Revealing the Struggle: Openly Sharing the Complexities of a Spiritual Awakening

Some of the writing I am about to do is going to be not only uncomfortable for me, but it could be uncomfortable for those who choose to spend some time reading it.  Where I find myself in my spiritual journey (awakening) is refinement.  Layer by layer my inconsistencies, untrue beliefs, and outdated operatus modi are being revealed to me in order that I do the work to shed them.  Sometimes the shedding happens immediately upon a no longer useful pattern or outright contradiction coming into consciousness.  Most of the time, the process is slow as these things become deeply ingrained into our body's pursuit of homeostasis, however it has come to expect that familiarity to feel.  What I reveal might be embarrassing to me.  It might provoke comments that will trigger me, and I will have to pause to harness the opportunity choose to see truth instead of reacting.

For a long time, I have tried to spiritually bypass working through some of these layers.  A really good description of the effort that takes was written for Psychology Today by Ingrid Clayton Ph.D.  "The shorthand for spiritual bypass is grasping rather than gratitude, arriving rather than being, avoiding rather than accepting. It is spiritual practice in the service of repression, usually because we can not tolerate what we are feeling, or think that we shouldn't be experiencing what we are feeling."  I wanted to fix myself desperately.  I have felt guilty and ashamed of my path, and I continue work on shedding that layer as I will mention again later.

Then, there is the segment of our spiritual culture that will refute my work also through spiritual bypass.  As facing our darkness, owning it, and accepting it, can feel the opposite of the bliss that should come with discovering spiritual truth, many disown this process.  That which we don't give our attention to, in theory, will fade away.  It's the method of ignoring or shaming the "negative" in favor of identifying with or being identified as "positive."  As Shakespeare wrote in The Merchant of Venice, "All that glitters is not gold."  Psychoanalyst Carl Jung adding, "What you resist, persists."  If we are all mirrors for one another, that which we readily identify as a hang up in another, is likely something to be unburdened within our self.  I find I get really prickly at the "accentuate the positive" and "I have no time for negative people in my life" memes.  My insides react as if I am being personally attacked.  That reveals to me that I am still hoping for approval from the wider spiritual movement as someone who has a relevant voice, but I know that my very nature sets me up to be rejected by many of those who do have the capacity to "choose happiness."  I won't be palatable with my darkness.  I will be told I should smile more as I have been told again and again.  My smiles are a currency greater than gold.

Three recent social media interactions have given me some pause and room to identify an area where two parts of me are in disagreement.  The first was a comment on Instagram where I contradicted myself on the layer of surface.  I shared a video of myself freely flowing in asana (yoga poses) to a favorite song of mine.  I wrote of wanting to be free in my body more with the caveat that I am still very self conscious about sharing videos of myself in motion because of my bodily imperfections.  A woman commented that it was contradictory, and I needed to let go and stop being embarrassed.  It triggered my defenses.

She meant no ill, but the part of my ego that felt I had accomplished something important by posting the video in spite of being self conscious, and sharing the truth of this uncomfortable self concern, didn't want to hear that it could be seen as simply a contradiction to what I already understand is truth.  Like the Green Day song, "I'm a walking contradiction, and I don't have the right."  Consciousness outgrows habits and old systems of belief, but those old ways hang on for as long as they can.  What struck me more was the question of whether I should only share the ways that my consciousness is growing and not reveal the truth that ego and shadow fight back to win.  I questioned the relevance of sharing my journey at all.  Do I only seem like someone milking struggle?  Identified with struggle? 

If so, I am beyond embarrassed.  I don't want to be so pretentious as to think that is my contribution to life.  I graduated with the same GPA as many in my high school class who are now doctors and lawyers.  Currently, I would be homeless in a month if I made any kind of slip up.  I have a Master's Degree in Education, a Bachelor's Degree in English and Creative Writing, and a slue of certifications.  What good am I aside from motherhood?  How important is the contribution of a writer, yogi, and someone fully immersed in a spiritual path if there's nothing monetary to show for it?  In a society where you are measured by your financial worth and achievements, where do I fit and what is my excuse?  I am not a monk or a nun being supported by my service to Source.  Again, judging myself based upon the perceived judgment of others.

Then, I had a conversation with a yogi I follow on Instagram and am greatly inspired by.  Their posts are their practice and snippets of their daily life.  They told me that through my posts (we don't know each other personally) they "see that life is challenging and I'm sorry.  It can't be easy.  Your strength and perseverance are a model for everyone."  How could someone like me be a model?  They were trying to encourage me and tell me that I am seen, but I was taken back to the question of the first conversation - Do I appear as someone seeking sympathy or highlighting struggle over perseverance/strength?  How is my struggle any different than anyone else's?  I began to tell myself I am not exceptional in any way and I should be ashamed to accept such a compliment.  I'm not doing anything more than any other human.  I wrote back a long message of embarrassment saying I hope I don't seem pretentious, whiny, or a complainer, or at worst deemed a "negative" person.  I was worried by not seeming "good at" practicing spirituality even though I claim it as my nature.  What is that again but and identified ego?  Honestly, I admire this person in such a way that part of me feels embarrassed and judges myself as weak despite their use of the word "strength."

The last conversation was with a young teen who follows me on Instagram.  Ultimately, this conversation is why I am choosing to continue to accept myself where I am and share as much as I can of all parts of the journey.  She asked if it ever gets easier to openly write about hardships and struggles.  I answered both yes and no.  I have gotten used to vulnerability and I am drawn to do it regardless of fear.  Yet, part of me still worries that I will be wrongly seen and judged because it has happened before.  I don't want to be accused of tainting the vibe, or become that "negative" person no one has time for in their life.  I know I shouldn't care, and in the end, I don't because I choose to go ahead and share.  I can discuss very difficult things without being depressed or hopeless.  We don't respond to difficulty in a uniform way.  I have some level of desensitization to many things I discuss which gives me the space I need to analyze it effectively.  In fact, telling the tale gives me the means to separate emotions from truth and apply logic and intuition to things that have happened or are happening.  I could tell the story to a live auditorium of people and be fine.  When this young woman responded that what I said was helpful, I felt a renewed responsibility to keep being open. 

Those who can relate, find comfort, be inspired, learn from, challenge, or guide me from what I choose to write about are worth continuing in the shadow of a landscape that unveils the tendency in me to see my healing process as stages of failure instead of growth.  With work, I will accept that a spiritual path is a legitimate path.

When I get down, I go to tattoo therapy.  Here's what I worked on last night.  Tattoo by the amazing apprentice tattooer Mikie Burke.