The deeper you go, the harder it gets, but there are rewards for being one of the brave ones.
My chakras have been cleared, I’ve sat still long enough that my kid asked me if I was okay, I’ve put crystals in places on my body some people have never seen, I’ve journaled so hard I’ve given myself tendonitis, I’ve had mystical coaches and the best business courses, released my money blocks and tapped and forgiven until the cows came home. So why does living my purpose have to feel so hard?
If you’re like me then you’ve been on a spiritual journey, whatever that means. Yes, I’m being sarcastic, because at some point even I was getting a little too serious about “the path.” Awareness is the key, but at some point, you have to wake up to the fact that you’re chasing your own tail. (I love when my dog does that – it’s so amusing). I assume I look pretty amusing to most people watching me over the last couple years too.
I asked a fellow spiritual traveler the other day, “If God meant for us to live our purpose and really feel the joy, then why does this all seem so hard?” She said, “Good question.” And I knew I wasn’t the only one struggling with why this particular choice of lifestyle, the one we call “higher-self guided” and world-changing, seems like dragging ourselves and the kitchen sink through the mud.
I asked another question of a healer colleague of mine last week, “Why does it seem like the more still I get, the more I quiet down, meditate and connect with my inner self, the louder the voices get?” I thought he had a great answer, “Nobody promised this was going to be easy,” “The deeper you go, the harder it gets, but there are rewards for being one of the brave ones.”
I know what he’s talking about, but still, to have the journey get more difficult wasn’t what I’d expected. I figured at some point there’d be ease, freedom, and cash flow. But who ever said being on a spiritual journey was a path to financial abundance anyhow? Is it because we’re all so used to seeing Facebook posts about what clearing your money blocks can do for you and how to manifest like a boss? Did we think that being spiritual would lead to winning the lottery?
No.
And it won’t lead to ease or freedom either … unless, you can see, hear and feel the magical gifts you get for doing the hard work on that path. You can have all the things you desire, but you can’t sit around and get stuck on the path itself. Even a spiritual path has a way of creating a blackout when you spend too much time doing what everyone else tells you and not enough time shining your own light.
There are gifts if we can see them. The countless serendipitous moments, the “good timing” of things, the small wins. We’ve got to focus on them. We’ve got to be willing to keep cleaning the dirt off of the light that shines on them. And therein lies the spiritual journey. You’ve got to be brave enough to continue to shovel dirt; to want to do that, even though you might find shit, or bones, or whatever else you find in the middle of the dirt.
When the light shines through it’s brilliant, and raspberry pink for me lately. It makes me smile, believe, and continue to shovel. Then when I forget to eat, sleep, or feed the dogs (or the children), I have to wake up and remember that eating, sleeping and feeding the dogs is all part of the path. No task is unworthy of my attention and focus, even laundry. Now I’m not telling you that you can’t delegate. My kids are great at the laundry now.
Point is that the spiritual path can get you tied up and put you back to sleep again. You must laugh. You must eat. You must breathe. You must shower and feed people. You must write and sing and dance, and do your thing. Use your passion and enthusiasm for the journey and create a world around you that’s nourishing, even when you’re actually shoveling shit.
Take some of those amazing tools you learned from your abundance, mystical, crystal, chakra, spiritual business and forgiveness courses and go make it happen. Do what you already know you need to do to create the reality you crave. Stop procrastinating and talking about the path, and go shovel dirt.
Okay, I’m off to shovel now. Last time I uncovered a huge treasure – the people I was born to serve. Yes, that kind of big stuff lies under the dirt. Shoveling is going to be messy, difficult, gross, scary and impossible.
Go shovel anyway because it is you, my brave healer, that will uncover the gifts while the rest take the easy route and wonder why they feel resentful and disappointed most of the time.
It is about the joy. It’s just under the dirt. Go play in the mud.
– Laura
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Laura Di Franco, MPT is an intuitive writing strategist, holistic physical therapist, published author, poet and third-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do with over two decades of experience in healing. She teaches transformational tools and powerful strategy for nourishing and inspiring your fiercely alive whole self. Learn more about Laura on her website.
