Episode 1: All About Spiritual Awakening

Femi the Divine discusses Spiritual Awakening signs and symptoms as well as provides tips, tricks, and resources on how to navigate the process.

Books mentioned

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

The Four Agreements -  Don Miguel Ruiz

Mindfulness in Plain English - Bhante Guarantana

Quarter Life Crisis -  Alexandra Robbins

Writing for My Sanity Therapeutic Writing Group -  https://www.facebook.com/groups/writingformysanity/?ref=share

Contact info - Femi the Divine

 IG @divinehealingpodcast

 www.thedivinehealingpodcast.com

 femithedivine@gmail.com

Transcript

Welcome to the divine healing podcast. I am your host ,Femi the divine. I come to you all as a spiritualist and I am  happy and grateful that you are here and you've chosen to join me today.  Today's episode is going to be about spiritual awakening. We're going to talk about what is a spiritual awakening signs and symptoms that you may be experiencing a spiritual way.

I will be sharing with you all my journey, what brought me to spirituality and where I am with my spiritual practices now, and last but not least tips, tricks, and resources that will assist you in navigating the process. Thank you for tuning in and let's start the show.

If you are here listening to this podcast episode, you're probably wondering what is a spiritual awakening can also be referred to as Ascension the Ascension process, enlightenment, elevation, I don't know, maybe a quarter life crisis mid-life crisis. But basically it is just suddenly feeling called orled to an increased state of awareness, some sort of higher consciousness, some sort of deeper understanding of life in general and your life specifically. There are a number of signs that may indicate that you are suddenly awakening for a lot of people. It happens because there's some sort of drastic life change.

It could be, you went through a very stressful period in your life. Maybe the death of a loved one. Maybe you had some really traumatic experiences in your personal life or in school or at work, but usually it's some sort of stressful life event doesn't necessarily have to be traumatic that has caused this sudden shift.

In your brain, sudden shifts in your life, wanting to make some sort of changes for the better.  Here's some signs you may be experiencing an awakening. These things can be seen as symptoms, just a general yearning for a greater life purpose. You're wondering what is the meaning of life? What is the meaning of my life?

,What am I really supposed to be doing here? You may begin to question things around you. Morals values that you were taught as a child from your family, your friends, your teachers Things like that things that never really made sense to you, and you've always wondered about them.

 Now that you're an adult, you're going off and exploring, , the truth behind those things, it also may mean reaffirming. Some of those things that you were, you were taught in your younger life and. Because they resonate with you. Some people experience physical symptoms. I know that was the case for me.

You may suddenly feel exhausted and have just general fatigue. You may feel drained. You may be physically drained. You may be emotionally drained. You may be mentally drained. I know I slept all the time and then you may be sleeping all the time when you shouldn't be, but then you're up late at night.  You're up between three and five in the morning for those who don't know that that three to 5:00 AM window is what, what are known as the be witching hours.

And a lot of times the spirit or somebody is trying to contact you. Typically the window of time that they try to use, because when we're sleeping, we are we're most vulnerable and we are not dealing with all of the distractions and crazy things that may be happening in our life during the day.  It may be easier for you to hear and receive those messages during those hours.

Quick tip, if you are awake between three and 5:00 AM, one thing my mom always told me was from the Christian perspective, read your Bible, open your Bible, flip to a page. And, , whatever's there. Maybe there's a message there for you. I know for me, I would just pray. 

 Growing up, I was raised Christian. I pray and ask what is trying to be revealed or I try to meditate. Listen. Maybe if I had a dream about something, journal, write down what it was that I saw in my dream. But if you were up between those hours, spirit may be trying to contact you.

There may be a message that's coming through for you.  If you can't sleep, maybe get up and sit on the floor. Meditate. Maybe get your journal out, start journaling,  just sit quietly and try to listen and see if you can receive anything. But you're probably going to be tired all day. Cause you've been up between three and five in the morning.

