My whole life, I have encountered so-called ‘spiritual people’ on my journey. I was intrigued by them and wondered what they knew that I didn’t. I couldn’t understand the paranormal experiences they went through.
Part of me found it all bullshit; they repelled me as much as they sparked my curiosity. No matter where I went in the world and which places I chose as my new home, I always got faced with these truth seekers and enlightened souls. I must have attracted them for some reason.
To be honest, they scared me. I didn’t want to believe that there is more in this world than what I could perceive with my own eyes. I never had mystical experiences or truth revelations; why are they the ‘chosen ones’ that get to go deeper than what lies on the surface?
Mystical experiences
Surely, I have tried psychedelics and felt ecstatic as well. Sometimes those substances gave me glimpses of what goes beyond our physical world, but I knew those were just the effects of the drugs. They couldn’t fool me.
Until six years ago, when I moved to Mexico. I have always been different from the rest. I always rebelled against society and couldn’t fit in the mold they designed for me.
I traveled for ten years, seeking a place where I belonged. I tried to work a normal job in Amsterdam for a while too, but it slowly ate away at my whole spirit until I could no longer pretend that I would ever fit in. So I left my country (The Netherlands) again in search of what I now know was inside of me all along.
What is a spiritual awakening?
I had never even heard of the term spiritual awakening until my brother pointed out to me: “I think you are going through an awakening”. I shrugged and didn’t pay much attention to it, knowing that he was keen on watching a lot of YouTube videos.
But something funny happened in the months to come. I was losing my backpacker identity completely and could not fit in with the travelers anymore either. I felt lost again and had the desire to really get to know myself. Who the hell was I?? I Googled ‘spiritual awakening‘, and everything became clear.
Fast forward two years later, after going through the Dark Night of the Soul, I am totally aware of the power of a spiritual awakening. And with that came awareness of why I previously got so repelled by most of the ‘spiritual people’. Many of them weren’t truly awakened; they were using it merely to make themselves feel better than others.
10 Signs Your Spiritual Awakening Is Real
So how do you know if you went through a true spiritual awakening or have just fallen victim to another identity escape?
1. You have a sincere desire to help others
Really helping others can only happen when you have first helped yourself. How can you give advice on going through a severe depression or dark night of the soul, if you haven’t been there yourself?
You have to first focus on your own self-love before you can help others. This means spending time NOT helping others. Many “awakened” people make it their duty to give others (unsolicited) advice, just because it gives them the identity of the healer.
This is not truly helping others; it just distracts you from healing your own wounds.
2. You feel the extreme need to protect Mother Earth
If you are truly awakened, you can feel the pain our nature is going through. Hurting her means hurting yourself.
So how can you be awakened if you still have the need to always buy things? Or to drive in huge cars that are super polluting? Or to take airplanes to every corner of the world every week or month? Or to cut down precious trees to build your massive home? Or to renew your wardrobe every season?
A real spiritual awakening would show you that these things directly link to damaging our Earth, and your Soul would hurt if you take part in it.
3. You trust your intuition
Trusting your intuition is not at all easy or straightforward, and it’s extremely hard to distinguish intuition from fear. But after a real awakening, you have learned that your intuition is always right if you learn to listen to its voice. Follow your own truth and don’t follow the common good, even though that would be a lot easier.
Being awakened means you will have to fight for your opinion, because most people will think the opposite. It’s so easy to doubt yourself and disappear in the masses, but your gut feeling will tell you if something is off. Trust that intuition and don’t let others convince you that it’s not right.
4. You can be happy alone
Our whole lives, we have been conditioned to find happiness outside of ourselves. First, you need to get your high school diploma, then study something that will give you a promising career, find the love of your life, get married, and have babies. And at the same time, you need your own beautiful house, be successful, and also have a lot of friends.
No wonder we get super anxious when we are completely alone with none of these external achievements. But exactly in that space of being alone, you will learn how to be happy with just yourself. The way you truly are, with everything else stripped away.
