10 Things to Know When on a Spiritual Journey
Knowing the outcome before doing anything off cuff is something you might wish to be your superpower, but the moment you drop the overwhelming need to "know" or have all of the answers when soul seeking is the moment you open yourself up to universal wisdom and boundless peace.
The pull to find or discover yourself can come on so suddenly, perhaps when you find yourself at a major crossroads or choice point in your life. It could feel like you’ve hit rock bottom, or trapped yourself in a mundane existence that only persists for the pleasure or benefit of others. What if you came to the understanding that rock bottom is only part of your story? What if you knew your rock bottom would lead to divine alchemy? Would you be more inclined to meet parts of yourself that have laid dormant?
Knowing the outcome before doing anything off cuff is something you might wish to be your superpower, because hindsight is 20/20 right? But if you knew exactly what the quest would look like, there’s a chance you’d turn the other way instead.
As someone who has been mending and soul seeking for a hot minute now, I can confidently say the moment you drop that overwhelming need to know is the moment you open yourself up to universal wisdom and boundless peace. To help you stay motivated and open, I wanted to share ten things I wish I would’ve known before searching for self-guided answers and fulfillment:
1. Spiritual attacks are real. Spiritual warfare is real.
Generally speaking, people are typically not aware of that which they cannot see. This can make enforcing energetic boundaries or knowing how to preserve them extremely tricky. My advice to you is to take up a protection ritual or daily prayer to shield yourself as you set out to heal and connect with your inner child or trade material goals for the metaphysical. People can knowingly or unknowingly send you evil eye energy, leaving you to claw your way through a psychic attack. This may look like a sudden onset of fatigue, anxiety, paranoia, depression, mental fog, procrastination and the list goes on. So it'd behoove you to mind the company you keep as well as the intimate details of your life that you share with others.
2. Patience is key.
Diving timing requires a patience and understanding that’s foreign to modern-day man. Keeping that in the forefront of your mind will serve you best when healing, planting new seeds, setting intentions, manifesting, birthing a new chapter or going through trials, tribulations, and tests of faith. Making gratitude lists and reinforcing your will power with Liberation Kriya meditations will reduce your disdain for the word “patience”. Learn more about Liberation Kriya with Aileen at Lavendaire by participating in a 30 day meditation challenge with her. She’s created a timer and free tracker to help you stay motivated and manage your progress.
3. Doubt can build trust.
The spectrum of doubt and trust is a delicate balancing act. Too far on the side of doubt, and you can get complacent or stagnant and be absolutely cruel to yourself. On the flip side, being too trusting can lead to lapses in judgment or an easing up on self-growth habits that reintroduce old cycles, patterns, relationships, and limiting beliefs.
When discovering yourself through the lens of spirituality, hitting the rock bottom of doubt will eventually exhaust you to the point of shifting into a “f*@k it” phase. It’s one where you’ll be so unafraid to chart new territories, depending on yourself and your inner guidance while also knowing you’re more than capable enough to shift and remain open-minded.
4. Crisis is a teacher.
In the spiritual community, it’s often said: it’s happening for you, not to you. That is a mantra to keep in your back pocket because your first crisis of faith or self — also known as a Dark Night of the Soul — will make you feel like the world, the Universe or Higher Power are all against you. It can feel like the only goal is to kick a wounded soul while it's down.
Please know that’s not the case! You’re not forsaken. Your angels, angelic support team, soul tribe and physical support system are all there for you to lean on when the going gets tough. You are there to lean on when the going gets tough.
Crisis is a catalyst, a driver, a redirector; it’s a key to unlock the highest expression of your inner strength and core being. Sometimes, your crisis will inspire your mission, be a branch of your purpose, or increase your capacity to see/hear others with empathy and compassion.
5. You’ll uncover layers of wounds and traumas.
“Remember that growing feels like breaking at first,” as Wesley Snipes says. An inner healing or awakening journey demands travelers to confront deep-rooted wounds that have been tightly packed and haphazardly placed at the base of the subconscious. When excavated, they can be very shocking and disorienting. Be kind to yourself. You’ll begin to recognize when it’s safe to examine or release your wounds. The main objective is to become aware of how those unresolved wounds influence your life as well as your underlying assumptions or expectations.