Some other symptoms. I had  overwhelming,  body pains and aches. My ears wouldring. I would get headaches.  Some people do actually experience physical symptoms when they're going through this awakening process. You may go to the doctor because you're not feeling well and things are weird.

And the doctor tells you, well, I can't find anything. There's nothing wrong with you. It's in your brain. That was definitely something that happened. You may begin to seek guidance and start to look for answers.  You're now rethinking all of these things that maybe didn't make sense to you, that you were taught in your younger days.

 If you don't necessarily agree with those things anymore, or you don't necessarily believe those things anymore. Now gaining additional information, looking into those things and seeing, well, maybe that didn't sit right with me, mate. Let me learn some more about it and see why you may be seeking guidance.

I know for me, I decided to return to church because that was what I knew I was raised in church. When I began to seek answers, church seemed like the logical place. You may want to spend more time in nature outside. You may want to go to the park. You may want to go for a walk to clear your head.

You may want to be attracted to bodies of water. Running water is very soothing and calming. You may want to get outside, get some sun on your body,    go to the beach,  if you weren't outside or nature type of person before that something that you may be called or led to you also may just want to spend more time alone by yourself, just in deep thought and reflection  peace and quiet away from all of the hustle and bustle of the world.

I know that was something that I suddenly craved. Because My soul. I felt like the easiest way to describe it for me was Seoul weariness. And I went through periods where I experienced sensory overload and it was just like, I was in a room and there were 30 TVs on the wall. All of the TVs were on different channels and they were all turned up to themaximum volume. 

  I kept seeking this quiet space and solace, and I often had to go outside or go to a park just to get  relief from everything that was happening. You may start to see signs and synchronicities.  You may start seeing repeated numbers.  A lot of people talk about seeing the 1, 1, 1, and the 3, 3, 3, and 1111.

You look at the clock and it's 11, 11, those repeating numbers.  all  have meaningsand there's a message behind them.  If you are experiencing the 1, 1, 1, and the 11, 11, and the 3, 3, 3, and you look at the clock and it's 4 44, look, those numbers sequences up. You can Google it. There are books on the topic.

I'm sure there's podcasts episodes about repeating numbers as well, or what may also be referred to as angel number. But look those up, , if you are seeing the same number repeatedly, I think the one people typically tend to see first is 11, 11. They may, they may give you some clues as to what, , what, what type of shift is happening in your life and maybe what you need to do, what you need to pay attention to.

You may receive repeated messages about something.  If you're going through a stressful period in your life, You may continue to hear the same message. You may hear it from somebody. You may turn on the TV and maybe they're talking about it. You may be in the car, listening to the radio and the same message comes across.

You may stumble upon a book. You may hear the same message from multiple people. I know for me, if I hear something three times, That's confirmation for me, when I was going through my initial period of awakening, I was in a very stressful work situation and I kept getting the message. You need to leave your job.

You need to leave your job. You need to leave your job. And I was thinking to myself, well, I need to find another job before I leave this job. I can't just up and quit my job.  I kept getting that same message until I finally left the job.  You may get things like that. You may have weird situations or run into peep run-ins with people, and it just seems like all of the stars aligned for that moment to happen.

Like there's all these crazy coincidence and everything just kind of falls into place. That's definitely a sign that spirit or the universe or whatever your reference point is. It could be God or whomever. It is that you have accepted into your life is working in your favor.  If you are experiencing those kinds of things, you probably are experiencing a spiritual awakening.

Another one that I didn't talk about was dreaming. You may start suddenly having vivid dreams and seeing things hearing things in those dreams that are giving you clues about maybe next steps or maybe you're replaying things that have happened in the past, but dreams are also another sign. Vivid dreams are also another sign that you may be experiencing a spiritual awakening.

 Just to give you all some background about my particular journey, and I'm often asked by people because I'm very open about my practices. To the extent that I can be. And just spirituality in general, I'm always an open book. If people have questions, I will share whatever information I have. What my experience was like.

