Is your spiritual practice holding you back instead of opening you to the secrets of the Universe?
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If you’re reading this article then chances are you’re interested in Spirituality. You’re in the “Good for the Soul” section after all.
Before I go any further, the first thing I’d like to do is give each of us a big round of applause and some well-deserved pats on our backs because let’s face it; this whole business of waking up and getting real isn’t always easy. As a matter of usually undisclosed fact, awakening can be like a one-way trip through our own private hell.
It’s enough to make any awakening path walker light up a smoke and swallow their own tears with a lemon twist and a side of bacon.
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To top it off, this is an elective tour with no guarantee that what lies at the end of the tunnel, or that painful dark year of the soul, will be any better than where we were when we began.
Facing our inner demons and questioning our me-me-me life patterns can have us feeling small, alone, and map-less in a newly discovered country called: humility.
This province of humbleness can induce the staggering swagger of shame, which often leads to the squirm of recoiling resistance. How can it not when we notice the mirrors of clarity that seem to be everywhere. Mercilessly, they reflect our own image and the roles we played from a place of Divine unconsciousness with minds full of separation.
It’s enough to make any awakening path walker light up a smoke and swallow their own tears with a lemon twist and a side of bacon.
You see, the wilds of wake-up-town often overflow with ghosts of relationships past, forgiveness denied, emotions suppressed, dreams repressed and a whole lot of our inner most hearts desires left unexpressed.
I think this is why so many of us cling to our “Spiritual Bling.”
Let’s face it, when we’re in the dark and we’re scared that the sun will never shine on our frozen hearts and frazzled nerves ever again, and we are as far from being the light as we are from breathing underwater, then we do what any panic-stricken individual would do. We reach for something that will help us find our way.
This is usually where the bling collection begins.
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You are no more really tuning into your higher, intuitive, all knowing self by relying on spiritual crutches than you are getting fit by using your BowFlex as a clothes hanger.
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For many of us, this innocent act of self-help can turn into an addiction that will rival, in its intensity and dependency, any drug currently known to humanity.
The only difference being that this one looks better. It is, after all, wearing a cloak of Spirituality. So who’s going to get concerned or stage an intervention?
I’ll tell you who is. I am. As an ex-Spiritual bling pseudo addict (like there is such a thing as a pseudo anything) I’m about to share with you how to diagnose your habit and most importantly, how to get clean and clear.
After all, you began this path of awakening to tap into, and connect to, YOU.
You wanted to discover who you are and what you’re capable of.
You are no more really tuning into your higher, intuitive, all knowing self by relying on spiritual crutches than you are getting fit by using your BowFlex as a clothes hanger. I assure you, consulting those Angel cards sixteen times a day, or until you get the answers you want to get, won’t help you achieve your self-actualizing desires.
I know you got this and I’m right beside you, so here we go into yet another tunnel of self-love…
5 Signs that you (or someone else you love) may have Spiritual Bling Syndrome and how to kick the habit:
#1 – You can barely make a decision without consulting someone or something outside of yourself.
This can be your spiritual advisor, pendulum, favourite current channeled entity, angel’s cards, animal totem cards, tarot, Crystals, Bundle, etc.
That would be akin to saying that you keep training wheels on your bicycle because that’s the way you learned how to ride it.
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If and when you do make a decision without the use of your, “helpers”, you feel unstable, unsure and nervous to the point of anxiety. This usually has you consulting your oracles as soon as humanly possible. You may even choose to skip out on that chocolate dessert for two to get to those cards or runes so they can tell you if that soulful-eyed date (who, by the way, was about to ask you home to a family dinner before you ran out to get your fix of otherworldly clarity) is into you.
HOW TO KICK IT:
Put the cards and crystals away for thirty days and begin the playful act of making decisions based on your feelings only. A hint about this – choose to say yes only to that which has your solar plexus region and body feel open, expansive, excited, playful, relaxed, peaceful and good.
#2 — You must adhere to your rituals or else you just don’t feel right.
I wonder how you would feel if you gave yourself that much power and belief?
