How to Start Your Spiritual Journey

WHAT IS A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY?

As souls, we are on a never-ending spiritual journey. We were on it before we drew our first breath in this life and we will continue on it after we take our last, however, today in our culture, many are not aware that they are souls in physical bodies having a human experience.

And so you could say, that in this life, our spiritual journey begins when we learn or awaken to the possibility that we are more than just our physical bodies and commit to learning more about who we are as a soul. This changing consciousness, this change in awareness, is the gateway into our conscious spiritual journey in this life.

Ever since I was young, I’ve been deeply fascinated by the big questions of life. Who are we? What is the soul? What are we doing here?  A mystic at heart, I’ve chosen to devote my life to living into this great mystery. To reaching for the part of us that existed before we took our first breath and will live on after we exhale our last.

We are divine beings having a human experience, here to grow, evolve and journey back to Source. Sometimes that human experience can be full of extreme joy and exhilaration.

And sometimes being a spiritual being in a human body can be plain hard. We have two parts to us – the human self and the soul self. The human self consists of our mind and body; it’s the ‘suit’ that our soul embodies and uses while we’re incarnated on the Earth. The matter in which our soul exists.

The soul is our inextinguishable, eternal self – the part of us that we carry from lifetime to lifetime and beyond. Everything your soul has experienced adds to who you are as a soul. I believe that as souls we’ve experienced many lifetimes here on Earth and that many of us have been influenced by experiences in places in the vast cosmos beyond this planet.

When we awaken to this possibility, and begin to spend time discovering who we are as a soul, our spiritual journey begins. When you commit to your spiritual journey, you are committing to connect to your ancient self – the part of you that existed before you were born and will continue long after your last days, so that all parts of you can be fully grounded here. 

I believe that this inextinguishable part of you is part of the cosmos (the ordered universe) and the intelligent pulse of Life. I believe that this part of you is connected to the same intelligence that tells the planet how to spin, the flowers how to open and close, the tides to come and go and the Wheel of the Year to turn.

I believe that this part of you that’s connected to all things is also available to guide you each and every day. And the more we connect with this intelligent part of us and develop a relationship with it, the more in flow with the rest of Life we’ll have the chance to be. I call this intelligent part of us the soul.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF COMMITTING TO YOUR SPIRITUAL JOURNEY?

For some, when they have their first awakening experience, it can feel like a whole new world has opened up and there can be a tendency to focus a lot on the spiritual over the physical, and to feel like there is some final destination to reach or place to “ascend” to.

My teachers taught me of the importance of integrating our spiritual experience in the physical, to see matter as sacred and holy, to call the soul all the way in, from our fingers to our toes. I believe that the purpose of connecting to your soul and committing to your spiritual journey in this life is to call all parts of you here.

It’s not to dissociate from your body or your human self, or to spend your days longing to be someplace else; rather it’s so that you can recognise your soul gifts and qualities and gather the confidence to claim them in your current life, today. I see the spiritual journey as a never-ending spiral rather than a ladder to climb, and that the invitation is to always “go in” and connect both to the physical and the spiritual at the same time.

I believe that our soul comes in with gifts and a plan. I believe that each of our paths is completely different and that if we develop a relationship with our soul and act on its whispers, letting it guide us, we can find ourselves living a truly aligned soul-led life. I believe that your soul’s gifts, power, knowledge, and experiences are available to tap into right here and now, and that everything that your soul has experienced is available to you now. But, as always, it requires daily grounded action to embody and integrate these gifts and experiences.

 

SOME SIGNS THAT YOU ARE BEING CALLED ONTO YOUR SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

I believe that we are always being called deeper and deeper onto our spiritual journey, for the spiritual journey never ends. Our soul is always calling us every moment of every day and if we create space to listen to its calls we can be guided every step of the way. The more we show up to listen, the deeper our connection will become.

As your life unfolds bit by bit, it may feel as though your soul’s memory is sparked and experience moments of ‘Ooh, this is familiar’, or ‘I feel drawn to do more of this’, or ‘I wish I could spend my life doing this.’ It might feel almost as if you have been here before or have seen this part of the movie, like when we experience de ja vu. Your soul might give you little clues through feelings of familiarity, excitement or feeling lit up. You may experience little butterflies in your stomach or an extra push towards something unexpected. You may meet people who you feel a deep connection with, regardless of age or similarities or how long you have known them.

These little signs are always happening, but they are easy to miss. Our mind doesn’t trust them, thinking that it needs to be much more complicated than simply following what lights us up. What lights you up? What is your soul calling you do to?

