Keep Your Spirit In Check: 5 Questions to Ask Yourself
Weaving our way through this journey we call life wouldn’t be something I call an easy task. I would say that it’s comparable to staying in shape, which takes a great deal of will power. However, with the guidance of the enlightened soul and identifying the boundaries of the ego, we are given these gifts by way of life lessons to keep ourselves aligned on a path of spiritual truths.
What is a spiritual truth? The truth is simple, but yet oh-so hard. It is pure love without attachment, without boundaries, and has been spoken since the beginning of time. This beautiful dance with life allows for our spirit to grow, pushing away the attachment of the “egoic mind,” operating out of the space of the “God Mind” or soul. It takes a great deal of courage and self-discipline to align with the truths of our soul. The following are five steps to get you in shape on the spiritual path.
Do I listen?
Have you mastered the art of listening? How much of your day do you truly listen to the world around you? Listening is one of our greatest senses, relaying a significant amount of information to feed our soul, but this tool is becoming endangered as we speak (pun intended).
When we listen closely, the world around us has many messages to deliver. However, in the age of information, we are so distracted and disconnected that we are losing our ability to truly listen. Access your ability to listen by asking yourself a few simple questions. What types of thoughts do you have while in a conversation with a loved one? Are you in a constant state of thought, readying your response instead of being present for the conversation? Do you feel uncomfortable if there is a silent pause in a conversation? Does silence make you feel uncomfortable?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, your listening skills are not as sharp as they could be. A good platform to enhance your listening skills is by spending quiet time in nature, which will restore some primal intuition. Additionally, start by observing your conversations without judgment. Just listen and see where that takes you. Oftentimes awareness is just the remedy to get you back to spiritual health.
Do I chase spirituality?
Are you constantly chasing the idea of a guru or spiritual teacher? I have known many who have “chased” spirituality all over the world, but the truth is already inside of you waiting to be discovered. Spiritual teachers and lessons come in all types of packages, most often in the most unexpected ways. It may not always be the metaphorical cross-legged, white bearded sage, but everyday we are blessed with experiences to grow and learn.
It could be learning patience as you sit in an unexpected traffic jam while you miss an important meeting, or maybe it shows itself as a difficult financial situation that will teach you how to release fear as it comes to money. Regardless of how the lessons come into our lives, it is important to dispel the idea of searching and move toward looking inward to embrace your lessons in all shapes and sizes.
Do I gossip?
Have you ever found yourself being pulled down the rabbit hole of gossip? It is so easy to gossip about others, but it takes a positive, conscious mind to move away from this behavior. Gossip is a way to seek false power, an insecure source of measuring up our lives.
Unfortunately, it is often the foundation that will hold a group together and it is all kinds of wrong. The answer is simple; hold yourself to a higher standard by conducting conversation as if everyone is present. Remember the words of the wise, “Do what is right even when no one is looking.” If someone in the group goes down the rabbit hole then you can just extend a hand to bring them back. There is no doubt that you will lose some friendships, as many friendships are bonded by gossip, but it feels so good on the inside to embrace this standard.
Do I get defensive?
Do you regularly see the other person’s point of view with compassion? Often times when something doesn’t go our way, we immediately try to make the other person wrong. As it may be a natural reaction, being defensive will get you nowhere. Try to get a deeper understanding of where the other person is coming from will take you miles along the road of life lessons. We have a lot to gain from trying to understand walking in another’s shoes, but don’t get lost.
Do I take things personally?
Do you find yourself taking things personally? The concept of the mirror is a very difficult one to embrace. It is a form of measure to help progress us on our journey. However, when we take things personally, it is quite easy for our mirror to break.
Another way to work around this until you can honestly assess where you are on this path is to connect with the idea of “I.” The world around us is set up to help us grow and evolve our soul. Training wheels are not just for learning to ride a bike; we can always reach for training wheels in life, just till we are ready to move forward on our path.
Look at the world around you as a continuous lesson. If someone cuts you off instead of reacting simply say, “Why did I do that?” When you look at everything in the light of “I,” it makes it easier to embrace instead of constant and emotionally draining reaction. Many spiritualists believe that everything in life happens for a reason. For this reason alone, see the gift instead of being the victim. The road will be much more fulfilling.
