6 Ways To Your Own Spiritual Experience

Have you ever imagined what an intense spiritual experience would be like? In what ways would a spiritual awakening change your life? If you’re like most of us, you’ve spent more time learning how to grill a hot dog than you have exploring these questions. A bit ironic, really, considering we are all made of mind, body and spirit. Spirituality is all about discovering where we came from, where we will return when our bodies die, and the purpose of life in this world. Yet, few of us will feel the amazing power of a life-changing spiritual experience in this lifetime. You’re not to blame, though. Public schools have never offered classes on the subject, or even offered any indication that spirit exists, and it wasn’t exactly dinner conversation while growing up, at least in my family. Still, there is that fleeting, nagging voice most of us hear in our minds (or in our hearts) assuring us that there somehow must be more to life than meets the eye.

The good news is there is more to life – lots more. Here are a few life-changing benefits that result from a spiritual awakening.

• A new sense of calm and peace within you
• Absence of fear. Fear is one of the first things to go with a spiritual awakening
• You feel content with your own company. You are not lonely, even when you are alone
• Lack of desire to judge others
• A sense of feeling connected with others
• Words like faith, tolerance, and acceptance begin to take on new meaning
• Painful memories of the past become distant memories and have no effect on your happiness
• We no longer feel the need to convince others that our views are “right” and theirs are “wrong”
• A desire to give to others without expecting anything in return. You feel blessed and wish to share the blessing you’ve received with others
• You become grateful for the things you have, rather than obsessing about the things you don’t

The single biggest benefit many people report is an overall sense that “all is well with the world”, which is the exact opposite of the fear-based view of life as a struggle that must be “dealt with” on a daily basis. Years of fear become permanently replaced with a quiet faith, a new inner-strength and calm.

What Is A Spiritual Awakening?

A spiritual experience is difficult to describe to those that have not yet experienced one of their own. For some, it is an overwhelming feeling of intense energy and calmness at the same time. Waves of warmth and pure love flow through one’s entire body. Once the experience ends, some report feeling both exhilarated and exhausted at the same time. There are no words to fully describe the feeling, but you will know it when you feel one and you will never forget it. You have temporarily become one with all the light and love in the universe. For others, the experience is more gradual and less intense. The result is the same, however. We have opened ourselves to Divine Love and our awakening has begun.

Six Basic Elements Of A Spiritual Experience

1. How bad do you want one? Lots of us imagine a spiritual experience as a mystical, magical adventure trip that takes place within us.  But few realize that making a spiritual connection with the powers-that-be isn’t something that just happens out of the blue. We must be willing to open our heart and bare our soul to a Higher Power than our own. We have to truly want to change our life and must be ready to set sail for unknown destinations completely foreign to all we’ve ever know. And we must do it alone. The truth is that most of us only become willing to change when the pain of living outweighs the pleasure for quite some time. In the case of addiction, for example, this time is called hitting bottom. But we all suffer from some form of spiritual dis-ease, both addicts and non-addicts alike, and we can all benefit immensely from a spiritual healing experience. How willing are you to do what it takes?
2. Do You Believe? Imagine two mountaintop villages. One village is called Fear. Across the great, deep gorge below is a place called Happiness. The bridge that connects them is called Faith. Whether you choose to imagine your own bridge as God/Higher Power/Great Spirit/Eye In The Sky or a very real energy called Divine Love, faith is a critical element of a spiritual experience. How can we become one with divine love (the true definition of a spiritual experience) if we refuse to believe it exists? Faith is the key that opens the door to your heart and allows love to enter.
3. Wave the white flag. If you’ve ticked off the two boxes above and you’re still with us, congratulations! There are a few more steps to discuss, but none more important than this one. Surrender is the third element of a spiritual experience. Surrendering to a Higher Power is not about throwing in the towel and giving up on our self. We don’t surrender our best qualities when we surrender – we are simply surrendering the negative emotions, trauma and pain that have been holding us back from true happiness for years. It’s really more of a merger than surrender. We are actually joining forces with a Higher Power’s energy. We are using the willingness and faith discussed earlier to let down our guard and open ourselves to a spiritual healing experience.
4. Ask for help. If you want spiritual healing, ask your Higher Power to help you. Sounds simple enough, right? It is simple, but simple and easy are not always the same, as you will learn in the next step.
5. Ask like you mean it. You’re not asking your spouse to pass the salt here. You’re asking for a life-changing spiritual healing to take place. The trick here is asking humbly and sincerely. This is where the word “humble” becomes important. Becoming humble doesn’t mean we must tremble in fear or bow our heads in shame before a Higher Power. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. A Higher Power consists of nothing but divine love and never judges or punishes us. Our Higher Power is our best friend.  Asking humbly simply means that we must lower our guard, tear down the ego-driven walls we’ve built to protect us, and open ourselves to the hand that reaches out to us. It is a leap of faith. Think of divine love as a river that flows wherever it can flow. By its very nature, that is what love does. In order to receive the flow, we must open our heart to it, with no ego thoughts, no pride, or other obstacles to block the flow of energy. Set your fear aside and simply ask.
6. Patience, Grasshopper. Patience and persistence are the keys to this step. Like most things in life, practice makes perfect, and we don’t always make the connection with our Higher Power the first time around. We often must ask many times a day over a period of days, weeks, or even months before we experience an intense spiritual healing. But as long as we follow the basics – surrender, sincerity, and asking humbly – it’s not a question of whether it will happen, but when. The energy is always here, with us, waiting to flow to us. We simply need to meet it halfway, which is what the 6 Steps listed here are all about.

We can choose to hold onto painful memories of the past and remain sad, empty, and unhappy or we can choose to surrender them to a Higher Power and live a free, happy and contented life. Franklin Delano Roosevelt once stated that “there is nothing to fear but fear itself” and he was correct. When we hand our childhood issues and other trauma over to a Higher Power, it is actually our deepest fears that we are surrendering.

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