 Spiritual awakening happened for me. I would say. In my late twenties, I'm looking back at it. Now I started, , kind of questioning things around 25, which a lot of people actually talk about having a quarter life crisis. I remember being 25 and being in grad school and actually reading a book, I believe it was called quarter-life crisis, but just basically re-evaluating and finally feeling like I've come into adulthood and trying to figure out what that looked like for.

And then as I got closer to 30 things really started to ramp up around, I would say my Saturn return and I really, really began to question what was happening. I was married. I was newly married. I was exp. And what brought me to spirituality actually. Unexplained medical issues. I've been in spaces, , quite often, especially spirituality spaces and folks ask, well, what, what brought you?

What led you here? What brought you to this path? And I know a lot of folks would mentioned it was a death of a loved one.  Maybe it was a parent, a sibling, a child, maybe there was a miscarriage and a baby was lost or something like that happened. There was a traumatic situation and they just felt all of a sudden call.

, to gain a better understanding of what was happening in their life. But for me, it was chronic unexplained illness. I was always the type of person growing up where I never got sick. I never missedschool. I never went to the doctor, never had any medical issues. And now here I am knocking on 30 and feeling like I'm falling apart.

And  I'm having those headaches. I'm having crazy body pain. I'm not sleeping. At night, but then I'm crashing during the day. My ears are ringing, , all these weird things I'm breaking out and hide and splotches all over my body. I'm allergic to stuff. All of a sudden, that's another thing that can possibly happen.

 You may suddenly feel led to change your diet as well, and maybe eat more healthy things, drink more water. Sometimes that's a sign for people as well. They may decide to eliminate certain foods, maybe go vegan, go vegetarian. That's a sign that I didn't mention a moment ago. That often comes up, but suddenly having all these weird medical issues and then going to the doctor and either they can't figure out what it is or they're not finding anything.

And it ended up leading to me being diagnosed with a chronic illness later on that is considered a disability and invisible disability and basically changing the trajectory of my life, which really caused me to delve full force into this whole awakening spirituality thing.  I'm having all these weird medical issues.

I'm working ata job. My job is stressful. I'm not happy in that situation. , things are a mess . I'm married, , we're going through some things. And on top of all of that, I'm not feeling well. I'm not feeling well. And I don't know why I'm exhausted. I'm drained. As I mentioned before, the easiest way for me to describe it was soul weariness.

Like I was just  tired of everybody and everything. I was just  exhausted. And I'm trying to figure out, well, what the heck is going on with me? Why do I feel like this?  I've tried the. Now we're trying therapy.  Talking to a therapist and trying to, , figure out why I'm  stressed out about this job and everything else that's going on.

And  now I'm seeking answers and guidance.  The first place I went back to. waschurch I was raised in church. Christian Baptists. My family went to a prominent church here in Baltimore, in the city. It was one of the first kind of mega churches of its time. In the early nineties. I went to church every Sunday.

My family went to church every Sunday as a group, we went to church, we did our grocery shopping. We went home, cooked a big meal. And then werelaxed for the rest of the day. Our church did not have Sunday school, but we have what was called Saturday church school. My parents made me go to that and all the way up until I was in college, I went to church pretty much every Sunday.

We did not miss a Sunday. And I'll be honest with you. Church never resonated with me. I was Christian, , when I was very small, but I never went back and got baptized. My brother did, but I did not. I would go to church and just sit on a pew and just not be moved at all. And it could have just been our particular church.

Wasn't a good fit for me, but that was where I went back.  I'm going back to church on Sundays and I'm trying to get this message and it's just. Resonating. I'm not feeling it. I'm not getting anything out of it. Okay.  Maybe it's not that church.  I tried another church in my area that seems better.

I started like going online and listening to sermons. If I couldn't get to church on a Sunday, I was listening to sermons from this other church. Just trying to listen and get a good word.  I started, I went back to listening to podcasts. I started watching YouTube videos. I just felt like my soul needed to be fed.

