1. Your Spiritual Awakening. Congratulations, this is the beginning of your spiritual journey. You begin to question everything you once knew. You begin to clear certain things out of your life (habits, relationships, old belief systems) and invite new, more enriching choices in. You may feel like something is missing, but you haven't quite figured put your finger on what that may be. It is very common to feel lost, confused, and down. In some cases, your friends and family may think you are losing it, “just a bit”.
2. Dark Night Of The Soul. This is the stage you may have heard the most about. Simply because it is often the most dramatic. You are, after all, stripping away your best friend and worst enemy, the ego. Stage two of a spiritual awakening is usually a very rough stage—the most challenging stage. This is when your soul is stripping away all aspects of the ego. It's very challenging, but once you hit rock bottom, there's nowhere to go but up—forcing you to make a real change. This was the hardest stage for me and probably why my previous two “awakenings” did not get completed. In my opinion, that is when you arrive at consciousness.
3. The Sponge Congratulations, you have made it through your dark night of the soul. You are ready to begin creating your new and improved, "awake" life. In the third phase, it's all about trying things on for size and exploring. You begin branching out, trying different hobbies, religions, relationships, etc., as you figure out what meshes with your spirit. This is when I picked up art, photography, guitar, and languages. It is different for everyone, but know this…YOU have gifts! As many as the next person. The difference is in whether you practice your gift(s).
4. The Satoru Self. Satori is a Buddhist term for awakening or "comprehension," derived from the Japanese word satoru. This refers to kenshō, or "seeing into one's true nature." In this phase, you begin to not only recognize, but honor and embody, your true nature through your gifts, skills, and talents. This is what I call the renaissance phase. I became a renaissance woman during this part of the journey. You may choose to become a renaissance man or woman. My clients have a ball during this phase because I test out all of ther The beauty of a SA is you get to become whatever you dream of becoming.
5. Your Soul Sessions. This is a stage that can be a bit frustrating. The fifth stage, "soul sessions," can take some time. Everyone is different. You're building the actual structure in your life through which your true self can thrive. I stumbled around a lot during this phase! That is called being human. This stage can take some trial and error and lots of different strategies. Your soul is growing and healing as you discover the routines and rituals that work for you. Have fun with this.
6. Surrendering. Step six in the awakening process, surrendering is all about releasing any remaining structures, beliefs, or facets of the ego that are keeping you from your truth. By this point, you've gotten to know your soul, and you've figured out a lifestyle that works for you, but there may still be people or habits that hold you back. This is where you will release them so you can fully step into your power. I promise you will feel so free when you let go of the last of your limiting beliefs (along with any remaining people, places, and things).
7. Awareness & Service. Saving the best for last! When you reach the seventh stage you are blissful. In that bliss, you only care about helping others. In this stage, you achieve full awareness of your own divinity. You carry this deeply and gently in your heart and it flows beautifully through you. You now live in service to others. Which brings you great happiness and contentment.