Spiritual Journey: The Ultimate Guide (From Awakening to Ascension)

Why are you here?

Seriously, have you ever stopped to ask yourself? If you’re even mildly inquisitive, I’m sure the answer is a resounding yes.

It’s the great mystery of life. What does it all mean?

If you’re on a spiritual journey, you may have found it to be equal parts maddening and enlightening. It’s the way it goes, unfortunately.

But the good inevitably outweighs the bad. For every time you have to deal with a dark night of the soul, work with your shadow or ego, there’s a huge opportunity for growth.

That, is why you’re here – on the macro-level at least, anyway.

You choose whichever path you like.

What Does it Mean to Be on a Spiritual Journey in the Modern World?

You won’t find yourself on a spiritual journey by accident. It’s a conscious decision to improve for the benefit of yourself and those closest to you. Spirituality is about finding meaning in life beyond the material trappings of the physical world.

Whether you’ve been on the path for any length of time or are just starting out, you’ll know that spiritual life can be a lonely place at times. Not many people ‘get it,’ or are even willing to meet you halfway with your interests. It can be isolating. And even amongst like-minded souls, it’s a journey you must walk alone.

You don’t have to live a monastic life or shun society. That’s not what I’m saying. You should absolutely surround yourself with people of all persuasions. But there will be times when you can’t lean on even your closest friends for help.

Because the journey is one that goes deep inside. It’s a place only you can venture. You have to do the inner work on yourself. It has to come from your effort and will to make improvements in your life. If you want to reach higher levels of awareness, it starts and ends with you…

The greatest wisdom that exists will always be found within. You can travel the world to learn from teachers and gurus all you want. But they all teach the same lesson. Go inside. Connect with yourself and create an unbreakable bond with your internal, eternal being of the now. Your Mighty “I AM.”

What’s the Real Purpose of Spirituality (Separation or Oneness?)

Given what we’ve just talked about, if you were to look deep within yourself, you’d probably give some form of ego-centric explanation of spirituality. There is nothing wrong with that. It can be a singular pursuit. But that only a single layer of the spiritual life truly entails.

The reason we work so hard on ourselves isn’t to achieve separation. It isn’t about running away from our troubles or creating a hierarchy with us at the apex. The journey is about breaking down those tropes. Spirituality is about bringing us closer together as a community.

And that doesn’t mean we all have to share the same faith or even agree with one another. It can be as simple as acknowledging and respecting each other’s differences. But in the best-case scenario, we go beyond acceptance and celebrate each other for uniqueness.

Spirituality has long been used as a tool of manipulation. In the past, it’s become distorted by those who would use it to achieve their own ends. But that isn’t the way. Each time you meet someone where they’re at, that’s spirituality

You don’t need a prayer book, beads, mantras or anything else considered holy. You just need yourself, to act at the moment from a place of sincerity. When you act from your heart-spaced awareness and give someone your undivided love and respect, that’s spirituality.

Spirituality vs Religion 

The debate of spirituality vs religion is almost as polarising as science vs religion. And that’s without getting started on religion vs religion! When our beliefs are challenged, it sometimes causes us to defend them past the point of logic.

Some would argue that religion is becoming obsolete. It’s simply too restrictive for the modern age. How can we continue to give away our power to scriptures that were written thousands of years ago and have undergone countless revisions from language to language?

But much like science and spirituality are two sides of the same coin, religion and spirituality share a similar dynamic. Both are roads that lead to the same destination. The difference is in application and room each allows for coming to your own reasoned judgments.

Religion is most often criticised for being too institutional, which gives rise to fundamentalist movements that in turn, create war. But that doesn’t make all religions bad. There are many peace-loving communities throughout the globe that have a rich culture embedded within their belief system.

But the advantage of spirituality is it takes a wider view. You can take elements from every religion, keeping only the parts that make sense to you and discard the rest. You aren’t beholden to anyone or anything. The beauty of spirituality is finding your own inner truth by learning from all cultures.

11 Signs of Spiritual Awakening that Only a Few Can Fully Appreciate

Almost everyone who’s already started or is at the beginning of a spiritual journey has had some form of awakening. It could be big or small. But you’ll have most likely had some ‘aha moment’ where you realise there’s something bigger going on beyond your current understanding.

Your awakening may have come all at once through a mystical experience. Or it could have developed in stages over the course of several weeks, months, and even years. Here are some of the most common signs that you’re on a path of spiritual awakening.

• You start having lucid dreams
• You become more concerned with the state of the world
• You want to find meaning beyond what you can see in your life
• You realise everything you believed in was false
• You become more self-aware
• You become aware of the needs of others
• You become more empathic
• You experience increased synchronicities
• You experience more and more déjà vu
• You feel a sense of deep connection with everything around you.
• You feel your actions are being divinely guided
• You receive messages from angels, ascended masters or spirit guides

What Happens During a Spiritual Awakening?