 I began to seek guidance. And just trying new things and trying to connect with like-minded individuals.  A friends of mine that I went to middle school with, she was hosting. She began to host a conscious book club.  I went to the book club. I caught up with her. I've always been an avid reader.

, we exchanged books and she had speakers come and there was some very great discussion there. And it kind of changed my perspective on a lot of things. And I ended up having. She had a priest and a religion with African traditional religion on this. If I come and give readings, I had my first reading there.

And that is what kind of catapulted me into African traditional religion. I remember having my first reading with this gentleman who was a Babalawo and he read my entire life. And in that one reading, I gained  many answers about why did what I did and what I needed to do moving forward. And he prompted me to set up an ancestor altar.

He explained how to do it. And from there, I pretty much dived into Africa. Diasporic traditional religious practices. Many of the things that, , as black people, especially in the U S a lot of the traditions that we all know, there are things that, , we would. All find that we do collectively, that would be in alignment with Hoodoo to, or other traditions.

And we think of them as just part of, , our way of life. But that was really what led me through spirituality. I just was not feeling well. I was going through a stressful period in my life  I began to seek answers and I connected with the right people at the right time, , connecting with the young lady.

who was hosting the book club who connected me with other like-minded folks who connected me with this gentleman who was the Babalawo and was able to give me the reading. Then I just continued to go from there and I read books  I would find events in my city and I took classes and I ended up buying a ticket to this convention called Dawtas of the Moon.

 it was for black women and those types of practices. They had people there representing all different types of African diasporic, traditional practices.  I found this event on Facebook. I bought a ticket. And I went, I didn't know anybody there. I didn't know anybody that was going, I didn't tell anybody I was going, but I took that Friday off of work.

It was a weekend event and I went and I met a lot of scholars. I met a lot of, , esteemed elders and practitioners in each one of those religions. There were classes. There were vendors, , they had different events for us to go to. And I learned  that weekend.  I finally felt like I had fit into the.

right place.  That was pretty much what brought me to spirituality. And from there,  I continued to connect with like-minded individuals. I continue to study and read books and take classes, , from some of those practitioners that I met there at that particular event.  What's that saying that when the student is ready, the teacher appears.

 That was definitely how I felt, , I stumbled onto  what seemed to be random convention on Facebook and I buy a ticket and then I go there and there's this wealth of information, all of the information that I was looking for. And me now being able to learn and read and decipher and choose, , what was interesting to me, what I felt led to and  on and  forth.

. Some background about me. I am, I am a Hoodoo practitioner or a w worker. Generally I consider myself to be a spiritualist and I'm also an Recia devote T or what we call an avid Resha. My godmother Has a platform online. And then, , she has, we have what we call it ELA, which is our spiritual house.

And I remember meeting her at that particular convention. At that time, I had no idea that I would be joining this particular religion. I had no idea that she would be my godmother, but I remember hearing her speak. And her lecture was about basically the black woman being God and how all, , ancient.

Renditions of God. We're feeding. And how, , it later revolved into different things, but just reaffirming,  what people actually verse didn't study as God, , in ancient times being the black woman and that particular lecture. Oh my goodness. I didn't know this, this, this a woman from a of pain.

I'd never heard of her before. I'd never seen her before. And obviously other people there had, and , were following her and had studied under her. That particular lecture. Oh my goodness. It changed my life. I did not know at the time. That, , she, that I would again, join this religion and she would eventually become my godmother years later.

But when I finally got to that point, even finding out that she was accepting that children, it was one of those stars, aligning moments. I saw the right Facebook posts at the right time, from someone that I knew in my area. And I signed up because I knew that was my son. That that was the right place for me to.

And that's kind of how I ended up where I am now.  If you have felt like you're being led to some sort of higher consciousness, some higher level of awareness in your life, your life is suddenly shifting. You may be experiencing awakening. A lot of people, this happens close to their 30th birthday.