6. Invest in self-care and non-judgment.
Here’s another quote for perspective offered by an unknown soul: “Be gentle, you are meeting parts of yourself you have been at war with.” This one relates to the last tip as well, but for me, it really puts into perspective the gravity of the emotional work that’s to be done when you’re relearning yourself. It’s humanizing and asserts how essential it is to get on a rigorous self-love routine. That could look like nurturing yourself when triggered or validating and normalizing the healthy expression of your emotions. It’s important to remember that we receive enough judgment from others as it is, so it does no good to judge yourself and your coping skills too.
7. Let yourself get angry.
As your stuff comes up and your triggers become known, give yourself permission to sit with and express your feelings. Do that in a healthy way, of course, but do it.
Some of the wounds you’ll be asked to confront may make you want to give up or lose faith in others or in the probability of having a genuine connection. You could find yourself asking: Why was no one concerned with protecting me? Or, why didn’t I stand up for myself in that situation? Or, why couldn’t I have known what I know now?
Don’t get stuck there. Feel the anger that follows this line of questioning. Why? Well, because it’ll embolden you to give yourself the permission to move on with your life, to move beyond subconscious loops and cycles; it'll embolden you to learn from the past and cut those energetic ties and cords.
Plenty of mantras come to mind to reiterate how important it is to let yourself get angry and express your hurt. Mantras such as: “You have to feel it to heal it,” and “The only way out is through.” So stop shutting off your feelings, feel them. Stop denying your pain, validate it. Stop carrying the weight of the past, drop it. The next time anger comes up for you, don’t deny it. Don’t deny yourself the right to express it.
8. Unlearning unhealthy habits and limiting beliefs are opportunities to challenge yourself.
Black and white thinking doesn’t leave room for the gray areas in life, and the gray areas are where we experience growth. As tempted as you may be, you do yourself a disservice when you avoid your wounds or fail to acknowledge your shadow side simply because confronting and/or owning them would hurt or be a hit to your ego.
Fighting against the natural response to feed your ego, resist change, and double down on what’s always been is the best thing you can do for yourself. Lean into all of it by retraining your mind to see these challenges as opportunities to become more aware of how these patterns of behaviors affect how and what it is you manifest. This will allow you to not only see the generational traumas, cycles or karma at play, but also gain the courage to stop them dead in their tracks.
9. Become aware of when imposter syndrome enters the chat.
After the rollercoaster of emotions and eye-opening growth stages, you will encounter exhilarating breakthroughs. Your heart, your Divine Masculine and Divine Feminine energies may be so invested in turning the page to begin a new chapter, but your head and inner saboteur might not be. That itching feeling that you may not be deserving of rest, rehabilitation or advancing to a fresh start may cause you to subconsciously self-sabotage a really good thing.
The Good Trade has done a great piece on working through imposter syndrome, called “How to Combat Imposter Syndrome,” which I highly advise you check out. The nuances of feeling inadequate or undeserving can derail what you’re actively seeking to manifest or overcome. Recognizing when you find yourself in the throes of shame or insecurity can help you course-correct on the onset, rather than trying to rebuild your self-esteem when you feel unworthy or at the lowest of lows.
10. The royal “Wokedom” can be lonely and isolating... at first.
Harkening back to our post on working through loneliness, it’s pertinent to know going into your journey that not everyone will get it or be able to join you. Healing your inner child or awakening to your higher consciousness is meant to put the focus back on you, and not necessarily others. You may become more aware of the facade others may lead with as well as how and/or why others respond the way they do, but for the most part, you may find yourself pulling away from others to connect with the universe and heal in solitude.
Initially, you might feel completely misunderstood or like a black sheep. This period of isolation will pass, however, especially when you’ve learned how to fill your own cup on a regular basis and trade masked overgiving for clear boundaries and true authenticity. When you’re no longer in a distorted energy or headspace, you’ll find the light you shine will attract like individuals and parallel experiences.
Be reminded that healing isn’t linear and reconnecting with your spiritual self is not a destination. Trust the process and where it is you’re guided to traverse. You may feel emotionally raw and out of sorts at times and completely in awe in others. Take it all in stride, challenging yourself to see the lesson with each and every single step. If you feel that you need extra support while soul seeking, I invite you to look up the unalome and connect with the Natural Healing or Intentional Living resource libraries here and here.
Do you prefer podcasts? Get the audio version of this journal entry here on the Seeds of Alchimie Podcast. Join the Alchimie Ascension tribe, if you want to continue this conversation or share in these aspects of ego death. If you want to connect with me more or follow my journey, find me here.