ANSWERING THE CALL OF YOUR SOUL

Our soul is always calling, every moment of every day. The more you listen to it, the easier it gets. You’re never too old to start your spiritual journey and it can never be too late. For the truth of the matter is that your soul is always calling. It was calling yesterday, it is calling today, and it will be calling next week.

Answering the calling of your soul isn’t a one-time act; it’s a perpetual conversation.

The goal is not to hear the call of your soul once but rather to live a soul-led life. To ask the wise part of you to step forward and lead you, each and every day. It’s not about doing one big thing, or finding one single answer to the great big question: ‘What is my purpose?’ It’s doing hundreds and thousands of little things in that direction, one after the other. It’s through following each and every little call – a step here and a leap there – that we find ourselves living the life we are called to live.

COMMIT TO A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

You cannot hear the callings of your soul if you don’t carve time out to listen to them with daily, spiritual practice.

It took me until 2012 to wholeheartedly show up to a daily spiritual practice every day without fail, and it was the best decision I have made. This one thing has created the biggest transformation in my life. Committing to showing up to your soul is like putting a message out to the Universe saying, ‘I’m serious about this and I’m ready to be supported.’

I used to be a total dabbler. I threw myself into loads of different practices, but I’d often feel overwhelmed with all of the stuff I ‘should’ be doing. Meditation, journaling, chanting, oracle cards – you name it, I tried it – it felt like I needed a whole extra life to get it all done. And because I didn’t have a routine of showing up without fail every day, when I had a super crappy or busy day, my spiritual practice was the first thing to slide. But it was then that I needed my practice the most.

And so I decided to show up to an achievable spiritual practice in a non-negotiable way. It would take me 10-15 minutes a day but no matter what I never missed it. It was the best decision I ever made!

Within a few months of committing to a daily spiritual practice, my life was unrecognizable. I felt supported because I was supporting myself and connecting to the intelligent pulse of the universe each and every day. I was sourcing my energy from an unlimited source. My soul was content because I was not only listening to its calls each and every day, I was beginning to actually act on its calls. 

Committing to the discipline of a daily practice doesn’t mean you have to meditate for hours or even one, it just means that you show up to something every day without fail. Do you currently have a daily spiritual practice that you show up to every day? 

Your soul is waiting to guide you. The Universe is ready to support you every step along the way. But in order to connect to it, you need to show up.

 

DISCOVERING YOUR PAST LIVES AS PART OF YOUR SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

When you are starting out on your spiritual journey and begin connecting to your soul on a more regular basis, another area that you may find yourself called to explore is your past lives; the experiences that your soul had before this lifetime. 

I spoke earlier about how the soul is the part of us that exists from one lifetime to the next. It’s our essence, our ancient self. Each incarnation, and the experiences within it, craft who you are as a soul. 

Our past incarnations can include lifetimes spent on Earth as well as elsewhere. Each life and experience adds to who you are from a soul perspective. I believe that the purpose of each incarnation is to truly incarnate. To call the soul more and more fully in.

Just as our current life experiences from day to day, month to month, year to year, influence who we are today and who we’ll be tomorrow, our soul’s incarnations and experiences shape who we are as a soul. And who we are as a soul influences who we are today.

 

REASONS YOU MAY FEEL GUIDED TO EMBARK ON THE SOUL WORK OF REMEMBERING YOUR PAST INCARNATIONS

1. To gain a deeper insight into who you are as a soul, so you can understand who you are today at a deeper level.
2. To call upon strengths, wisdom, or gifts, so you can gather up the confidence that may serve you with your soul’s mission and journey in your life today.
3. To help you with your chosen life lessons or the challenges that you’re currently facing.
4. To release energy from the past where you may be reliving a certain pattern or soul story that’s stopping you from living in the moment today in this life.
5. To gain a deeper insight into a karmic relationship with a person, place, or system in order to face it and move through it so you can be more present in your life today.

If you’d like to explore your past lives, see the Discover Your Past Lives Journey here.

 

WORKING WITH SPIRIT GUIDES ON YOUR SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

It’s not just the people in your life here on Earth who can raise you up and offer you support. I believe that each of us has a team of spirit guides waiting to support us. 

A personal team of angels, guides, and teachers, both in this world and beyond, who are so completely devoted to your growth that if you knew, you would not spend one more day worrying about things working out. And if you could see things from their viewpoint… each time you’d see a challenge, you would meet it with a cheer. 