I think 30 is kind of the first big adult age, , where we finally feel like, , you spent your twenties wandering around aimlessly, , and you kind of get to 30 and it's like, I got to be settled in and, and you really don't, but I think, , that number, the three O becomes a huge marker for us in this particular society.

And I F I find, , even in my group of friends, we all kind of approach 30 in this same space of, , Am I where I want to be. Am I going in the right direction? Okay. If I'm not going in the right direction, what direction is that going to be? What do I need to do to get there? I'm reassessing what it is that you want, reaffirming things that , that you want, maybe changing your mind and perspective about things you thought you were.

And maybe now you don't. But we all kind of went through that in our late twenties, getting close to 30 and then folks, , went in their own direction.  Obviously if a church is the right fit for you, whatever type of church that is we'll, then go that direction. If you're feeling pulled to try a different religion then go in that direction.

If you're feeling like you don't want to do any kind of religion. And then go in that direction. But I think the point of the awakening is really to make you pause and think about those things and, , determine what are my values and morals at this point in my life. And what are those things that are deal breakers for me, what's important to me.

Isn't as important to me because those things could have certainly changed as you got to this point in your life, especially if you're just coming off of some kind of traumatic or stressful event, because that may have caused your shift in consciousness that may have caused you to be evaluate things.

I know in the midst of going through all of this and being diagnosed with a chronic illness, I will do a separate episode about that because that's really part of what led me to begin this podcast in the first place. It changed the whole trajectory of my life because now I am disabled and, , I'm having issues with daily activities of living and having to reassess, , my, the goals that I thought I had for my career and the goals that I thought I have for my family and how things worked in my marriage at the time.

But basically, , awakening is really. Re-evaluating , everything in your life and, , determining are you happy with those things? And if there are things that you are unhappy about, what are those things, and if you are unhappy about something, how to change it.  I know that was a mouthful, but that is really what brought me to where I am.

Now. I'm at a space of peace. , having to go through all of those experiences, dealing with, , my home life, my family life, my work life, my spiritual life, my mental health by.

My work being stressful, , my physical health being stressful, , all of those things happening at the same time, I was forced to reassess my entire life. And that was what led me to this particular point of peace and understanding and contentment. And , it just kind of looking back at where I was, , five or six years ago and where I am now.

It almost feels like, , a burden has been lifted and OSI of relief because I am in a much more comfortable space with myself and my life. And that's not to say that there won't be obstacles and that you won't have moments where it is tough because there's, this journey is not going to be easy.

And most people who are spiritual is whatever path is they're in. We'll tell you. I did not choose this life. This life chose me because when they went through this shift, their whole life was turned upside down because they were reassessing and reevaluate being forced to reassess and reevaluate things and see things from a way that, , maybe they never even knew existed or even thought of, but just know that you're going to have to.

Do the work and we'll have another episode, another episode talking about what exactly that means, what it means to do the work. And just know that while you may be in a weird space right now, and feeling lost and confused, , and you're going through, you're beginning your awakening or you're in the middle of your awakening.

Just know that it will all be right. You are choosing yourself, this is happening  that you can enhance your life and live the life that you want to live, but you must destroy your old life to make way that the new one, , okay.  You feel like, okay, now I'm awakening. Okay. ,  what do I do now?  I talked about some of the things that I did and I was just kind of wandering around and.

But I figured it out and I found folks who could help me.  Some things that you may want to do just lean into it, go with the flow, roll with it. Trust your intuition again, listen to things that are coming up repeatedly. Things that are becoming patterns, signs in synchronous.  Think about, like for me, I kept getting, I was in this stressful job.

I had moved to a new department because the department that I was in, they got rid of, and it was a brand new job. It was a brand new department for the company. They had just moved this department here from New York. And I was the only person in my role. It's not like,  how you start a job and , you're in training and maybe you shadow with someone and they show you how to do the job.

