Woo-woo. New ager. Yogi. Granola. Hippie. Witch. Kool-Aid drinker. Cultist. “Weirdo.”
Just some of the not-so-loving terms often used to describe those of us who have a fascination and curiosity for non-religious spirituality. And used by those who have little to no understanding or interest in this subject matter.
Which is why I know many of you keep your spirituality under wraps. Hidden from the outside world. Or only revealed to other “awake” people around you (a.k.a. like-minded individuals). I get it. Nobody wants to be shamed. Made fun of. Ridiculed. Outcast. Or judged.
That’s why you might:
- Tell your hubby that you’re going to the gym instead of yoga practice.
- Only meet your friend at a restaurant because you know her place is haunted.
- Never mention to your mother that the vacation you just got back from wasn’t a week at the beach but an Ayahuasca retreat in the Amazon jungle.
- Keep crystals in your pocket to ward off the negative energy at work.
- Think Eckhart Tolle is the next best thing to sliced bread.
- Keep Doreen Virtue’s Angel Numbers book in your purse.
- Know that 11:11 is no longer just a time on your clock.
- Replace the Housewives Of New Jersey with Super Soul Sunday.
- Have your Shaman or psychic on speed dial.
- Xanax has been replaced by energy work.
- Believe that repeatedly seeing an animal is no longer a coincidence but spirit communicating to you.
The list could go on and on.
True Story Time
Like some of you, I kept my curiosity and connection to my spirituality and all things mystical under the radar for most of my life.
As a kid, I was highly intuitive. Extremely sensitive. I could foresee and feel things before they happened. I had a deep love, connection and respect for nature and animals. I believed in past lives despite going to Catholic school. I dreamt vividly and in color every night. I could never wrap my head around the reason human beings destroyed the planet and each other. I could feel people’s pain and misery. And when it overwhelmed me, I would look up at the moon from my bedroom window, wondering if I could be sent to another planet that was not so chaotic and harsh.
I felt out of place.
I couldn’t figure out why I felt the way I did. Or why those things were happening to me. So I kept it all to myself for a very long time. I didn’t know what my family would think. And I didn’t want to have any friends at school.
But at one point my Soul had enough. It pushed my fears aside and, before long, I came out of spiritual hiding.
My twenties spawned a massive inner and outer awakening. And this time my gifts reawoke more powerful than ever. It was now impossible to ignore them. Or not use them to help not just myself, but others around the world, too.
I was hungry for knowledge. Transformation. And what it truly meant to be a spiritual being having a human experience.
If it wasn’t for my spirituality, my spiritual practices, and the gifts that the Universe has blessed me with, I would not be here right now writing this piece for you. I would not have been able to transform hundreds of people’s lives over the past six years. I would likely have ended up in a job I hated and a marriage that wasn’t right for me.
……………………………
My passionate invitation is that you become bold enough to come out of your spiritual closet. There is no more time to waste hiding. It’s time you started to openly share your gifts, unique talents, ancient wisdom and superpowers with the world.
But before I tell you WHY it is so important to do, I need to switch gears for a moment and get clear on what I define as Spirituality.
Being spiritual in MY world is NOT about:
- Escaping your emotions. Or pretending that everything is perfect. To further my point you can read my piece on It’s Not Always About Peace & Love.
- Excluding science. Science and spirituality are bridging their gaps once and for all.
- Being positive or happy ALL. THE. TIME. (Especially when you aren’t authentically feeling that way).
- Living in the clouds with unicorns and rainbows all day long.
- Choosing to live in lack, poverty or devaluing yourself or your services.
- Holding back by not speaking your truth or standing in your power, afraid of causing conflict or confrontation.
- Creating another limiting belief system or “box” to fit into. For example, you feel like you have to become a vegetarian or vegan because other spiritual people are.
- Feeling superior to others. Acting like a guru. Or judging others because they aren’t on a similar path. Or better yet, forcing people to “get it” or to change.
Believe me, the ego is clever. It can easily pop up in those that consider themselves spiritual.
