The Journey Begins
A spiritual awakening is serious business. Once activated, the journey is lifelong. Mine started in 2020 when I moved back to my home in the United States after living in Japan for almost ten years. I moved back when the world figured out what COVID was. I lost family members, had some very frightening experiences, and my world came tumbling and crumbling down at the speed of light.
At the time I thought my life was over. I was ready to give up on the journey. I’d left the most beautiful place I’d ever lived, left my friends and chosen family, left the best job I’d ever had, my community, my safe space and moved to a tiny town of 3500 people in the US where a lot of entitlement, racism, overindulgence, judgmental culture and “attaboy clubs” existed. I had no friends, no job, no roots…nothing that connected me to my identity. Because of the military life, my time in Japan was over and I came back to the states kicking and screaming. Toddler fits had nothing on me. The moment I touched down in the local airport, I knew some massive life shift was brewing for me. I just didn’t know what.
Little did I know that the experience of moving back to the states and being placed in the exact location that I was, would be the biggest turning point in my human timeline thus far.
My heart, mind and body were so disoriented for the first 6-8 months. Within the year, my spiritual awakening activated following extreme traumatic events. Since then, I’ve been balancing living in dense Earth energy and flying through dimensional spaces that we can’t see with our human side but absolutely travel to with our higher self.
What Is the Higher Self, Really?
Maybe you’ve heard this term before, but if you haven’t: The higher self is that inner voice in the back of our mind, it’s the gut feeling, the “Spidey sense”. Our higher self is the energetic body that doesn’t just live within us but expands far beyond our physical existence. It’s our soul as some like to call it. We carry this energy for eternity. We ARE the energy and as science has proven, energy can only be dispersed or changed but never destroyed. Our higher self has lived a very long time and KNOWS exactly what to do in every situation, guides us when our ego interferes and protects us when we sleep.
The higher self understands what total and complete alignment looks and feels like, what true peace is and most importantly, feels true unconditional love.
During the activation of my spiritual awakening, my higher self, along with my angels and ancestors showed me what this feels like and let me tell you — there are no words that humans have created to yet describe the actual feeling of unconditional love.
Integration Is the Goal, Not Escape
Once you experience a spiritual awakening you see the world for what it is. Any blinders you had on before are removed. Those rose colored glasses? Removed! Colors are bright, senses are more activated, and you truly live on a day-to-day basis with more clarity. Sounds like a great deal, right? Well, yes, it is. However, it’s so important to mention that contrast exists in our world. We can’t have the good without the bad. We can’t have light without dark or alignment without misalignment. So, when we begin to awaken (which is a beautiful thing), we also can (and do) experience the really difficult parts of it all too. There is a balance within the universe and this is law.
When we are gifted with this awakening, the knowledge and clarity we have can sometimes be too much for us to handle. Sometimes it’s easier to use our gift to escape the reality of the human journey.
Spiritual growth often brings a strong desire to stay in the "higher" state of feeling connected, peaceful and highly intuitive. But spiritual development isn’t about abandoning your human life, to live in this higher state of consciousness all of the time. It’s about learning how to bring that sense of awareness into your everyday experiences as a human. We came to this planet to journey as a human, gain experience and expand our soul’s knowledge.
There’s a difference between ascension and avoidance. Ascension equates to growing and evolving; avoidance happens when we use spirituality to escape the uncomfortable emotions or responsibilities. A good example of this could be, meditating all day to ignore a tough conversation you need to have with someone, or avoid paying your bills. Why would this happen? Because it's easier than dealing with conflict, and this can actually be a sign of imbalance.
The human experience is vital to personal and spiritual growth. Everyday tasks, relationships, and even moments of stress or sadness are all part of the process. Learning how to be present in these situations while still staying connected to your values and intuition is where actual integration happens. That’s the goal! Integration.
You don’t need to separate your spiritual life from your human life. They’re not meant to compete, nor are they meant to be lived individually. They’re meant to work together.
Your Higher Self Doesn’t Want You to Float Away
There’s often this idea that your “higher self” is some perfect, untouchable version of you. But in reality, your higher self is still you just more aligned, self-aware, intuitive and intentional.
You’re not here by mistake. The life you have, the challenges you face, and even the roles you hold (like being a parent, a partner, or a professional) are all part of what your higher self chose to journey through long before you even came to live this life.
Avoiding (what I call) 3D problems or waiting for life to be perfect before you engage fully isn't the goal. Growth often happens when we experience discomfort that feels expansive. Your higher self doesn’t want you to bypass life, it wants you to live it with intention.
Being aligned doesn’t mean being flawless. It means being willing to show up, learn, and take responsibility.
Practical Tools for Finding Balance
Here are a few simple, practical ways to stay grounded while continuing your spiritual growth:
Grounding Habits
Spend time doing physical activities that connect you to the present moment like walking outside, stretching, cooking, or doing chores without distraction. This is where you can come back to your body and help regulate your nervous system.Use A Mix of Logic and Intuition
It’s not one or the other. If you feel called to something intuitively, write it down but also look at the facts. Make decisions with both your higher knowing and practical reasoning.Let Yourself Feel Emotions
Being spiritual doesn’t mean you have to be calm and happy all the time. Emotions like frustration, sadness, or anger are part of being human. Honor and acknowledge them. Don’t judge yourself for having them. That’s emotional maturity, and it greatly supports spiritual growth.Create Structure Around Spiritual Practices
Try starting or ending your day with a short breathing exercise, journaling or a review of your calendar. Little rituals like this help link your higher self with your external responsibilities.
Balance comes from having consistent practices that support both your spiritual mindset and your daily life.
There will always be days when you either feel connected to higher dimensions, or days when you are feeling the impact of the dense energy around you. There will be days when you experience both of these at the same time. We aren’t limited to our existence and energy remaining in one specific dimension. When you are spiritually awake you may be living in multiple dimensions, all at once.
Just remember that whatever the experience is for you, it’s all ok! The key is to not strive to live in one space more than the other, but really find the balance where you can integrate and marry both experiences on a daily basis.
You can be grounded and growing. You can trust your intuition and still use common sense. You can be human and still be on the right path spiritually.
Create simple routines. Leave space for reflection. Don’t overthink the process. This is a long-term lifestyle shift and once you wake up, you never go back to sleep. It’s a true gift.
With Love and Light,
Sarah A. Whitman, M. Ed.
Emjayanm.com | Pinterest.com/emjayanm
Thank you Note : Music by Arthur Peterson @ Pixabay
Share this post