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Five Steps to Becoming ‘More Spiritual‘ and
Aware of Your True Self?
Becoming ‘more spiritual’ is the act of increasing your awareness about who you really are at your deepest level, with the intention of connecting with Your True Self.
On a day-to-day basis it is easy to ‘do’ things (surface activities) or ‘have’ things (possessions) to mask the unhappiness that prevails deep down. But this relief is only temporary; real happiness (often referred to as Joy) does not come from the outside, it comes from deep within. It is always there and available to us, but our minds have contrived to cover it up with the conditioning and emotional junk we have collected throughout our lives. Now we simply need to clear this out and ‘free’ the joy. It is not a case of adding anything, there is no need, you already have everything. You are already complete! Just clear a path to this Real You and connect with your Joy.
Clearing a Path
Clearing a path to the Real You is like walking through dense jungle. This may be a struggle the first time as there is no path to follow and every step is anew challenge. This struggle may raise questions such as:
- Where exactly am I going?
- How will I know when I get there?
- How do I tackle obstacles along the way?
- How will I feel when I get there?
- Is it really worth it?
The second time is not so challenging. Now there is already some sort of path to follow and you will have a good idea of the answers to many of the questions you raised the first time.
Subsequent journeys along this path get easier and easier. You will come to know, not only where you are going, but what to expect along the way and how to tackle obstacles you may meet.
The more often you travel this path, the more open and accessible it will remain.
Your First Step
Openness. Be open to who you really are and to any challenge you may encounter. Nothing can be achieved without being open.
Your Second Step
Awareness is the key driver of your spiritual development and moving up the Spiritual Staircase. You can bring Awareness to who you really are in any moment. This cannot be done just by saying ‘I am aware‘ or reading about being aware (though intellectual knowledge may be helpful as a signpost), but can be accessed, understood and developed by ‘going inside’ yourself, and giving attention to whatever feelings and emotions are there for you in that moment.
Awareness is not either ‘yes I have it‘ or ‘no I don‘t’, it comes in variable qualities and quantities. For example, in a particular moment you may be feeling unhappy. Now focus on that unhappiness and challenge yourself by asking:
- ‘Which part of me is unhappy?’,
- ‘For what purpose am I unhappy?’ and
- ‘What am I seeking to gain from this unhappiness?’
Try to really feel the answers come from inside you rather than thinking about them. There is no limit to the amount of awareness you can bring to yourself or any issue you have - the more the better.
Your Third Step
Acceptance of whatever you find and going totally into it, because whether you like it or not, it is there in that moment. Sometimes acceptance may be difficult but, the more difficult something is to accept, the more value (bigger change) there is for you in accepting it. Often your mind will try and reject what is there because it does not fit in with the mind‘s view of who you are. Be aware that this may happen - the mind is the mortal enemy of awareness and acceptance!
Your Fourth Step
Expressing it. These steps are not an intellectual exercise, this is an experience you feel in your body, not just thoughts in your mind. So allow the emotions to be there (don’t resist them) express them by whatever means feels right in that moment. This also helps release the negative energy surrounding it.
Note: The mind is often a doorway to experiences such as this, but it is never the experience itself.
Your Fifth Step
Sign up for my FREE Guide ‘How to Connect with Your True Self‘ and my Irregular Newsletter, in the left hand column of every page. It contains Practical Techniques on how to bring more focus to this framework and includes methods to increase your awareness.
Sign Up for a Course of 1 to 1 Spiritual Coaching sessions with Ankur. Contact Ankur Now.
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