Spirituality is explored in our own way on a personal quest and is collective in spirit. We see spirituality as synonymous with searching for meaning and direction in life. Spiritual awakening is what takes place once we realize that life is divinely inspired and we notice our own personally connected spiritual experiences. This is where we decide on emancipation from the illusions we are conditioned with and we discover our true self.

Now that we identified our desire for spiritual development, what do we do next? We find our paramount reason for being by incorporating personal growth and transformation.

Finding Who We Are

Finding oneself has different stages. Essentially, this is where we attempt to determine how we feel about spiritual subjects, and how we feel within, rather than following the opinions of family, friends, or peer pressure to be socially accepted.

Spiritual awakening is our transition to new levels of awareness, sometimes referred to as self-realization. When we don’t have a strong sense of ourself it’s easy to be influenced to live life the way others think we should. There are a few big definitions of self-realization. It’s generally defined by the activation of one’s full potential. Ultimately, self-realization is discovering the answer to the foundational question, “Who am I?”

Discovering ourselves is the challenge of a lifetime. To answer the question, “Who am I?” we have to learn to listen to our own thoughts but first find our own thoughts. Taking a look back at our life journey thus far, we need to evaluate what we would eliminate for the future.

This includes the company we keep who are no longer vibrating on our level and the mindless activities that don’t serve our greatest good. Maybe we desire a change in our job by asking for the raise we know we deserve or changing the job completely to something meaningful. We need to expose more of our thoughts in our relationships despite the possibility of offending others.

When answering the question “Who am I?” we need to understand our desires and have the courage to move fearlessly in that direction.

Process of Discovering Ourself

A fundamental component of personal growth is self-discovery. Self-discovery is a process wherein we examine who we are by reviewing our thoughts, words, actions, and character as a whole. We learn about our individual personality, our beliefs, and our natural preferences. Our goal is to uncover our true potential and our purpose in this life. This knowledge will enable us to thrive in all situations and experiences to come.

It will take some time to discover who we are. When we are dedicated to going through a series of activities and exercises for self-discovery, we are making a positive choice for ourselves that will be worth the work.

This form of personal analysis allows us to align with who we wish to be.

Becoming Aware of Ourself

Do we actually know why we have certain behaviors? The idea behind our decisions? Our worth for ourselves and the people around us?

An essential skill for anyone interested in authentic personal development is self-awareness. Self-awareness sets the foundation for emotional intelligence and mature adulthood. We grow and transform through this process.

Self-awareness is truly a skill to develop. When we begin to learn something new, at first it may be difficult. Being discouraged from the discomfort, we tend to avoid even trying a new skill. This is why most of us never develop self-awareness.

Awareness is knowing what’s going on around us but self-awareness is knowing what’s going on within us. This isn’t just knowing ourself, it’s gaining the ability to understand our thought process. We can have insight into our emotions, our principles, and our motives and answer the question of why. By knowing this we are then able to change our emotions and actions or reactions in certain situations.

Reflecting on Ourself

We develop self-awareness through self-reflection. During solitude in a quiet environment, we can clearly analyze ourselves. Our bed, a comfortable chair, a bath or even a peaceful place like our garden is ideal for questions and answers. Documenting our answers in a journal is a simple and organized way for self-reflection exercises.

The questions we ask can be regarding a specific event to certain thoughts or reactions we’ve had or just in general regarding traits. Some questions may be easy to answer and some will be more difficult.

• Why do I act this way?
• Why do I think this way?
• Why do I like this person?
• Why do I want to be accepted by this person?

The questions to follow should be ‘what’ ‘where’ and ‘who’. More specifically, what could we have done differently? Where do I really want to be in life? Who inspires me? Once something we would like to change is identified, ask how we are going to make this a reality.

Be aware that we can reverse the benefits of self-reflection by overthinking. Our mental well-being is at risk when we dwell on one thought cycling through our mind without an apparent solution. If we are stuck on a train of thought, we should declare it’s time to stop or enforce a time limit before starting the exercise.

