Hello, beautiful soul, and welcome to our blog!
Whether you are coming from our Podcast or you just so happened to stumble upon us, we are so happy to have you!
Anew View is a Spiritual Growth Podcast for the modern age. In this space we talk about self-love and self-care, both spiritually and mentally, in order to become the best versions of ourselves. Not only just for ourselves, either, but for the collective as well!
In Episode 1 Amanda walks you through how to start your Spiritual journey and how to know when you are ready start it, while Faith explains how staying present is such an integral part of the process. Self-love and self-care practices are put into place as we begin this journey together.
When people talk about going on a “Spiritual Journey”, a lot of the time we get confused on what that actually means. The beauty about this, though, is that it looks different for everybody. The definition of Spirituality is: The quality of being concerned with the human Spirit or Soul as opposed to material or physical things. Simply put, by going on this journey you are coming home to your body, coming home to your spirit and letting go of the things that do not serve you anymore.
So how do you know if you’re ready? There are key signs, key indicators if you will, that you’ll start to notice as you begin this journey. The first is that you will notice a “shift” or change in your mindset. You’ve reached a point where the things you’ve been taught, the things you’ve come to know are starting to not sit quite right with you anymore. Maybe you just don't agree with the same teachings, your view points don't match, or you find yourself reacting in a different way. What happened? Why, all of a sudden, do you feel this way? You're beginning to disconnect. You are beginning to separate from the old because your Spirit is craving something new. While this is happening you're going to notice physical changes in your body. You start to daydream more often, dissociate, your mind goes a little bit blank. It's almost like you're having an out-of-body experience even if you're wide awake! This is called being in between states of consciousness. You are beginning to ascend from your 3-Dimensional reality to your 4-Dimensional reality. Which I know what you're thinking: "What the heck does that mean??" It means that the life you've come to know, the life you've grown to just be comfortable and complacent with, is about to change. The terms "3D, 4D, 5D", are used to acknowledge each of your "level-ups" in this growth process.
Now that you've started to feel disconnected, you're going to find yourself asking a lot of questions. The reason for that is because you are trying to make sense of the teachings you've been brought up on. These questions can go from the simple: "Well what does that really mean", to the more intricate: "Who am I really talking to when I pray?" Now don't get me wrong, these are very big questions and can seem scary. Is one really ever ready to have those questions answered? Isn't it just easier to play it safe and live by the "ignorance is bliss" construct? When we get to the core of our being, we know there is much more to be seen or understood than what we've been taught. These questions are normal. If they frighten you, that's okay! That doesn't mean that you shouldn't explore them, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't move forward. This is a major part of it. Once these questions have been asked your body is going to naturally want to elevate into a more Spiritual space but it can't if you fight it. If you fight it, you're going to feel it. You might start to get headaches out of nowhere, maybe you start to feel more tired or lethargic during the day. Your physical body is going to react to what is going on in your head, good or bad. Just like fighting against a tide, your body is going to get tired. So why not just ride the wave?
So let's say you've decided to ride this wave. You see it through and think: "There is more. There has to be more", and now you're in it! "I'm ready now!" Well, before you dive in all the way, let's take a minute to assess where you're at. You've figured out that you are starting to "awaken" and you feel you are finally ready to take this on but you still don't know where to start. In this journey, all you have is you. You are the catalyst. So before you look outwardly for the answers of your questions, which you will be able to soon, you have to look within first. How do you do that? By looking at yourself in the mirror and asking yourself: "Are you ready? How are you feeling? Are you okay?" You need to assess where you and your Spirit are before addressing anything or anyone else. The biggest question you're going to have to ask yourself is do you love yourself. If you are unable to say yes, start with do you even like yourself? If you still don't know or even if you're answer is 'no', that is where you're going to start. Because when it comes down to it, how do you expect to start any of this if you don't learn to love or like yourself?
Which brings us to the present moment and how having self-love and self-care practices is an integral part of this process. Now, self-love, self-confidence, self-care; all of these are of course attributed to the work you are willing to put into yourself. If you are one to usually put yourself last because you feel looking out for yourself or being there for yourself first is selfish, buckle up! Because this is where we change the narrative that it is "selfish" or "self-centered" to look out for yourself first instead of someone else. Something that is mentioned a lot in this episode is that you have to be the one to do the work because no one else is going to do it for you. And it rings true because you are the one who is experiencing what your Spirit is going through. You're the one who is laying their head to sleep every night. Your Spirit belongs to you and only you.
There are many different forms of self-care; anywhere from sitting down and reading your favorite book, taking a bath, going for a calming walk, etc. All of these are great, sure, but the main idea is to have moments where you commit to yourself. One example, which is a daily practice for both Faith and Amanda, is journaling. This is an excellent outlet, that is because you are giving yourself the opportunity to release anything that is no longer yours to hold onto. There is dialogue between our Soul & our Ego (aka brain) that have back-and-forth discussions on a regular basis in our minds. After awhile, it can get very loud. The Soul or Spirit is the Feminine part of your being, whereas the Ego is the Masculine. As beings we are 50/50. We all have both sides because you cannot have one without the other. Your Ego is the part of you that always has to "do". It always needs to make a move, it always has to take action, it's needy, and it likes to get what it wants. The Spirit and Soul just want to experience. They want to feel all the things and know that things will happen as they should with patience and understanding. So by journaling, you are giving yourself the opportunity to see on paper what that dialogue truly looks like. And the best part is, once it's on that paper it doesn't belong to you anymore. You have allowed yourself to process, allowed yourself to get whatever woes out of your system, and now you get to move on. Doesn't that sound amazing??
As the conscious observer of our thoughts, we have the ability to create our reality. Once we have that level of awareness to recognize this, we are then able to control what comes in and out of our being. We can control our thoughts, we can keep or delete anything we see fit, and we can also create the way in which we choose to experience this life. Do you want to experience life being in constant go-go-go mode and needing to constantly do, or do you want to experience life where you are present and let things flow. The ebb and flow of life happens around you whether you like it or not because we are all energy. We all move at our different paces, we all have our own stories. The key, though, is to not get lost in "what happens next" or focus too much on the future. No one can tell you what is going to happen next and they sure as heck can't pretend like they have everything figured out. How can they? Things always have the ability to change. Moreover, some people get stuck in the past and think "I should've done this better", or "I'm still upset that this happened. I can't let it go." But why? What do you gain by holding on to a fleeting moment whether it was in the past or it's a grab toward the future? What happened in your past is gone. What's in store for the future cannot be grasped if you don't work on it in the present. This is why it is vital in your self-love practices that you are present in the moment and are there for yourself right here, right now.
There is a level of peace that comes with just being in the moment. As your Spiritual journey begins, it will not feel peaceful right away and that's okay! The goal is to reach a level of love and comfortability within yourself to allow yourself to just "be". At the end of each episode, Faith provides a "prompt" for the listeners so they can start to put these tools into practice. The prompt for this episode is: "Why are you not loving yourself enough to let your desires come to you? Why are you not loving yourself enough to spend time with yourself in the present?" If you feel that you have been asking yourself these questions, you've been feeling all of these things; if you feel like you are ready to start your Spiritual Journey, we implore you to give these prompts a try. Ask yourself these questions and see if you can answer them. If you would like to give journaling a try, even better! Use these prompts as your first entry.
You are beautiful. You are worthy. You are Ready.
Blessed be.