In a world full of noise, technology, and chaos, spiritual alignment can feel difficult.

Throughout my own journey, I’ve gone through the ups and downs of feeling spiritually hopeless.

You feel like you are progressing one day, then the next, you revert back to your old habits of anger, fear, and self-loathing. It’s actually a natural and expected part of the process, but it can be compounded by our surroundings. So, I wanted to jot down some ideas to help.

You might find this article helpful if you are looking for a deeper sense of spiritual connection, inner peace, and joy.

Here are some of the things I have discovered on my own spiritual awakening journey:

1. Give yourself grace. 

Competition and fear of failure are deeply ingrained in American culture from a young age. When it comes to spiritual growth, we cannot magically separate ourselves from our own innate competitive nature. This means our ego will automatically start judging our new spiritual practices.

Do you beat yourself when trying to meditate? Feel defeated when you let anxiety get the best of you? This judgement and shame is holding back your alignment. Learn to give yourself as much grace as possible as you learn to bring new habits into your life.

There is a simple mantra that is helpful to remember whenever our ego pops up: I have named my inner voice (aka ego) Susie, and I simply say, “Thank you, Susie. I don’t need your help right now.”

It’s about showing yourself compassion.

2. Learn how to surrender.

This is a fabulous quote, “When you think you’ve surrendered, surrender more.” ~ Gabby Bernstein

It’s important to understand that control is the opposite of surrender, and control is derived from fear. Our ego craves the ability to control everything in our life because it is afraid, and fear is quite easy to get sucked into.

Imagine you have a huge rock—your life’s dreams—and you’re pushing this gigantic heavy rock up a hill, trying to get it there as fast as you can, but slowly because you’re human. Basically, the universe is counting on you to get out of the way so it can take care of everything. It takes faith to step back and to let the universe work its magic.

By surrendering to the universe, we quickly find that things fall into place easily, and we have more energy because we’re not wasting it all while trying to push a dead weight up a hill. The universe will guide us via our intuition. It shows up as new opportunities, new connections, and abundance in ways we never could have imagined.

When you surrender, you’ll start seeing synchronicities everywhere.

What is something small you can surrender to the universe right now?

3. Be still and get out of your head.

There’s nothing quite like being still in a world where everything is always moving.

When was the last time you sat in quiet stillness? Granted, this can be challenging for people living in a household full of people during the pandemic. But take advantage of the fact that spring is on its way by going outside and being still. Hear the birds, see the trees, feel the wind.

While we spend most of our time in our own head, it’s our body that calls the shots. And if we’ve been thinking thoughts of fear, anxiety, and worry, that’s exactly the energy that’s constantly flowing through our body.

Want to know the best way to recondition your body to stop living in negative energy? Get out of your head and into your body. Nowadays, the pace of life is so fast that we often don’t acknowledge our bodies. Take a few minutes now and do a body scan.

Where do you feel energy stuck? Where do you feel stress in your body? Sit with, be still with it, and it will dissipate.

Allowing ourselves time to reflect on the energy in our body can help us mindfully adjust our reactions to certain situations. When you are angry at your boss, do you find that your belly starts to ache? When your neighbors’ dog starts barking at 10 p.m., do you find your neck tensing up?

Once you notice the pattern, you can begin to release it.

4. Take small consistent steps.

We cannot jump to the top of a mountain.

Spirituality can seem overwhelming if we don’t have realistic expectations. You spent your entire life being socialized into who you are now; you won’t suddenly find yourself experiencing a new life just because you studied for a few months or years.

Building new habits, releasing old thought patterns, and creating a new life takes time. Please remember to give yourself grace and that the small steps you take will lead to greater success. Quantum leaps actually don’t happen overnight; they are the result of many baby steps over time.

Ask yourself, what is one thing I can do today, with what I have and where I am, to impact my spiritual awakening?

It’s my hope that these small steps will help you deepen your spiritual connection in this crazy world. Although these are simple ways to boost your spirituality, they aren’t always easy.