Variations in Openness
Many teachers and thought provokers talk about how spiritual awakening feels like 5 steps forward and 3 steps backward. One of the possible reasons for this includes the degree of openness we feel, which seems to be an almost random variable. There are days when we have so many downloads, and being loving towards ourselves and others seems effortless. Those who have developed a great deal of body awareness can almost feel an open channel running through the center of their body and excessive energy.
Some claim that for women, there is a correlation between this and the menstrual cycle but I’m not completely sure about that.
In this golden period, we tend to integrate a lot of spiritual knowledge on a deep intuitive level. Some things we had previously read suddenly seem to make sense in a totally different way. Apart from that, it’s almost like the divine gives us brand new information and we receive more insights about the direction in which to take our life. We can feel our nervous system going through a major upgrade as well.
However, this seems to fade after a few days, and we may begin to question whether all of those gifts and insights are gone. But upon careful observation, we notice that the integration has impacted us in a subtle yet profound way and given us a beautiful upgrade which we realize in due course. We have shifted closer in alignment to our soul, closer to our dharma. It is this that makes us realize how life’s slowdowns that are sometimes imposed upon us against our will are actually some of the greatest gifts that it gives us.
As life progresses, we seem to close down a bit again and ego seems to take over. Dissolving resistance that arises in the mind and body becomes a bit exhausting once again. It is when presented with a challenge that we notice that there is indeed a difference since we respond very differently. We don’t allow the challenge to carry us away completely. It starts to become easier and easier to remember to stay as the observer of the experience, rather than get sucked into the experience itself.
