Spiritual awakening can seem hard, but it is your true state. You create imaginary obstacles, based on the idea of being deficient in some way, but you are always at the threshold of your own liberation. You just don’t know when you’re ripe for your ultimate destination, so all you can do it try to dissolve your ego at every opportunity to clear the space for Awareness to take over.
A lot of people have this idea that spiritual freedom is about escaping reality to avoid having to deal with everyday stuff or the painful aspects of our human experience. But we can do that with drugs, alcohol, and other addictions, except that the states they produce do not last and often bring us back to the negative emotions we’re trying to avoid. We can only free ourselves from our false identifications and attachments through the self-awareness of these painful aspects and their causes.
Without the contrasts between pleasure and pain, we wouldn’t be able to understand that they’re the two sides of the same coin and that to move beyond pain we must also move beyond pleasure to seek our true, divine nature, which is permanent and eternal. Eventually, we yearn for our all-embracing, nondual state where there is no sense of separation from anything; where the egoic feeling of being an individual “doer” disappears.
This state is of absolute peace because there is no self-consciousness, no fear, no worry, and no judgment—only inner silence and the awareness of everything unfolding on its own. So, it’s not a disconnection from reality at all, but a perception of life without the usual fragmentation that causes negative, painful emotions. It is impossible to describe it because it goes beyond the mind, but it is this yearning that can help us transcend those limitations.
Spiritual Awakening Shines a Light Into Our Shadows
Spiritual awakening can be blissful—like floating above the chaos of life with a smile on our face and love in our heart—but it can also be a peaceful, humble acceptance of life as it is, without judging or resisting its ugly parts. However, to get to those moments of serenity, we must first deal with our messy, confusing, and painful aspects. Real growth requires confronting the emotional baggage we carry—both consciously and unconsciously.
This isn’t about becoming something new or someone different; it’s about remembering who you truly are beyond the identification with the mind and body, beyond your roles, and beyond your wounds. This remembrance acts like a floodlight, revealing everything that isn’t aligned with your true Self: outdated beliefs, suppressed emotions, trauma patterns, distorted ideas, and karmic entanglements.
When you turn the mind inward, self-awareness stirs up what you’ve buried. It doesn’t create pain, it simply reveals it. You may feel old grief resurfacing or other emotions that seem out of proportion. You may feel exhausted, irritable, or inexplicably anxious. These aren’t signs that something is wrong with you; they’re signs that something is being triggered that must be acknowledged and released.
Why Growth Seems So Hard
Since we have forgotten what we really are—infinite, limitless, and eternal—we often experience life as being trapped; even the physical body is a hard shell from which we’re trying to break free. That shell is made of the identifications, emotions, attachments, stories, and defense mechanisms that helped us survive at some point but now keep us stuck in the past.
Our patterns of perception are deeply ingrained, so dissolving them is not a quick process; it is a constant battle between conscious and subconscious thoughts, between desire and guilt or fear, between attachment and yearning for freedom. In other words, between our sense of self (individuality) and our sense of otherness (or projected self-perception), which are the aspects of ego fighting for our mental-emotional experience.
As your awareness expands, the shell begins to crack—and yes, cracking hurts.
It takes time and effort to grow out of your wounded child archetype because a part of you is trying to evolve while another part is clinging to the familiar (see Growing Out Of The Wounded Child Archetype). You may intellectually want liberation, but emotionally still fear letting go of your identifications and the ideas that have brought you some pleasure, comfort, or sense of safety or control.
To grow emotionally and spiritually, you have to see and feel what the ego-mind is always trying to hide. Emotional pain is often misunderstood as failure, but in truth, it’s a necessary step in the alchemical process of your emotional and spiritual freedom.
Reframing the Struggle: Liberation in Disguise
Whenever there is inner growth, there is also emotional discomfort because you must let go of something you’ve been attached to or identified with that has blocked your awareness. The ego wants to avoid the discomfort, or fix it, or rationalize it to protect itself and maintain the illusion of control, so it directs your attention outward to distract you from your feelings.
From a spiritual perspective, painful emotions are sacred invitations to release something you’ve been holding on to a little too tightly. You may believe they’re caused by other people or external circumstances, but in reality they’re reflections of your self-perception—the distorted, outdated ideas you carry about yourself underlying your experience of life.
In this sense, they are not roadblocks but doorways toward change. Here are a few guidelines to begin reframing your struggles:
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Pain is not punishment. It’s feedback. It shows you where energy is stuck or where a false belief still lingers so you may let it go. Without pain, there is no growth; you wouldn’t look for something better if things were always comfortable.
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Discomfort is a sign of expansion. Like a snake shedding its skin, your discomfort means you’re either ready for a breakthrough or you’ve already outgrown your old self and your sense of otherness is just trying to pull you back into your old patterns. It is an inner bully punishing you for nurturing your individuation (your sense of self).
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Emotions aren’t enemies. They are energy in motion, asking to be acknowledged and allowed, not suppressed or avoided. They’re the forces drawing your attention inward, to find your truth so you don’t get lost in the impermanent world of appearances.
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The spiritual path is not linear. Some days you feel connected and free. Other days you feel triggered and lost. And everything in between. They’re all part of the journey back to your Self, like a roller coaster ride meant to help you realize that your suffering stops when you stop believing that you’re the ideas about yourself that the ego-mind produces, rather than the infinite Awareness that contains everything.
Your spiritual evolution is not about striving for perfection. It’s seeing through the illusion of separation, of lack, of unworthiness. Each emotional wave you allow and release is a layer of conditioning you dissolve.
When you’re in the midst of emotional turmoil, don’t despair. Breathe. Be a witness. Trust that everything is exactly what is it mean to be and that life takes care of itself—and of you. If growth feels hard, it is because you must remove everything you are not so you can finally embody what you truly are. So contact me today to receive guidance and support on your journey of spiritual awakening, to gain emotional and spiritual freedom!
If you’re not ready to work with me as your spiritual mentor to delve deeply within, you can learn about the workings of the ego-mind to transform your perception and experience by implementing the Swan Method I share in You Are Your Healer: The Ultimate Guide to Heal Your Past, Transform Your Life & Awaken to Your True Self!
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