How To Embrace Your Spiritual Side
Katherine Anne Lee
Feel kind of… disconnected?
Maybe you’re doing all the right things re: exercise, diet, supplements and drinking a ton of fresh water every day, but still feel like there’s still something missing?
It’s all too easy in this material world we live in, to focus on just that – the material aspect of ourselves. But that’s only part of the story. The truth is, we are so much more than our bodies!
As the 20th century French philosopher Pierre Teilhard de Chardin so famously said:
“WE ARE NOT HUMAN BEINGS HAVING A SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE. WE ARE SPIRITUAL BEINGS HAVIng A HUMAN EXPERIENCE.”
Let that sink in for a moment. Yes – tending to the body is vital. But as a spiritual being, what about the spirit?!
What does your spirit need, to stay healthy, strong and vital?
If you don’t know the answer to the question, you’re not alone. It’s not something most of us are taught about in school, or consider whilst we’re growing up (or even way into adulthood) yet it’s critical to begin to get a grip on, if you’re to be a whole, functioning human.
Photo c/o Conscious City Guide
Perhaps one of the reasons spirituality is such a minefield, is that it’s highly personal. Unless you belong to an organized religion, where the methods and mechanics are likely already prescribed, many of us have literally lost our roots when it comes to spiritual practice.
Frequent relocation, the split between community and spiritual values, not to mention the various religious crusades that blight our spiritual cultures and collective histories have all combined to make it near impossible for many of us to tap into a genuine spiritual lineage.
WE DON’T KNOW WHAT OUR GRANDMOTHERS’ GRANDMOTHERS’ GRANDMOTHERS’ BELIEVED, AND HOW THEY CONNECTED TO THE DIVINE. THEIR STORIES ARE LOST - SO WE HAVE NOTHING TO BASE OURS ON.
And this means we’re blindfolded when it comes to even knowing how to begin, or which direction to take that first step in, on our Spiritual journey.
If this feels familiar, then know that it’s a cultural thing right now! But even without the Spiritual tether, or a lot of experience in spiritual development, there are some simple ways to dive in.
Stay Self-Aware
With SO much information available to us now – in books, online, on social media, and podcasts, as well as easy travel making workshops and learning opportunities available - opportunities for embracing your spiritual side are everywhere!
BUT…. Just because it’s available, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s right for you. Sure, you could try balancing your chakras, learning to read Tarot, holding a New Moon ritual, seeing a shaman, practicing transcendental meditation or holotropic breathwork… but can you (and should you) really try them all?!
Try not to get sucked in by the “spiritual supermarket”. Just because something has great marketing, is free for one week only, or your friend tried it and it worked for them, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s your path. Really feel into what you need. Yes, try things out, but don’t let yourself get overwhelmed by thinking you need to try it all.
Create a Personal Practice
Your spiritual side needs more than just a poke now and then. Or for you to attend a life-changing workshop and then do nothing spiritual for three whole months.
Spirituality needs discipline. It needs a regular workout – just like a muscle. And like a muscle, it may feel like nothing is changing in your life for a while, and then BAM, you look down and you’re an entirely different person!
Spirituality likes routine. It likes ritual and regularity. This doesn’t mean your life needs to be governed by the rigidity of doing the same thing day in day out, it’s more about creating an anchor point.
Just five or ten minutes a day devoted to developing your spirituality in a way that really works for you could be enough.
Here are some ideas:
Sit in meditation (try using an app, or the timer on your phone to give yourself a time limit).
Try free writing, for 10 minutes, or three sides of a journal, like morning pages.
Ritually wash your face and hands with this intention of self-love.
Light a candle and send a prayer up with the flame.
Stop and take 10 deep breaths. Breathe IN healing white light, and breathe out any heaviness you feel.
Write a daily gratitude list before bed (see the last point).
These are just ideas – there are hundreds of things you could try! But the point is to keep doing it daily, so that you create a structure, so your spiritual side gets used to emerging a little bit, every day. This will give it strength. And give YOU strength! Which will open up new spiritual avenues in your life.
Don’t Go it Alone!
Yes, we know that spirituality is highly personal but that doesn’t mean you have to take the journey alone! Finding other people to share your experiences with can make a huge difference, and actually accelerate your spiritual growth.
Finding a spiritual community can offer validation for what you’re going through, support, companionship, plus somewhere to just meet like minded folks! (Especially important when the rest of the world starts to seem like the crazy ones!). Plus, because spirituality can feel so ungrounded at times, being with others brings it down to earth.
You could find a group on social media, a local spiritual development group or a woman’s circle. Or if that feels like too much, just getting together with a like minded friend once every couple of weeks and and sharing this new practice you’ve discovered could help create a sense of community.
Photo c/o Conscious City Guide
Flex Your Intuition
Also known as your “sixth sense”, intuition is a kind of knowing that goes beyond the usual 5 senses that we all know about. Intuition is the feeling that you need to give someone a call, even when there’s no ‘rational’ reason to speak to them. Or walking into a room and feeling like something’s not quite right, when you’d have no other way of knowing that two people had just had a big row.
Intuition is something all of us have, yet few of us know how to harness. Tapping in can be as easy as trusting those hunches, following those instincts, and trusting your feelings, over what logic is telling you.
Give Gratitude
You have probably come across the concept before – it’s one of the most powerful methods for uplifting your spiritual side: Gratitude.
As a vibration, the feeling of gratitude, or thankfulness is almost identical to love. And love is the doorway to spirituality.
Daily gratitude is a process of seeking out things in your life to be grateful for, and recording them. (Writing them down IS an important step – don’t be tempted to skip it!) This enlivens the appreciation you have for your life, and makes spiritual activation more likely.
Gratitude doesn’t mean ignoring all the bad things that are happening in the world. But if you’re constantly complaining, anxious or angry about the life you see around you, you’re keeping yourself stuck in a low, heavy vibration.
You’re getting sucked into being part of the problem. Yet if you can appreciate the good, you’ll grow, and spirituality IS growth.
Then from this place, you’re able to tackle and change the ills of this world. The more you can start to approach your whole life from this place of gratitude, the easier the work is. And the unfolding of your own spiritual journey ceases to need work and effort to sustain.
What are your top tips to live a more spiritual life? Drop us a comment and let us know!
Katherine Anne Lee is a UK-based writer and ritualist. She is an initiate into an ancient European lineage of Shamanism, whose practices engage deeply with the Spirit of the honeybee as a living symbol and ally. She is a long-time moon maven and has been apprenticing in the rhythms and Mysteries of La Luna for over 10 years.