A spiritual awakening is the unfolding of Spirit within us. We all know (in theory at least) that we are souls. In our everyday lives though, our thoughts, words and behaviors are often far removed from the spiritually attuned life.
Under everyday conditions, we are influenced and attached to objects of the senses and to the prejudices, biases and conditioning of our mind.
When we are advancing spiritually, we become connected at first with our own soul – the divine consciousness within us.
As we do this, Spirit begins to influence our mind and body. This is a gradual unfolding of spirit that eventually manifests in the way we live our lives.
We become more peaceful, more content, more productive, more integrated and more in harmony with all of life.
We feel connected.
The bonds of the senses and bad habits begin to lose their hold on us.
Ultimately they shed off as if they had been foreign to us. We begin to accept ourselves, we become more connected, and we manifest the joy that is our true nature.
Pleasure is derived from contact of desired sense objects to the senses.
Joy is something that is in our nature. To be joyful we need no external stimulus.
I remember the saying of one great saint. He preached to his disciples that “The true sign of spiritual advancement is getting non-causal joy during your spiritual practices and feeling glimpses of it during your working hours.
Gradually as you become more and more intoxicated with this joy, know that you are progressing in Spirit. You will be fulfilled with this joy like no other things.”
The 19 Signs of a Spiritual Awakening
We’ve already touched on some of these signs of a spiritual awakening but lets now look at it in more detail.
These 19 signs are not things to cultivate or to seek out in your life. Rather, they are an outpouring of what’s inside you. The signs are merely signals along the way that help explain the changes you may be experiencing in your life.
1. Increased Empathy
You will find yourself having more empathy. You start looking at other people and you genuinely see their pain and their joy.
2. Heightened Intuition
Your intuition becomes a big part of your life. Instead of relying on your mind and analytical thinking to solve problems, your intuition starts to guide you. You soon find out that your intuition always guides you down the path that leads to inner peace.
3. Feeling Drawn To Nature
Nature is where we get to connect with the natural world. When you commune with nature you feel a great sense of connection with your higher self and you feel a strong desire to do this often.
4. An Aversion To Negativity
You become much more sensitive to negativity. You also develop an aversion for it. Negativity in the news becomes something you steer away from. You start feeling the need to avoid negative people and engaging with them in any way.
5. A Greater Sense Of Unity
You start looking past people’s appearances and see who they really are. You start to see that underneath all the flesh and bones we are really one. We are all intricately connected to each other and ultimately Spirit is one.
6. A Greater Reverence For Life
You have a newfound respect and reverence for all of life. You start understanding that all life is sacred – including that of plants, animals and ultimately our planet. You start treating your entire environment with much greater respect.
7. You Have An Authentic Energy
You wake up with vigour and a sense of excitement. Life becomes an interesting experience – not a drag. You don’t have to force yourself through the day with artificial substances and you feel a wonderful energy that is light and flowing with life.
8. You Are More Present
Instead of your mind always racing and always 2 days ahead, you become more present. You can be in the moment and appreciate the present because all of you is there and present. Your mind is not off on some other placing – solving some other problem.
9. A Greater Sense Of Inner Peace
All the fears, anxieties and stress that used to rule and dominate your life subsides. You develop a greater sense of inner peace. You know who and what you really are and that 99.9% of all your worries were just fabricated by your mind.
10. You Have More Compassion
Your eyes start to open to all the suffering in the world and you develop a sincere compassion. You also feel a strong need to help and to be part of a solution to alleviate human suffering.
11. Enhanced Authenticity
Being yourself become not only important but something you can not help being. Societal needs for appearances and importance become almost irrelevant and you only feel the need to be true to yourself and who you are at the highest level.
12. Letting Go Of Bad Habits Become Effortless
Habits that you used to struggle with – forcing and trying to change all of a sudden become easy to let go of. There is no more force and you feel light and easy about it. You don’t feel the need for methods or strategies and you are able to just set it aside and move on the same way a child outgrows their toys.
13. The Past Becomes Irrelevant
Old baggage that you simply could not let go of all of a sudden becomes irrelevant. You realize the folly of it all and how your mind and ego make you hold on to past events and circumstances. At the level of spirit, all those things “had to” happen to bring you to this moment in time.
14. You Seek Joy, Not Pleasure
Joy are sensory pleasure and the world is full of it. It is like food and no matter how much of it you get you are never truly satisfied. There’s a constant need for more and you have to replenish it often. Pleasure is different. It is what brings happiness to your soul. It has more sustenance and ultimately leads to a greater sense of inner peace.
15. You “Shed” Your Ego
The need for achievement, importance and significance becomes less and less important to you. You essentially start shedding your ego – this part of you that loves for the outer achievements and recognitions in favour of the inner peace. Shedding your ego is a big sign of a spiritual awakening.
16. A Strong Desire To Serve
The Self becomes less important and you start feeling a strong urge to help and to be in service to others. You feel a strong desire to share what you have with the world because you know it will make the world a better place.
17. Synchronicities Start Showing Up All The Time
All sorts of synchronicities will start showing up in your life. At first they may seem weird but over time you will start connecting the dots and see just how magical life is. This sign of a spiritual awakening can easily be overlooked by someone who is not attuned to their own spirituality and they will merely see it as coincidences.
18. Miracles Start Showing Up
Miracles small and large will start showing up in your life. Your life will become filled with amazing things that you can not explain logically. Some people develop the ability to heal, while others start seeing angels. For most however, the miracles are in the form of unexplained everyday occurrences.
19. You Develop A 6th Sense
You will start becoming very attuned to the world around you. You will develop a sense of what is “really” going on and you will be able to pick up the energy from other people. You will be able to sense when someone is in pain, in trouble, sad or even lying.