You must expect challenges when you’re on the path to becoming a more sensitive, spiritual person. Some challenges are unavoidable, but personal perspective is in fact a choice. These struggles don’t have to feel like struggles. We can and do choose how to respond to any issue every single day. For some of us, however, it’s easy to get lost in our unconscious reactions that sometimes, we forget that we have choice. At the end of the day, though, you absolutely do.
Ultimately, when you make the choice to keep pressing forward, you’ll be better off for it. Not only that, but you can grow into a more grounded, open, and powerful person.
Struggle #1: The Existential Crisis
There are times when our beliefs fail us. This can occur when you feel like things just aren’t going your way. And then, we suddenly question our spirituality. This has happened to me many times. And then I feel like I have to research online in an attempt to justify my convictions. Some of us may even feel like God (or Source) has let us down.
When this happens, stop for a moment. Come back to your awareness about the journey you’re on. You can let go of the beliefs that you are trying to make work, but aren’t. The more you can surrender to what is, the more you can find your way back to reality and feel stronger in the present moment.
The spiritual growth you experience is powerful from overcoming an existential crisis because you have let go of some of the veils of illusion to REALITY. Being more tuned into reality makes your actions both practical and powerful. Others may think you’re doing something special, but really, you’ve used this existential crisis to let go of illusory beliefs to see and now engage with what is real.
Struggle #2: Getting Stuck on a Spiritual Belief System
Similarly to the first spiritual struggle, many people are lost in the dogma of their spiritual belief system. It creates suffering because the ideas take precedence over the reality. You want the sky to be purple, but the sky is not purple, it’s blue.
Yes, there are many things that could (and probably should) change in people and society. But if, for instance, money is how people want to trade and value things, believing that money is bad, evil, or otherwise a problem can lead to many poor decisions. Even more specifically to spiritual belief systems, they are meant to help us live well. If their beliefs become violent or abusive or totally irrelevant to what is happening now, it’s time to let go of that belief or potentially the whole belief system.
You may feel stuck because it’ll appear that you’re beliefs are failing you. Truly desiring to see reality instead of reinforcing your beliefs gets you out of the feeling of being stuck. And reality has never been hurt by your willingness to inquire into its existence. This inquiry mindset scares the ego, but it is also a type of curiosity that will strengthen you in clarity for all of the rest of your life.
Struggle #3: Difficulty in Meditating
Here’s a very common spiritual struggle: difficulty in meditating. If the mind is busy, I urge you to give yourself an hour mental break before meditating. You may also want to write down the thoughts in your head. Moreover, if your body is uncomfortable, I encourage you to do yoga or stretching focusing on the hips and legs. Loosening up the base of the body helps to relieve pressure further upwards in the back and shoulders.
If you have lots of emotions coming up when you try to meditate, you may want to seek support from a therapist. You probably have some things to heal. And if that is the case, it is totally okay. We all experience the need for more support sometimes.
Just remember that your courage to be spiritual will develop in the presence of fear, not its absence.
Louis Grassi 