Starting Your Spiritual Journey? Here Are 3 Insights for Everyday Alignment
This article is part of my Starting Your Spiritual Journey? series — a beginner-friendly guide for moving from survival mode to soul alignment.
When we first enter the online spiritual space, it’s easy to be bombarded with an overload of information. Approaching your journey with an open heart and mind is the most effective way to create a sustainable spiritual practice.
It’s important to start at the root — to integrate smaller teachings and foundational tools before moving on to larger concepts.
Here are three insights to support you at the beginning of your spiritual journey.
Triggers are a gateway to your highest self.
If you already know what triggers you, you’re ahead of the game. Being able to identify and work through triggers is integral to becoming a more peaceful person.
A trigger is any stimulus — a person, situation, word, memory, or sensation — that activates an emotional or physiological response linked to past experiences or trauma. The trigger reactivates the nervous system’s stored stress pattern, often causing feelings such as anxiety, anger, sadness, or fear that are disproportionate to the present moment.
Becoming aware of what sets you off is one of the first steps in bringing subconscious patterns to the surface. When you notice that you’re triggered, you have the choice to examine it in the present moment. Taking a breath and bringing yourself back to the present allows your nervous system to calm down and stop sending distress signals throughout your body. This allows you to think more clearly, which in turn helps you respond rather than react to whatever triggered you in the first place.
Every time you successfully work through a trigger, you are teaching your body that you’re safe. You are holding space for yourself, and that’s something to celebrate.
Accept your current circumstances.
We can’t just jump into our highest timeline without taking a few steps, and radical self-acceptance is one of them. Many of my clients struggle with this — even I have to practice this daily.
Self-acceptance is looking at your current situation — how you treat yourself, how you treat others, your house, car, career, relationship, etc — and saying to yourself, “This is where I’m at, and I’m okay with it. I accept myself.”
It’s about fully embracing who you are and where you’re at without shame or judgment. You get to practice recognizing yourself as someone who is already whole, regardless of your current circumstances. This is a radical practice because it actively rebels against what our consumerist society has shoved down our throats for years — that we are inherently flawed and unlovable as we are.
Once you become aware of and accept your current circumstances, you can begin creating change from a place of love rather than unconscious self-loathing.
Healing is not your purpose.
Let me say that again — healing is not your purpose.
In my line of work, I’ve met many people on their healing journeys. Most go through a similar stage near the beginning, where they focus their time and energy almost exclusively on “healing” themselves. This is rooted in a subconscious belief that they are not already whole, infinite expressions of Source. They believe that they must do more, have more, and be more before they can claim the title of an “awakened” individual.
Healing is an important part of the path, but it’s not the path itself. Our purpose on Earth is to live the most fulfilling and joyful life possible — that’s it. Our purpose isn’t rooted in what we accomplish, but in how we live our lives.
It’s important to take a break from the self-help books and shadow work once in a while to ground yourself in your current reality. Ask yourself, “How can I feel fulfilled and joyful today?” It can be as simple as making a home-cooked meal, reading a mystery novel by the river, or giving your kids extra hugs and kisses before bedtime.
By allowing yourself a pause from focusing on healing, you begin to live your purpose right here — in the present moment.
I hope you found these insights helpful. For more guidance on how to move from survival to thriving mode, check out my other blog posts. I also post helpful videos on YouTube at The Conscious Rebel Collective.
If you’re interested in working with me 1:1 to heal at the root and align with your highest timeline as effortlessly as possible, you can fill out a contact form here.
With love and gratitude,
Leighton
