provider.
You are not alone.
We all are jumping the same hurdles and fighting the same battles. Despite the obstacles, the journey to enlightenment is beautiful, joyful and fun. Spiritual Awakening is akin to reliving your childhood, full of wonder and magic. Don’t let these struggles dissuade you, let them be tools to help you navigate your path with confidence.
Tune into Rainbows Rising, my weekly podcast to start exploring your own spiritual awakening through practices, reflection and healing.