There was nobody in my job. I was the only person on my team. In Baltimore. My manager said in New York, there were no policies and procedures to refer back to. , I met my manager one time and I think that was after I had been in the job probably six months. I was only in that role for about a year before I left.

But I kept getting the message. You need to leave your job and use, leave your job. You need to leave your job. It was from a therapist. It was from my doctor. It was from my parents. It was from my friends and family. It was, , just from everywhere. It was like, you need to leave your job. And I remember I kept fighting it because I'm like, I can do this job.

I'm going to figure this out. , I'm not going to leave. And then it got to the point where, okay, well maybe I do need to leave, but I got to find something else first. But I kept getting that message. You need to leave your job. And I kept getting sick and I had to take time off and things just were not going well at all.

And eventually, because I dragged my feet too long, the job left me. I would just say like that. I did, , I was compensated for that. But the job left me and it felt like a burden had been lifted when it happened. And it happened seamlessly. , I found out and I had time to transition it.

Wasn't just somebody called me in the office and that was it. But the job left me and I could not have been happier. At that time.  Just lean into it and listen to your intuition, pay attention to things that are popping up. We talked about those repeating numbers. You don't look those up and see, , well, what, what does 3, 3, 3 mean?

Why am I still seeing 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 is my number. I happened to be born on March the third.  That was a number that I kept seeing popping up, , around the time I was going through this stuff. And I'm like, what the heck? Why do I keep seeing 3, 3, 3? What does that mean? If somebody's trying to contact.

 I started to look into that seek guidance from a trusted elder or advisor.  That could be, , if you go to church, maybe that's the pastor. It could be a therapist. I highly suggest if you aren't have not sought out therapy for the things that you're dealing with, especially if this change is being brought on by some sort of stressful or traumatic event, go to their.

If you are not able, maybe your job or your insurance or you can't, , you may have to pay out of pocket or something like that. Look for other resources. There are therapists that offer services on a sliding fee scale. Maybe your job has some resources. Maybe they have EAP or through your health insurance.

They have some other resources of counseling you can use. Maybe check if you go to church or somewhere like that, maybe they have counseling services. I know my first experience with a therapist was in school. I was in grad school and I was very stressed out and trying to juggle everything that I had going on.

I was planning a wedding and I was working and I was taking grad school classes and I had all this stuff going on and the school actually offered five free sessions with a therapist on campus for students every semester. And I remember going, and it was like the end of this semester. But having a few meetings with that therapist, just to try to narrow down what was going on with me and what steps we could take to make things more manageable.

That was very helpful for me.  That was my first experience with a therapist. It was through my school and it was free as a student. I didn't have to pay for that. If maybe you can't do one-on-one services, maybe seeking some sort of. Support group or something like that. There may be options online that are free.

I know something that I did during that period of time when I was really stressed out and I was home sick. I was out in and out on disability before I left my job because I wasn't doing well. I found a therapeutic writing group in my city. Again, it was something that popped up on Facebook. They used to meet on Tuesday.

At six o'clock at this particular coworking space in town it's called, it was called writing for my sanity. It's hosted by a young lady named Melanie hill. I can put that information in the show notes if you're interested because it's now on zoom due to COVID, but I just randomly went to this writing class and I thought I was going to, , write a book or a journal or something, and it ended up being more like, Therapeutic support group.

And I continue to go there every single Tuesday, as long as I could. And that was very helpful for me. And it was free. You just, I think at the time you just had to sign up and let her know you were coming, but eventually people just started showing up. If that's something you're interested in, again, I can put the information in the show notes because it is on zoom and it's still free, but.

The hours and things have changed.  Seek out guidance. If that's a therapist or religious advisor, a spiritual advisor, maybe a family member that you feel comfortable talking to, maybe a friend you feel comfortable talking to. But really just finding community.  For me, that therapeutic writing class was community.

