What is spiritual awakening?
Spiritual awakening is a term used, nowadays, everywhere. A lot of people claim to be spiritually awake. Some people will find it hard to discern who is actually spiritually awake and who isn’t.
A lot of the self-proclaimed gurus describe it as nirvana, a constant state of bliss but, in my experience, that is so not the case. In my experience, spiritual awakening is more of acceptance of what is than constant bliss. Acceptance of what is and having clarity on how to move forward bring peace of mind more than a state of constant joy. At the end of the day life cycles through highs and lows.
If we do not experience the lows, how can we appreciate the joys?
Am I spiritually awake? The true answer is “I don’t know”. What I know is that since I started meditation and self-reflection, I have reached a point of no return.
What do I mean by that?
In my younger years, I thought, the philosophers were simple woo-woo with no substance. At the end of the day how they will talk to me about feelings, existentialism and so on, without knowing my struggles. WHAT IS THAT ALL ABOUT?
As I grew older, especially when the COVID pandemic started, I increased the time of self-reflection and I have started my journey of spiritual awakening.
My stages of awakening were:
- Start of self-reflection – this comprised of an evaluation of all my feelings, memories and finding out the causes for my limited beliefs and unhelpful behaviours
- Deep depression – seeing the harm I have done to myself and the consequences that followed. I was beating and punishing myself for that. This was the hardest part of the whole journey
- Understanding of myself – I did my best to be able to understand why I made some decisions and not others. That helped me to forgive myself and move on. Through this understanding and forgiveness, I started accepting and loving myself as I am.
- Reaching a state of calm – the more I accepted myself, I started to respect myself and love myself. That leads to more understanding of why other people behave, the way they do and instead of judging the person, I look at the behaviour and its underlying causes. And this is where I have developed a great sense of compassion.
What spiritual awakening does not do?
I thought, when I am spiritually awake, my life will become all unicorns and rainbows. But NO, nothing of the sort. When I look at myself in the mirror, I am the same. But my behaviour has changed and the saying:
“Before awakening one chops wood and carries water. After the awakening, one chops wood and carries water”
Is completely valid. I still have to work and I still have to make a living, to be able to survive. So spiritual awakening does not take earthly responsibilities away. They still have to be tended to. But there is more acceptance about them and even joy in doing them.
Another thing that happened was, I realised that I cannot make the world change around me, but I can change my reaction to it. That doesn’t mean that I walk the streets with flowers in my hand, handing them to everyone. But what it means is, that I always have a smile or a compliment to give.
How has spiritual awakening changed my life?
Going through the above-mentioned stages, I have realised that being authentic is one of the most important changes I have made. This change does not happen overnight but it was a gradual one. I understood that I have to live in my own truth and I need to give others permission to live in their own truth. That was another hard lesson because it required me to give up control and my attempts to change them.
Have you ever tried to give up control when you are a control freak?
Well, that took quite a bit of an effort, but at the same time the feeling of freedom, I have experienced is immense. So in
Conclusion:
Spiritual awakening does not make one person happy nor bring a constant state of bliss. But it makes one more aware of why things are happening in a certain way. It makes one more aware of one’s own feelings and the reasons for these feelings.
It simply feels like waking up from a deep sleep and seeing how beautiful the world around us is and that Mother Nature is wise. This keeps me in awe of the genius that surrounds us and wants me to keep on developing it and conserving it.
Spiritual awakening gave me wisdom. Such profound wisdom, that now I understand the philosophers with their woo-woo about feelings and existence.
Am I happy all the time? Of course not. I am still a human being. But I am much more content with my lot and I want to help as many people as possible to reach that state of calm and love.
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