Being spiritual to me does mean knowing yourself on a deeper level. Connecting to who you are on a mind-body and soul level. It’s about remaining open. Being curious about the Universe and other possibilities. And getting out of any limitation, lack, fear, or beliefs that confine you based on societal or cultural conditionings and paradigms in our world.
Here are my three reasons why YOU need to come out of your spiritual closet today:
1. Practical Spirituality
Practical Spirituality is the kind of spirituality that is grounded. It is balanced between heaven and earth. Spirit and form. It is lifesaving. Transformational.
You see, most of the world lives in and creates mostly from their minds (or ego). Day in and day out I witness people living in their heads and paying more attention to those voices up in there than they do to their own body. And even more so than their own Soul.
When you have the ability to live from an embodied connection between your mind-body and soul, your life really gets fun.
You make choices from a centered place.
You start accessing parts of you that you didn’t know existed.
You live a more impeccable life.
You start to appreciate the present moment more often.
You aren’t looking for people, things or outside circumstances to fill your voids.
You act more from love rather than the ego’s fears.
And you feel whole within yourself.
Practical spirituality is about combining the esoteric wisdom from the sages into your modern-day life.
If you are too focused on spirituality that isn’t grounded then you won’t be having a full human experience. And if you are living mostly out of your head, defining yourself by the outside world, you are only having a human experience without utilizing the wisdom of your Soul. Without knowing your own true essence.
Practical Spirituality is a holistic way of living. I believe that if you practically apply spirituality regularly into your life this world will become a better place to live. The current issues on the planet are due to too much mind-level reasoning and action. So go ahead and combine all that awesome esoteric wisdom with the stuff you’ve learned here on Earth. Eventually, the world will catch on.
2. Guidance
Guidance from your Soul, spiritual theories and concepts often aid you in your human suffering and challenges. Solutions can’t always be accessed from the level of your mind. Sometimes you have to transcend your earthly bound mind and look at things from a higher perspective.
The mind by its very nature is limited. The mind views your challenges and problems in a very linear and narrow way. Your Soul doesn’t. It wants you to evolve. It wants you to grow.
And your very own Soul is your own personal built in guidance system. You can call it your intuition. Your gut instinct. The voice of God. Messages from the Universe. Regardless of how you label it, it KNOWS you from the inside out. It is the REAL you. And it continuously is there to support you, unconditionally love you and guide you throughout your entire life.
It is your free will that often stops you from listening to and acting upon that guidance. And as a result, you find yourself staying stuck in patterns, fears and limitation for long periods of time, if not your entire life. That’s why surrendering your mind over to your Soul will guide you to the path of least resistance. Or at the very least assist you in your challenges and difficulties in a more effective way so that you can learn and grow from the experiences you’re having.
The more that you can listen to your Soul and any spiritual concepts or theories that really resonate with you, the faster you will sail through life’s challenges and the sooner you will rise above your earthly issues.
3. You Need To Be YOU!
You NEED to be YOU! So if that means you are into all things spiritual, then it’s time to celebrate it! The more that you aren’t fully expressing who you are to the world, the world loses out.
When you are YOU in your fullest, you become a shining example for others to be that too. Yes, you might lose people from your current tribe. Some of your friends and family might not get you. Your partner might tease you. You probably won’t relate to the world in the same way as you did in the past.
But does that really matter? Would you rather be in an unhealthy relationship or circumstance out of fear of losing people? Or being left out? Or would you rather meet others that view life in a similar way to you? And fully accept and love you for who you are?
You and I are here during a very exciting time on our planet. More than ever, there are people on this planet who are eagerly seeking out spiritual wisdom to move beyond their current problems. There’s a massive shift and upgrade happening in how we relate to one another and how we view life. It is impacting our world in a way that hasn’t been previously possible.
There’s a reason why you have gravitated to spirituality and its various practices. You may have gifts and abilities that might just help turn this world around from fear to one of love. And you being the true spiritual you, will give other people permission to do the same. Just as Oprah shifted her focus from daytime talk show television to creating shows that bring about spirituality and mindfulness into the global conversation.
THE WORLD NEEDS YOU.
It’s time that you came out of your spiritual closet, once and for all.