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Ceremonial acts can be soothing. They can bring focus to our sometimes stolen moments of sacred silence and solitude and they can help ground us into the now. I get that and admittedly I like the fragrance of burning Palo Santo wood and sweet-grass as much as the next Shaman. But, if you find yourself unable to settle into yourself, open into The Universal Is, your intuitive self, or assist a client without them, you may want to ask yourself why. Whatever you do, do not take, “That’s the way I learned how to do it,” as an acceptable answer. That would be akin to saying that you keep training wheels on your bicycle because that’s the way you learned how to ride it.
HOW TO KICK IT
Start playing with your innate abilities without the tools of the trade. As an example, if you want to clear a room or a stone, or your chakras, just get still, tune into your body, expand your awareness and then do what you want to do. I sound like a Nike commercial here – just do it!
#3 — You really and truly believe that you need that talisman, crystal, Angel, Spirit, Necklace, Energy tool, rattle, feather, teacher, and symbol to help you: clear your energy, stay grounded, be safe or connect to the unseen realms such as The Universe/All That Is/The Quantum Field/God/The Angelic realms etc.
HOW TO KICK IT
Retire that object for a while. It is not what is keeping you safe, secure, clear, focused, clean etc. What is doing that for you is your belief in that inanimate object that you have given your power to. You have imbued it with whatever meaning and power it has – YOU being the operative word here.
I wonder how you would feel if you gave yourself that much power and belief?
What if you only wore or had things because you enjoyed them for what they were, rather than what they could do for you?
This is pretty solid advisement for every relationship that we have. Whether that’s with our lover, body, friends, coaches, cat, children, job or out-laws, I mean in-laws, or awakening self…
#4 — When you see a beautiful bird or wild animal it becomes imbued with meaning beyond the experience itself.
Sure, I have animal spirit guide meaning books too. They’re fun and can sometimes help with an insight. But, when every tree, stone, animal, bird, insect or piece of blowing garbage has to hold some deeper meaning we can become overloaded and lose sight of that which is before our very eyes — the majesty, beauty and magic of our natural world.
HOW TO KICK IT
Go for a walk and give yourself permission to enjoy. That is the peace we all seek — the pure, simple, easy, elegant enjoyment of life. Give the pressure of seeking, seeing and finding meaning to the Universe and let your whole self breathe, move, and open to the beauty that is life.
Oh, if you see any garbage floating, flying or laying around, feel free to pick it up. Now that’s an awakened act if ever I saw one.
#5 — Every book, article, piece of music or picture that you read or look at has to be about your journey of, or to, self-awareness.
We miss the fun of living. We become serious and intense in a very unbecoming into love kind of way and didn’t we start this whole trip to lighten up?
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OK this happens at the beginning for most of us on a path, and it’s good that it does. We are exciting and the more we become enchanted with reigniting our essence and embodying it the better we feel.
But, if we become overly wrapped up in the search we end up in a loop of re-searching for that which we’ve already found. This leads to similar qualities as number four does in our lives. We miss the fun of living. We become serious and intense in a very unbecoming into love kind of way and didn’t we start this whole trip to lighten up?
HOW TO KICK IT
Go and see a schlocky movie. Eat buttery salty popcorn and drink a sugary carbonated drink. Read a cheesy romance novel or the latest book by that author you used to love but think their stuff is too unconscious for you now. Listen to the music of your teenaged years. Rock it out. Punk it out. Reggae away and dance in the isles of the supermarket to Tom Jones. Don’t worry; Delilah will forgive you, I promise.
Remember: “Where there is seriousness there is ego, where there is laughter there is God”. ~ unknown
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Photo: Flickr/M.Campo
This is an excellent, well written piece, Jasmine! The thinking articulated is clear and its written with beautiful language. Thank you! I found that there seems to be a stage most people go through, wrought with “spiritual materialism” (I love your term “spiritual bling”!!) that is mistaken for spiritual development, but is actually a stopping-off point along the path. First the ego grasps at “spirituality”, dresses up in it, wears it as a new identity, and often a person can remain in that space for a loooong time, especially if they are making a living at it. Or getting enough… Read more »
Hi, Greg. Thank-you so much for your feedback and well versed understanding. I wonder if a Spiritual Bling artifact museum would go over well. Hmmm, maybe in a few decades or so. In the meantime, I’ve found that some of my old bling makes for great decor with an appropriate air of sentimental value. Here’s to a wonderful life!