I found myself going to different workshops and things in my city. Sometimes they were online just about different topics. Like I went to that convention, ,  finding community and like-minded individuals around the topics that you are interested in. , , maybe you want to do yoga, go to a yoga class, if you can.

And this, this, this COVID state that might not be possible, but maybe there's a yoga class on zoom or something. But finding community and finding like-minded individuals who you can have these kinds of discussions with, maybe you all can share resources and tips and trips, trips. Some other things you may want to do get outside in nature, move your body.

 That may be going on. Nature walks that may be doing yoga. That may be going to the beach. That may be, I know I used to just lay in the patio chair on my deck at my house, in the sun when I wasn't doing well, because that made me physically feel better. Go for a walk, maybe walk around your neighborhood.

Get some exercise, , exercise helps us always to feel better. Even if we aren't doing well, , maybe just getting some fresh air may be helpful to you. Do some research.  If you find yourself being led to a particular path recent books there are plenty of books on Amazon. I know one of the books that's always recommended for folks.

I remember my friend, the one who had the book club recommended this book, the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I remember reading the alchemists and middle school and then reading it as an adult. It was definitely. A different experience.  That's definitely one of those kind of new age spirituality books.

That's the one I see recommended the most before agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz is one that often comes up. I remember by ordering a book from Amazon, I believe it was called mindfulness in plain English. That was one of, kind of the first books I ordered when I was trying to figure out what was going on.

If the Bible helps you read the Bible if you were interested in certain religious paths that you feel led or drawn to those, , there may be books about those particular topics, if you're not sure what kind of books to order from Amazon, maybe just go to Barnes and noble and check out the, the spirituality section and see what books tick, tickle your fancy.

Or if there's a local bookstore, I know there's a bookstore here in town. A black bookstore that I like to go to. They always had the best books and I would see books there. I never knew existed or would have never known the search for on Amazon.  Going there and kind of rating their shelves, , I found some gems doing that begin journaling.

 You're experiencing all these weird things at the same time journal about your experience. The one cool thing about journaling is, , Journaling. And I'm going to do a separate episode about, , the benefits of journaling, but journaling helps you to get your thoughts out on paper. , maybe you don't feel comfortable talking to anybody about what it is that's happening, but you can tell your.

And also the cool thing about journaling is if you keep those journals, you can go back and read them, , at a later date and see how you were feeling at that time, which you were thinking at that time, what things were bothering you at that time. And you can look and see, , compare to where you are.

 Where you are now and you can see growth and you can see change. I remember stumbling upon one of my journals, not too long ago from when I was going through that stressful time with my job, everybody used to take the train to work, and I used to journal on the subway. I just seem to be in a really low place of desperation and despair.

And I was stressed out and just, just reading, we reading those entries just made me anxious and it also made me grateful that I am no longer in that kind of space.  Journaling is a good one. Maybe if you're not a reader, maybe listening to podcasts, that was something that I. Maybe looking for classes.

Now, , in the age of COVID, a lot of things are online or on zoom, but maybe finding some classes or workshops that may be you may feel helpful or be in alignment with what it is that you're interested in now or where you're going, maybe watching some YouTube channels. I know there are quite a few YouTube channels that I liked.

I think one of the ones that I watched a lot in the beginning, the gentleman's name is S Ali Myers really liked his channel. I'm trying to think. Who else? There's another one, Ralph. I believe the gentleman's name is Ralph, I think is Ralph smart. I know he and I share a birthday. But he posts like inspirational messages.

, even if it's just watching Oprah's YouTube channel or Deepak Chopra, or, , those types of videos, , that are uplifting and, , related to spirituality and self-help, and that type of thing, , going into a bunch of videos of reading books, isn't your thing. But just try to, , if you're seeking answers, , go, go off and find set answers and, and, , don't sit and wallow over.

Have you done in being lost in self pity and whatever else it is. The last thing I think I'm wanting to mention as far as what to do now, It's just take good care of yourself. If you don't have a self care regimen or you haven't been able, or you aren't able, , weren't, haven't been able to take good care of yourself, take good care of yourself, try to go to bed and get rest.

