Signs That You’re Having a Spiritual Awakening

Wake up! That’s not your alarm clock talking—it’s a spiritual cri de coeur. Maybe you’ve been sad because you’re outgrowing your friends, or frustrated because you can’t seem to get through to that racist uncle when he argues about politics. After the last year and a half, dealing with a global pandemic, you’ve undoubtedly come out the other side with some new insights and perspective. Well, you just might be having a spiritual awakening.

So, what’s a spiritual awakening?

Spiritual awakenings aren’t as woo-woo as they sound. The phrase is shorthand for any major paradigm shift you experience, in which your perspective of the world shifts from “me, me, me” to “us” or “oneness.” This can happen with or without religion. It might come from a major life event, like having a baby, or the gradual shifting that comes with age. Maybe you’re having a dark night of the soul and are questioning the purpose of everything.

Your spiritual awakening doesn’t have to be unnerving or earth-shattering. You might just find yourself watering your plants one day and realize you have a new perspective on life. Basically, anything that makes you look at life in a new way can be part of or trigger a spiritual awakening.

Spiritual awakenings come with a process. You start questioning everything you once knew, which can lead to major distress. Old habits, beliefs and attitudes fall by the wayside as you move on your new path. That’s really uncomfortable—but it also creates a new sense of empathy. You’ll probably feel more compassionate toward your fellow citizens on earth, and might even start looking for ways to be of service to others. In this phase, you build a new structure for your life—one that fits better with your new woke perspective. In the end, you realize life is less about you, the individual, and more about how to help and serve others.

You can have a spiritual awakening at any age. It’s never too late to look at the world in a brand-new way.

Signs that your paradigm is shifting

• Your old friendships are fading out. Society places a lot of value on forever-relationships, whether they’re marriages, childhood friends or the people you met in college. Unfortunately, not everyone grows on the same path or at the same page. If you feel like you’ve been growing out of your friendships, you might be experiencing a spiritual awakening.
• You’re more sensitive to manipulation. Spiritual awakenings cause you to question everything. Suddenly, old patterns with others are constricting and unpleasant. Are you starting to notice and reject manipulative behavior?
• You feel alone and disconnected. Growing apart from people can be isolating. Obviously, we’ve just come out of 18 months of quarantines and lockdowns—but if you’re hanging out with friends and finding that their world view is much different than yours, now, you might be on a different spiritual path.
• You’re reevaluating everything you believe. Some spiritual awakenings are traumatic and messy, like near-death experiences—people come back with a whole new outlook on life. Others might be less dramatic, like moving to a new place or finding a hobby that invigorates you. If you’re starting to question everything you used to believe, looking for answers, you’re probably having a spiritual awakening.
• You want to spend more time in nature. One of the hallmarks of spiritual awakenings is how connected you might feel to the planet—even if you’re starting to resent the people around you. Is nature more restorative than ever these days?
• You’re more curious about the world around you. Finally, a curiosity about the world around you—whether academic, spiritual, emotional, psychosocial or otherwise—indicates that you’re leveling up on the spiritual plane. As your mindset shifts from your own insular world to a greater good, you’ll notice more opportunities and synchronicities.

What to do next

If these signs resonated with you, you might just be having a spiritual awakening. So what do you do with that? Don’t worry, you don’t have to start your own Nudists for Mother Earth colony out in the woods—but you might want to look for other communities of like-minded people. Books, podcasts and websites can help quench your thirst for information in the meantime.

Finally, therapy is a great option for spiritual awakenings. It’s a great way to guide your personal development (and receive reassurance that this is all perfectly normal). You will probably have multiple awakenings over the course of your life. What you do with that feeling is entirely up to you—but we hope you use it for good.