I was asked today in a session, Johan what is an awakening?
I went into some detail and got carried away a little bit.
What I said is below.
An awakening can be understood as a moment, or sometimes a gradual process, where you begin to see yourself, your life and the world around you very differently from family and friends.
From a spiritual perspective, awakening is often described as waking up from the patterns, beliefs and conditioning that have been running your life unconsciously. It isn’t necessarily about becoming someone new, more so a truer version of yourself.
It can also be more about remembering who you were underneath everything you were taught to be.
So, Johan, what does it feel like? I paused for a moment.
It is different for everyone and will be different for everyone. It can be surprisingly uncomfortable.
You might notice, things you once accepted no longer feel right, relationships or environments that once felt comfortable suddenly feel restrictive, you question beliefs you’ve carried for years, you become much more aware of your emotions and reactions, you feel drawn towards solitude, reflection or nature, (this is a big one for me), you start asking, “Who am I really?” or “What is my purpose?”, you realise you’ve spent a lot of your life trying to please, fit in or meet other people’s expectations, things that once seemed important suddenly don’t matter as much, you may experience periods of confusion because the old version of you is changing before the new understanding has fully formed.
And this part is very important:
Awakening isn’t always blissful, sometimes it feels like everything is falling apart, but what may happen is that your old way of seeing yourself is falling apart.
From a Sarvaga Light perspective, I would describe awakening something like this:
Awakening is the moment you stop living entirely from what the outside world has told you that you should be and begin listening to the quiet truth within yourself.
It can begin with a question.
Is this really who I am? Why am I doing this? and eventually, what would my life look like if I stopped living from fear and started living from the truth?
That is where the journey becomes deeply personal. Awakening doesn’t mean you suddenly have all the answers. It means you become willing to ask better questions.
Perhaps the biggest misconception is that awakening means “I’ve reached a higher state.”
I don’t think it has to mean that at all.
Sometimes awakening is simply becoming more conscious of your thoughts, your patterns, your choices, your wounds, your strengths, your relationships, and the life you are creating.
And once you see something clearly, you can’t always go back to not seeing it.
That’s where the real work begins.
Only Love
Johan xo
