“A new spiritual awakening is occurring in human culture, an awakening brought by a critical mass of individuals who experience their lives as a spiritual unfolding, a journey in which we are led forward by mysterious coincidence.” ~ The Celestine Prophecy
With almost any career path or activity that you must learn from school or a teacher, it can be quite apparent to gauge where you are in your progress. We live in a society that breaks things down into levels, (for example, grade levels in school) and certifications (bachelors degree, doctorate, license) that is our “proof” that we have mastered a particular level.
However, a spiritual journey can be a little trickier to determine where a person is in their process. As with many things on the spiritual path, what is “right” and “relevant” in worldly matters, will take on an ironic twist when dealing with spiritual themes.
For instance, it is quite common on a career path to want to strive for higher and higher positions, and for one to “want” to test their knowledge in comparison to their peers, but on a spiritual journey it can be quite the opposite.
It would be safe to say that the more a person “needs” to know how much farther along they are than others or the more they need a certificate of completion to boost their self esteem or to prove their mastery in some area on their spiritual path, the less far along they most likely are.
Because there is no one definitive path to self-awareness, or to experiencing enlightenment, and awakening – it makes it even harder to truly say where someone is on their path, especially in relation to others, we are all in essence traveling our own path.
The landmarks on our path may be in a drastically different order than the next person. Nonetheless there are certain “states of being” that signify an expansion is taking place in our awareness.
The word “expansion” really explains it perfectly when referring to how our journey progresses over time. While there are a variety of paths people are on, the one standard that everyone can agree with is that the more evolved they became in their awakening, the more expanded their consciousness and perspective became.
So what are some of the signs that our awakening into who we truly are is happening at an evolving and progressive rate?
5 signs your spiritual journey is progressing
“No matter what your spiritual condition is, no matter where you find yourself in the universe your choice is always the same; to expand your awareness or contract it.” ~ Thaddeus Golas
1) Judgment and condemnation become allowance and compassion
One of the most noticeable changes one might realize in themselves or someone who is on a spiritual path is that they are no longer operating within the parameters of societal norms.
With this step, also comes a transition from judging people based on things that society tells us are “important” and condemning them as “less intelligent,” or “evil,” to suddenly allowing people to be as they are.
Once we realize that before we knew what we knew there was no way we could’ve known anything different, we start realizing this is true for others as well.
Just like you can’t teach a 1st grader complicated geometry and tell them they are stupid for not understanding, you also can’t force someone to see past their level of understanding of the world and so instead of condemning them, you simply allow them to be. You completely forgive any perceived “ignorance,” as just, “where they are in their path,” nothing more and nothing less.
2) Motivation becomes inspiration
Here is another example of how the “rules” of society take on an ironic almost opposite twist in terms of a spiritual process. We are inundated with phrases such as, “work hard, more effort, try harder, push through, reward comes at the end of a huge struggle”. Whereas the spiritual path, is less about motivation and more about inspiration.
When we come to realize that achievement in the eyes of society is a construct the spiritual path doesn’t necessarily agree on, we also come to see that tuning in to the benevolence of the universe has nothing to do with struggle, strife or stress.
It is not that action doesn’t “need” to be taken, it is more like if we keep trying to force things to happen from the perspective of our ego, we become extremely exasperated by trying to go against the natural flow of life. Inspired action is more about following our highest joy and excitement, cultivating passions, and daring to follow our own unique path.
3) A new understanding of pain and painful circumstances is adopted
As we live unconsciously as complete slaves to the programming instilled within us from society and our upbringing, we naturally attune to the identity of the “victim.” What this means is that we see each situation from a perspective of “this is what I want to happen (what my ego wants) so this is good,” or “this is what I didn’t want to happen (what my ego didn’t want) so this is bad.”
In this black and white view of reality we see ourselves as a separate participant in life, and completely at the mercy of reality, hoping and praying for the best, and feeling punished or angry when what we perceive as “the worst” occurs.
As we awaken and expand our understanding of reality past our programming, we come to realize the auspicious nature of pain and painful circumstances. We realize that pain is a catalyst for transformation, and see ourselves from a perspective of a healer meant to heal the emotions or fears that have arisen because of any painful circumstance. These types of situations are used to learn, to heal, to grow and mature rather than to begrudge and blame life, others, or ourselves.
4) We have less of a desire to “manifest” strictly from the ego
There is nothing wrong with wanting or desiring anything we desire, but as we begin to awaken further we may find ourselves no longer caring about “getting” the things we thought we wanted out of life when we were living strictly from the ego perspective.
On an energetic level, as we heal and awaken into the higher chakras, we find that the “desires” which tend to be based on material possessions, sexual wants or relationship wants, and a desire for power, become less and less important to us.
We also find that what we were truly seeking the whole time was the feeling of fulfillment, confidence or safety that we “thought” those things would give us, but in all actuality are available to us regardless of getting that particular manifestation.
5) Our life seems to be falling apart
On the surface this sounds terrible. However, when we come to know that new timelines and states of being can only come as a result of getting rid of the “past”, we see that this is another auspicious happening sent by the universe.
As we shift, reality must shift as a result. We are not only healing and transcending old belief systems which sends the signal that we no longer need the representation or catalysts of these belief systems to show up in our timeline, but we are moving into alignment with our true nature as well.
As we align with our most authentic self, we find that old ways of thinking, old friendships and relationships and old careers no longer resonate with us and therefore organically fall away to make way for a new landscape to emerge.
Image Sources:
Quote pic made by: Nikki Sapp
Art by Greg Spalenka