Almost every spiritual tradition references some form of spirit guide that we can call on or pray to for assistance. Christianity describes choirs of angels, Hinduism shares about many different gods and goddesses, and various Native American and shamanic lineages work with animal guides that can offer us teaching and protection. 

I believe that we are born with specific spirit guides that have committed to support us from birth, but that we can also recruit new ones as we enter different phases of our life. For example, we might call in a guide for a particular creative project, a healer guide during a stage of healing or a teacher guide during a period of deep growth.

The only catch is that they cannot help you unless you ask them to! But as soon as you put the intention out there that you are open to support, then the doorway is opened. You don’t need to do anything elaborate to ask your spirit guides for help. Just calling them in and letting them know that you are open to their assistance will open the channel. 

Your spirit guides can offer you incredible support on your spiritual journey. They have been carefully chosen for you, so they are perfectly suited to helping you with your highest calling and it brings them great joy to support you and guide you – as much or as little as you wish. 

They can guide you through anything from finding a car park to finding the right job, from healing your body to healing your heart, from meeting your future partner to getting through your darkest hour. No request is too big or too small, and they never judge the things you ask them for help with as too insignificant or too huge – they are genuinely invested in supporting you with every aspect of your life. 

Through my experience of giving many hundreds of soul readings, I have found that most people have approximately six guides in their inner circle. We can also call in new ones as we need them. So if you are undertaking a particular creative endeavour, for example writing a book, you might recruit a spirit guide who has written books of their own during their time on Earth. 

Likewise, if you are going through a particularly hard time you could call on a wise teacher guide who can help you through it. 

If you’d like to connect with your spirit guides, see the Meet Your Spirit Guides Soul Journey + Attunement here.

 

THE INVITATION TO SURRENDER

Sometimes, as we journey on on our spiritual journey and go through difficult or painful experiences, there is nothing we need more than to surrender. To finally allow ourselves to admit that we can’t do it all on our own. 

A Course In Miracles says ‘the presence of fear is a sure sign that you are trusting in your own strength.’ The Course teaches that until we place our trust in the Divine, we will feel afraid, because we are seeing ourselves as separate. The moment that we hand over to the Divine, we realise that we were never truly separate from it, and that fear dissolves.

This life is just one single breath in the vast, unending experience of your soul. When you are experiencing the extremes of life and everything is feeling hard, remember that it’s those very extremes that are allowing you to live fully. The agony and the ecstasy. The beauty and the bitterness. It is holding these opposites and letting life initiate us through them that will allow us, at the end of our days, to look back on a life well-lived.

We all carry so much within us – grief, pain, heartache, sadness and fear. What if we were to rest in God, and allow the Divine to help us carry our load? We can either continue to struggle and fight and rely on our own separate strength, or we can surrender to the same mysterious force that controls the spinning of the planets, the tides, and the seasons, and let ourselves fall deep, deep into the arms of the Divine. 

WALKING THE LABYRINTH: THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY NEVER ENDS

We are all in this Earth school of life together; the learning never stops. Have you ever noticed how just after you have a spiritual breakthrough, the Universe sends something your way and it feels like you’re at the beginning again?

It can feel frustrating because our minds are so linear and like to think that we are getting somewhere in particular – a definite end point or destination. But what I have come to realize is that really we are just deepening our learning, understanding, and remembering. We are all students and there’s always more deepening to experience. 

A labyrinth is a winding pattern with one single path spiralling inwards to a centre point. The same path that leads in leads out. As an ancient symbol, it represents the journey deep into our own psyches to explore our own inner nature, and back out again into the world, armed with a deeper understanding of ourselves.

It’s normal to look to the external world for answers and guidance. What’s revolutionary is turning your gaze inward. To study the terrain of your inner landscape. To develop a dialogue and a reliable relationship with your soul. Many traditions talk of the ever-deepening spiral path that we walk throughout our lives. One where we keep on circling and deepening our learnings and experiences as time passes.

There is no end destination to get to, no time to arrive. Rather, more of yourself to embrace and expand into. And although our linear minds may sometimes find it hard to understand the spiralling nature of our spiritual journey, in my experience committing to living a soul-led life is one of the most rewarding things we can ever do, and will bring deeper meaning and joy to every part of your life. 

Wherever you are on your own spiritual journey; whether you are just beginning to hear the call or have been walking this spiral path of self-discovery for many years, I hope that you found this article helpful. I share more about my own spiritual journey in my first book, Light Is the New Black, or if you’d like to try a daily spiritual practice, you can download my Light Bathing Meditation for free here. It will flood you with healing energy from Source each day and is a great one to get you into flow with life.