What Is A Spiritual Awakening? 11 Signs & Stages Explained
When there is spiritual awakening, you awaken into the fullness, the aliveness, and also the sacredness of now. You were absent, asleep, and now you are present, awake – Eckhart Tolle
The term ‘spiritual awakening’ has become a bit of a hot buzzword recently. Scroll through any of your social media feeds and you may be bombarded with videos or posts detailing the signs of a spiritual awakening, how to help yourself to experience one, and what it can mean for you.
It’s not a new human experience. There are thousands of documented first-hand experiences of spiritual awakenings for almost as long as our species can remember. From the early life of Buddha as he sat under the bodhi tree and found enlightenment, to more recent examples such as actor Jim Carrey who has experienced ridicule for his openness surrounding his discovery of what life truly means to him.
Also known as spiritual enlightenment, this experience is something most of us have experienced at least once in our lives already. The only difference between those who didn’t realize it and those who have is what you can do with this new knowledge.
Read on to find out what a spiritual awakening is, how you can recognize that you are journeying through yours and what those stages are.
What is a Spiritual Awakening?
A spiritual awakening can be described as many things. A sudden discovery of self, a realization of truth, even the shattering of your current reality. Put plainly, a spiritual awaking is when your sense of self is suddenly thrust into the limelight. You will begin to question everything you have ever been taught and may feel simultaneously separated from the world and more connected to it than ever before.
An awakening can be triggered by the smallest of things that you may deem insignificant at the time, right through to traumatic experiences such as a near-death experience.
Spiritual awakening can also be very unsettling. It can cause you to question everything you ever thought to be true. Your life up till now can suddenly feel like a lie. Which can be stressful and upsetting. So recognizing that you are experiencing one can help you to be kinder to yourself through this time.
If you have religious beliefs, they can suddenly be called into question. If you have never considered yourself religious you may suddenly find the desire to investigate different types of religious and spiritual beliefs, and may even find one that you align with.
Viewing your spiritual awakening as a journey with lots of twists and turns can help alleviate some stress and anxiety you may experience. This new path of self-discovery won’t be a linear journey of personal growth. You may find yourself healing from past traumas one week, only for the following week to feel as though those traumas are consuming your every waking moment.
It can be scary but it’s important to know that not everyone struggles through every spiritual awakening. The more open you are to the changes that are coming, the easier you may find it. Above all else, you must be kind to yourself. This journey will lead to bigger and better things.
Signs of a Spiritual Awakening
Once you understand what a spiritual awakening is, knowing what to look for is the next most important step in your journey to enlightenment. In this section, we will be breaking down some of the most common signs that you may encounter when beginning your spiritual awakening.
Hyper Sensitivity & Heightened Awareness
You may find your natural intuition feels as though it’s on speed. When the phone rings, you already know it’s your mother. Your empathy may be becoming more aware not only of the emotions of others but of the nature that surrounds you.
Becoming more in tune with the world that surrounds you can be one of the hardest signs of a spiritual awakening to adjust to because you may feel more emotionally unstable and easily drained in social situations.
Lucid/Vivid Dreams
Your dream world may suddenly feel as if you are awake when you are in it. You may even become aware that you are dreaming while you are in your dream, so-called lucid dreaming. It may also be easier for you to remember your dreams once you have woken up.
Synchronicities
Many people experience a wide variety of synchronicities from seeing the same numbers over and over again (many call these angel numbers when they come in formats like 1111 or 2222). You may experience simultaneously occurring events that appear to be related to each other. This can also manifest as Deja Vu.
Increased Peace & Calm
Feeling a profound sense of inner peace and finding yourself in an easy but relaxed state of mind is another sign of a spiritual awakening.
Reevaluation of Current Beliefs
You may suddenly question everything you know about God, the divine, or your higher being. This can be a very confusing sign to experience especially if you have spent your life viewing the world through one solitary spiritual belief. Those who have had no belief at all may suddenly feel an overwhelming pull to investigate the possibility of a higher being or a god existing.
Physical Sensations
You may experience physical signs of your spiritual awakening rising such as extreme fatigue, brain fog, or forgetfulness. Many people say they experience recurrent headaches as well.
Disillusion
This unsettling sign of a spiritual awakening can make you feel as though you are in a dream-like state even when you are wide awake. Reality no longer feels real or completely lucid. This is when you are breaking down the previous preconceptions of your reality.
Loneliness
Spiritual awakenings, as incredible as they can be, can also be incredibly lonely. Your mental state and views may shift so suddenly that not only do you feel the drive to become more introverted and spend time in solitary but you may find a lot of your friends and family won’t understand what you are experiencing right now.
Superiority Complex
You may find yourself caught up in how enlightened you feel, even if you can’t put your finger on what you are experiencing, which can lead you to judge others more harshly than ever before.