Body Scan Meditation

“Quiet the mind and the soul will speak.”

– Buddha

Meditation is when the mind concentrates on one single point. The original tradition of Vedic, recommends different methods of both physical and psychic. This is for the total absorption of the mind. Our mind is constantly full of thoughts, feelings, and impressions, and just impossible to be empty. We can find a focus point to hold our stare or we can close our eyes completely.

Keeping our spine straight, arms and legs uncrossed (unless in the lotus position) all we have to do now is breathe. Inhale for 1, hold, exhale for 2, inhale for 3, hold, exhale for 4, and etc.

With a total body scan mediation, we do the breathing exercise as before, but we gradually expand our awareness to encompass our body and environment around us. Starting with the way our toes feel in our socks or connected to the ground, and moving up to our scalp. Relaxing every muscle on the way up as we note the sensations we feel, this type of mindful meditation connects and aligns us in tune with our body and spirit.

Meditation is a great way for us to bring clear thoughts and go within. While meditating, our mind is quiet and we can be more open to hearing and receiving answers from higher energy sources.

Mediation is basically hanging out with our soul.

Start from the Center

Since attention is essential for learning, being centered should be the first step. When we are centered, our attention is increased.

The technique of centering is to focus on our energy, bringing it inward to our center. This gives us a sense of peace and stability. I like to close my eyes while doing this to concentrate more thoroughly. Inhaling through the nose if comfortable, and exhaling through the mouth.

• Focus on slow, steady breathing while counting to four on the inhalation. On the exhale it will induce a relaxed state.
• Visualize and focus the energy inward to our physical center of gravity, just below the navel, while still focusing on our breathing.
• Visualize inhaling bright, positive energy and on the exhale, visualize releasing dark, negative energy.

This is a good technique to use for any time we feel stressed to help bring back balance and induce relaxation.

Using intuition to know when the exercise is complete, we can move on to perform our next activity with clearer thinking.

Dream Journal

The unconscious holds messages speaking to us through symbols and dreams. Everyday chatter makes signals hard to be heard. Unconscious messages appear to us in our dreams in a form of coded symbols. Becoming more open to these messages by recording our dreams will familiarize us with the workings of our minds. Keeping a notebook by our bed to write down our dreams upon waking allows us to decipher our unconscious mind over time.

This opens an easier dialogue between the conscious and unconscious mind.

Using Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy has become increasingly popular, and for good reason. The benefits of using aromatherapy include alleviating anxiety and stress and improving mood.

Creating ambiance before self-awareness exercises can ease our mind into relaxation and make it easier to concentrate and easier to keep a positive mind.

Flowers produce soothing essential oils that promote loving senses. Floral scents like ylang-ylang, chamomile, jasmine, rose, basil, and lavender are relaxing and help us voice unexpressed thoughts.

Healing Crystals

When trying to stabilize our mood to prepare for an inward journey, healing crystals can be beneficial. Working with crystals can relax our process by emitting energies rid stress and promote calmness. Crystals can raise our vibration aligning a greater connection to our higher self and spirit. They can clear negative energy and create harmony in our environment.

An abundant different kinds of crystals exist, all with different properties.

Pinterest is an excellent, smart way of finding and learning all about crystals. If you’re not on Pinterest yet, you’re missing out.

Empower and Improve

Admitting and accepting who we are and our limitations help us better ourselves. Once our weaknesses are identified, we can expand and grow. We may discover that our words or actions actually go against who we wish to be and form a solid foundation on what we consider to be important to us.

When we are aware, we are living in the here and now. This is one of the greatest qualities of our spiritual life. Self-discovery puts us more in tune with our mind, body, and spirit. During this transformation, we develop self-worth, confidence, and empowerment.

The self-discovery journey is different than any experience we’ve had. It’s exciting to gain clarity on who we are and it’s a continuous learning process.

Without self-discovery, we pass on the opportunity for fundamentally understanding who we are and what we want to achieve in life.

Hibrations!

~ Victoria ☯︎