This will most likely feel like a complete and utter loneliness, and that is exactly what a true spiritual awakening teaches you. Sit with yourself and learn how to be completely happy alone. Not just for a few hours, but plan days or even weeks without the need to constantly connect to anyone.
5. You can reach your Higher Self
If you are somewhat familiar with meditation and other forms of inner work, you have probably encountered your higher self (or God/Spirit/Universe/Source) at some point. This is so addictive to most people that they will try to find that state of mind all the time.
Drinking potion after potion, focusing on ritual after ritual, spending 1000s of dollars on retreats, crystal healings, sound meditation, natural medicine, light work, spirit guide readings, energy cleansing… the list goes on and on.
And I am not saying they are not a facilitator. But after a true awakening, you don’t need these external things to reach your Higher Self anymore. You simply know that it is always there with you, ready to guide you in times that you really need it.
You realise that you can’t achieve a permanent higher state, as our lower days are also part of life. It would be better to spend your money on things that help the collective instead of throwing it at all those self-proclaimed “gurus”.
6. You don’t force your awakening on others
I get it, you see the light, and you want everybody to know what you have been through. You completely change your appearance and bombard your social media with energy updates and enlightened advice.
You go around and tell all your friends to drink ayahuasca and join you on your quest to heal the world. But with a true spiritual awakening, you will naturally inspire people to follow your advice.
People don’t recognise from the outside if someone is awakened or not, but they will feel it. They will be drawn to you.
Forcing your awakening and telling everybody how woke you are is just another form of ego satisfaction. It gives you an identity, and that is exactly what you were meant to lose during your spiritual awakening.
7. You respect everyone’s journey
Not everybody will go through a spiritual awakening, and there is nothing wrong with that. Some people don’t need to wake up to feel happy and to contribute to a better world. If you look down on people who are “not there yet”, your ego has won.
If you feel better than those around you, that is anything but woke. A true awakening will reveal the interconnectedness between all life on Earth, whether awake or not. You accept that everyone is on their own path and they might never need to be or get where you are. Their role is different on this planet, and that is totally fine too.
8. You embrace your shadows
Life is not all love and light and blessings. There will be dark days and feelings of loss and loneliness. We can’t escape it or meditate away from it. In fact, the darker days probably make you grow the most.
During a true awakening, you learn to face and embrace your shadows. You want to find out where they came from, how they have developed, and what they can teach you. We all have a shadow side, and nobody is perfect.
Accept your own shadows, and you won’t get triggered so much by other people’s darkness.
9. You always act out of love
It’s easy to hate someone or blame the situation if something bad happens to you. But if you make love your first language, you will understand that that approach will give you the most inner peace.
Try not to judge others before knowing what they have been through. Even if people have done you wrong, forgive them and send love their way. They are obviously lacking it in their life, so it doesn’t help them to make them into an enemy.
Maybe those bad things happened to you because you needed to wake up. Once you can see gratitude in all of the difficult situations that life is throwing your way, you are truly awakened.
10. You are able to let go of money, power, and ego
A lot of “awakened” people have the need to share their lessons with the world. They start YouTube channels, build websites, and sell courses on how to be enlightened. They fail to see that they are just building another legacy for their ego.
Will you still feel enlightened when you lose that whole new spiritual identity?
When nobody would listen to your words and follow your advice? A truly awakened person doesn’t have the desire to tell the world how enlightened they are. They will simply share their teachings without wanting to be acknowledged for it, for whoever wants to listen to it.
We all are the Chosen Ones
Once you have had one mystical experience or vision, it’s so easy and tempting to shape your life around spirituality and awakening. But don’t fall victim to the addiction that is called Enlightenment.
You are not the Chosen One; we all are.
“Spiritual awakening is not a change into something better, but a recognition of what is already here.”— Eckhart Tolle
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