Disconnection
Being faced with the possibility that your old life is no longer serving you. No longer satisfying you spiritually or physically you may find yourself feeling increasingly disconnected from your old and current world as you work to find out your truth.
There are many different signs that you are entering the beginning stages of a spiritual awakening. You may experience all of these at some point or you may only experience one or two of them. Your journey will be entirely personal to you and can look very different from the next person.
Each time you experience a new shift during your spiritual awakening you may shed some of the signs you’ve been experiencing, only to pick up new ones and this can sometimes make you feel as if you a right back where you started. Trust the process, these signs are there to teach you something, as long as you are ready to listen.
Spiritual Awakening Stages
The stages of a spiritual awakening can be different for everyone. Some spiritual journeys can last years and others only a few short weeks. However, we have a simple guide to the most common stages of a spiritual awakening to help you judge where you are on your journey, and where you still have to go.
The Initiation
As your spiritual awakening begins you may feel disconnected from the world. Your inner self is in turmoil, as it tries to hold onto the crumbling world it’s felt comfortable in and believed in for so long. You may even develop a sense of ego separating from yourself as you begin to acknowledge that there may be greater powers at work in the universe.
This can be a very sensitive time for the journeyer, especially if this spiritual awakening was triggered by a traumatic life event. Traumatic life events don’t even need to be sad and related to death. Moving away from your hometown for the first time can be traumatic and so can a change in career path. Life-altering life events won’t always trigger a spiritual awakening but it’s a good time to be more aware of yourself.
The Query
A spiritual awakening will open up your ability to question everything in your life but it will also bring up emotions or events in your life that you never healed from. Not only will you question your life on a spiritual level but you may find yourself questioning romantic relationships, familial relationships, and friendships.
The query stage is where you may suddenly feel as though you are beginning to lose friends and relationships that, before, you valued above all else. This is why this stage is also the one that causes many of us to back away and ignore the incredible growth we could experience if we just kept moving.
The Quest
This stage can look different, not only for different people but spending on what part of your life you are in. The quest may be a sudden journey to find God or a higher being. It may be that the life you have, suddenly becomes a life you dread and now you need to find out what it is that you need.
The quest doesn’t have to be all about spirituality, it can be about finding the truth about how your lifestyle serves you. How you serve your community or even as simple as an awakening to how your behavioral patterns need to change. Your quest is yours alone.
Integration
Integrating back into regular human existence can be difficult now that your beliefs and connection to the world have been altered. This is the stage where you will be bringing your fractured duality back to one whole being. You’ll be working out how to manage your new sense of self with the world that you have to live in and the people that you have to communicate with and maybe even live with.
This stage is where you will figure out how to balance your new healed self and move forward with a life that resonates with you on a deeper level.
How to Assist a Spiritual Awakening
A spiritual awakening is not just an experience that happens to you but one that you must actively take a role in if you are to take as much growth and learning from it as possible. Assisting your spiritual awakening is the best way to take an active role in the breaking down of your ego and beginning to feel and think on a deeper level.
Here are some ways you can assist your spiritual awakening.
Connect With Nature
Experiencing nature on a more thoughtful and conscious level is one way to assist your spiritual awakening. Spending time outdoors in quiet peaceful places, preferably with your shoes off to feel the vibrations and energy that rise from the soil can help with feelings of disconnection and loneliness.
Activities like solo-hiking, spending time on a quiet beach alone, or meditating in a quiet space surrounded by trees can bring you peace, especially if you are feeling a lot of sudden stress and anxiety from the upheaval of your views, beliefs, and preconceptions being shattered.
Helping Others in Your Community
What is the point of a spiritual awakening that forces you to see past yourself if you don’t use it for good? Taking an active role in your community can connect you to situations and lifestyles completely removed from your own. This can help you to experience life in all its glory and sadness. Increasing your gratitude and thankfulness for what you have but also opening your eyes and hearts to the greater purpose you may have.
Confront Yourself
Many people will go through their entire lives without spending a second to look inwards at themselves. So taking the time to dissect your behavior, your reactions (negative or positive), your fears, and your faults can help you grow emotionally.
Humans, by nature, are imperfect beings and the point of a spiritual awakening is not to reach perfection but to constantly grow and improve who you are. You will never be perfect and that’s ok but taking the time to see yourself for who you truly are will lead to more happiness and contentment. Not only for you but those who surround you.
The Adventure of the Unknown
A spiritual awakening is a lifelong journey that ebbs and flows. Like the water in a river, there will be periods of calm and times where the rapids sweep you off your feet but being open to growth and change can result in the most incredible experiences of your life.
Be kind to yourself and don’t worry if your spiritual awakening lasts only a day or more than a year. We all have our path and what’s more exciting than the adventure of the unknown.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7orjIraulnaOlrrO3zp%2BhqLFemLyue9KpoKuhpKqurXnAsJiknZ6eu6h7