In Praise of Simplifying Your Spiritual Practice

I woke up this morning with an epiphany. Like many other human beings, I tend to overcomplicate simple things. Especially when it comes to my healing. For the last seven years, I’ve been really serious about my spiritual practice and have applied a considerably high level of intensity to it. Whether it’s my morning journaling sessions, EFT rounds, Solfeggio frequency meditations, or constantly re-patterning my thoughts throughout the day, I am pretty much always “working” on myself.

However, I recently began to notice some interesting somatic reactions when I start up my practices these days. When I begin…whatever it is, I notice myself tensing up, withdrawing, and just generally feeling icky in response to my behavior.

So what gives? How could something that supported me for so long all of a sudden just not be working? Is it possible that I’ve OD’ed on healing? Is there such a thing as too much of a good thing when it comes to self-improvement?

So, instead of picking at myself this morning and trying to figure out what pathology needed my attention, I instead took some time to consider letting go of the hustle-y try-hard energy of healing.

When we operate at high-speed in our work or everyday tasks, it can be easy to apply that same velocity and intensity to our healing practice. Even if you don’t operate that way consciously, it’s easy to unconsciously slip into old habits when they're deeply embedded.

Our healing practice can be a convenient place for this mentality to surface if we struggle with feelings of "not enoughness" or have perhaps done work in eradicating it elsewhere. The eternal scroll of self-improvement content on social media doesn’t exactly help either.

So how am I shifting?

These are the reminders that came through today:

-Try not to put so much mental energy into how things are unfolding in your life

-Instead, put more faith in the universe that all is being worked out behind the scenes

-There's almost always going to be something going on in the background of your life that needs to be "worked out," or some area that requires growth. Even if it's minuscule, we're still human. Your task now is to learn to let these processes happen without needing to lean too deep in with your magnifying glass and micro-managing

-Allow spirit to co-heal with you. Your guides, guardian angels, higher self, and pure love can transmute many things quicker and more easily than you can alone.

-Your subconscious and your own innate capacity to return to internal balance are also very powerful. This happens without the mind’s intervention, so it’s safe to just let some things fix themselves.

-Play, creativity, and rest can also be powerful healing practices.

I feel it’s important to add that we’re all at different points in our journey. You may be at a place where discipline, focus, a lot of attention, and consistency are indeed serving you on your path —and that’s perfectly fine. However, for those who are feeling fatigued and notice that their body and energy are not responding positively (or just not responding the way they used to) to their spiritual practice, there may need to be a reassessment. Balance and discernment are always needed, so trust your body and do what’s best for you.

I really hope these musings serve you in your journey forward. Sending so much love, joy, and ease your way.