, I know sometimes our schedules are crazy and we're all over the place. I think one of the things that COVID has led us to do is, , really to slow down because, , we were all kind of stuck in a house with nowhere to go. And go to bed at a reasonable. Drink your water, maybe, , take a look at your diet and see if there are things that are bothering you.

I know caffeine is a big trigger for me. And when I was really stressed, I would have anxiety attacks and I would deal with that sensory overload. I had to learn that caffeine was a trigger for that. I can not drink drinks with espresso in them.  Maybe reassessing your diet. You may also feel like, , you want to eat more healthy and whole foods.

, you may want to remove certain things from your diet, especially if you are like, I was at the time experiencing medical issues, , that may be a conversation you need to have with your doctor about, , what's best for you. In that regard, , make sure you're seeing your doctor and you're, you're getting your blood work done and seeing, and making sure that there's not anything else wrong.

 I talked about having physical symptoms. , and going to the doctor and I ultimately was diagnosed with something that was happening simultaneously, but when you want to make sure that there's not something else going on.  If you haven't been to the doctor regularly, if you haven't had a physical or checkup for any of those types of things, Go to the doctor and get checked out.

If you need to relax when you get home and take a bath, take a bath, , do yoga. If that works for you, some other sort of exercise, but take good care of yourself, carve out time for yourself, even if it's just an hour, a day, 30 minutes in the morning, 30 minutes in the evening, just to sit because something else you're going to want to do during this process is you're going to want to meditate.

You're going to want to. And meditate. Even if it just means sitting quietly for five minutes, , and just listening, thinking, well, trying not to think about things usually if you're trying to quietly meditate, but just listening, , for answers, you also want to, if you don't have a practice of prayer, pray, if you're lost and you're feeling confused, pray for direction, pray for guidance.

Ask for clarity, , asked to be connected with those individuals who can assist you in this process. , as I mentioned before that saying, when the student is ready, the teacher will appear, you will meet the people you need to meet. You will bump into the people you need to bump into to gather the information that you need.

You may have things pop up, , events pop up on Facebook, or people invite you to something, and then you get there. And you're like, oh, I really was supposed to be here. You will find the information you need, but you just please don't sit on your hands and do nothing because that's going to frustrate you even more.

If there are things in your life that , you're now reassessing and you are unhappy with think about, , what things you need to do to change those. If there are things that you need to release really. Journal about the things that you need to release, take the sex that you need to take to move in that direction.

But above all, just know that this is a journey you're not going to wake up tomorrow and suddenly be enlightened to know everything that you need to know. , none of us were going on anything, but just know that this is happening for your good. You're wakening. Boom. I wonder if that's where that joke about, , w let me not say that that's where that whole phrase about being woke.

, people are woke. I wonder if that's where that comes from, , the whole idea of awakening but just know that this is for your highest. And if you are going through this process, and now you're wanting to learn more about it and, , figure out what it is you need to do to move it along.

Just know that you are choosing yourself, you are choosing to enhance your life  that you can achieve the goals that you've set, or maybe you haven't set goals. And now you need to set some, or maybe those goals that you set changed, but you're going through this process  that you can hear.  That you can elevate and  you can become the best version of yourself.

 Thank you  much for listening. This is my very first episode,  hopefully I didn't sound like I was rambling too much, but that wraps up basically, are you experiencing a spiritual awakening? We talked about signs and symptoms that that may be happening. I shared some of my experience that led me to, , now being a spiritualist a re worker at a Resha devote T and I'll go into more detail in different episodes about those particular things, to the extent that I can.

And also, if you feel like you're in this space of awakening things you can do or things you should do  that, , you can continue and move through the.  Again, thank you all for listening and remember that you were in control.  Something I want to do is leave you off with an affirmation at the end of every episode.