There is no set pattern that’s followed during a spiritual awakening. It will unfold exactly as it’s supposed to unfold for you. If that means receiving messages in dreams that will be your experience. For someone else, it might involve having mystical contact with their spirit guides.

What’s the Point of a Spiritual Awakening?

The purpose of any spiritual awakening is initiation. It comes into your life as an intervention. If you’ve been sleepwalking through life, it can appear as a loud wake-up call. You may be ejected out of your old paradigm and forced to reconsider where you were heading.

An awakening experience is meant to open your eyes to the bigger picture. It isn’t full enlightenment. Although you can integrate a lot from your awakening. But it’s more about gaining the tools to learn how to think in a new way, so you can further your journey independently

The Path to Ascension on Your Spiritual Journey

Your spiritual journey isn’t about the amassment of knowledge. There is a greater plan – ascension. You aren’t here in this life on an aimless mission. Everything you do is leading towards your ultimate ascension to 5d and attaining a greater level of consciousness.

It’s the cosmic game of awakening. You could even refer to it as the ‘game of souls.’ It’s the purpose of all sentient beings who walk this path. This unlimited potential is our birthright. We have an infinite capacity to grow through the expansion of our consciousness.

Facing Challenges on Your Spiritual Journey

Somewhere along the way, you’re going to face challenges. It’s inevitable. The nature of being on a journey means that things aren’t always going to be plain sailing. But it’s these challenges that offer the biggest potential for growth.

It’s all about your perspective. If you perceive a situation to be a problem, it will be. But if you take the attitude that everything is here as a lesson, you’ll transcend your victimhood mentality and start truly taking responsibility for yourself.

Creating a Practise of Spiritual Protection

If you’re an empath, you may have realised already that the people you meet are carrying a lot of dense energies with them. It can be from old mental programming or projecting their bad day onto you. But the fact is, it’s there, and you need a way to shield yourself.

Spiritual protection is no different from any other. It can either be preventative or reactive. The most effective measures you can take are those that prevent negative situations from developing in the first place. That includes consistent meditation and regular ceremony.

Coming up Against the Spiritual Ego

The ego is an inescapable fact of our existence. And we don’t leave it behind when we get on the path of spirituality. We simply create a new one, instead. The spiritual ego can be hard to work around because it disguises itself in your newly found beliefs.

At any stage of your journey, you need to be mindful of whether you’re falling into dogmatism. You need to be flexible in your beliefs and realise that your truth isn’t the only one. Everyone has their own, and they’re just as valid as the one you hold so dear.

Not Doing Your Inner Work on a Consistent Basis

You need to decide whether you want your spirituality to be recreational or if you’re truly committed to bettering yourself. You don’t become spiritual just by walking around telling people you are or talking about it with other like-minded people. You need to take action.

If you’re not putting aside at least ‘some’ time aside each day to maintain a daily practice, you’re failing in your commitment to yourself. It may sound very harsh to hear those words. But you can’t kid yourself on a spiritual journey. No one is going to come along and pick up your slack.

The Best Spiritual Practises to Accelerate Your Growth

The best spiritual practices are the ones that work best for you. As we talked about above with religion, the beauty of spirituality is picking the parts that most resonate with you and throwing away the rest. You don’t need to use every technique under the sun.

And your spiritual practice doesn’t need to look like anyone else’s. In fact, it shouldn’t. You can take cues and learn from others, of course. But you want to move away from a state of emulating and towards a state of emanating your own truth.

By creating your own spiritual practice, you’re far more likely to stick to your routine than if you’re trying to cram in as many techniques as possible. There needs to be authenticity and joy behind what you do. But having said that, here are some practices that will get you started if you’re still in a phase of discovery.

• Connecting with Your Higher Self
• Spiritual Journaling
• Meditation
• Ceremony
• Acts of Service/Karma Yoga
• Self-Reflection
• Discernment
• Listening

The Way Ahead on Your Spiritual Journey 

If you take away only one thing from this post, it’s this… Your journey is about you. It’s your life, your responsibility and your reward for walking the road less travelled.

I’ve mentioned it numerous times already, but it’s worth mentioning one last time.

That isn’t meant to intimidate or belittle you. It’s merely a statement of fact. The journey inward is a lonely one. There is no running away from yourself forever. You can face yourself now, or in another life with the same lessons and a different body.

Why wait?

If not now, when? I

Each act you perform for yourself and others serves as a deposit in your spiritual bank account that carries over a lifetime after a lifetime. Nothing is forgotten.

But the choice lies with you.

It’s your free will to decide how much you want to engage with your spirituality. There is no one forcing your hand, not your guides, guardians or angels.

You grow at your own pace.

How fast would you like to grow?