It isn’t always easy to keep ourselves in spiritual check. It is important to have the right tools on this path to retraining the brain to support our soul. There are a number of small tools that have great impact, but starting small isn’t as overwhelming as trying to change it all in one sitting. Baby steps, compassion, and understanding are the keys to spiritual growth.
About the Author
Crocodiles and Plant Medicine: Lessons of the Modern Shaman
Crocodile came to me recently in ceremony. At first I was startled by his appearance, feeling I have already embraced every shadow aspect of myself he represents. Since his visit, however, I have spent time welcoming him and examining the teachings he now brings.
Crocodile/Snake holds our basal self, our deepest fears and lesser-evolved leanings which are held in the reptilian brain. In sacred ceremony and spiritual initiations, it is snake or crocodile who confronts you to face and embrace that which you fear most. His personal challenge to me: “You’re not a true shaman. You don’t work in the rain forest, you don’t ingest plant medicines, and you’re falsely holding your craft, thereby misleading those you serve.”
On more than one occasion I have been questioned and warned against calling myself a shaman. I haven’t studied in the jungle, I don’t have any hint of bronzed pigment in my Irish skin, and I don’t have a Maestro or don teaching me the ways. My path is unique in devoted past-life reclamation, shamanic journey, and an early proclamation at five-years-old that I would be a shaman. I was born ready and haven’t looked back. However, the thorny challenges still arise.
Enter the internal struggle of spirit and shadow. It’s brought me to a place of deep self-inquiry and an eventual and potent reclamation. It’s also offered me a new perspective on the path of the modern shaman.
What is a Shaman?
When asked, “What is a shaman?” my easiest answer is “someone who works in the invisible spaces to bring peace and healing to those whom they are in service.”
“Shamans are intermediaries or messengers between the human world and the spirit worlds. Shamans are said to treat ailments/illness by mending the soul. Alleviating traumas affecting the soul/spirit restores the physical body of the individual to balance and wholeness. The shaman also enters supernatural realms or dimensions to obtain solutions to problems afflicting the community. Shamans may visit other worlds/dimensions to bring guidance to misguided souls and to ameliorate illnesses of the human soul caused by foreign elements. The shaman operates primarily within the spiritual world, which in turn affects the human world. The restoration of balance results in the elimination of the ailment.”
Tryptamine Palace
In Cave and Cosmos, Michael Harner suggests it is simply “one who knows.”
Core and Indigenous Shamanism
The big divide in the shamanic communities lies between those who work in the rain forest with the lineage of indigenous wisdom in their blood; and so-called Plastic Shamans who have no connection to the cultures and traditions they represent.
As shamanism has gained prevalence in the modern era, “core shamanism” has become the accepted term for those who use the methods of the shaman but have not been raised in the traditional cultures. The Foundation for Shamanic Studies has reintroduced the shamanic journey for self-healing, while the Psychonauts have lead a revolution through chemically assisted self-inquiry. Both are valid paths that differ greatly from a jungle education. While the efficacy of the practice is all that should matter, there still lies a division.
Plant Medicine
Another crucial distinction for indigenous shamans is their relationships with the plants. Dietas are ceremonial ingestions of plant medicines that teach the shaman how to walk between and within the astral worlds. Any number of teacher plants are used, from tobacco to ayahuasca. These ceremonies are performed with great reverence and honor and remain within sacred guidelines as sincere spiritual endeavors to deepen the path of the seeker. The illusion of this world fades away and great insights are gained, revealing the true nature of one’s own soul.
Freakin’ awesome when done in this sacred space, right?
I, however, am a different kind of shaman. I traverse the dimensions without the use of hallucinogens. Drums, deep meditation, and the psychic connection with spirits and plant allies, for me, have been enough. And Croc challenged me on this also: “Is your plant abstinence genuinely enough to gain such an alliance with the spirit realms?”
In the modern world, our relationship to the plants is vastly different than that of the indigenous shaman. We don’t commune with them personally, nor do we seek to hone their wisdom. As a result, contemporary seekers often misuse the medicines. In my younger days, I experimented with mushrooms recreationally. I found them an expansive and uplifting dalliance that only affirmed my path as a seer and healer. Yet I took them with no noble intent.
Recently, I found myself called to work more closely with the plants in ceremonial space and felt conflicted. My ego holds my hallucinogenic refrain as a badge of honor — a way of ensuring the purity of the messages received. And yet I found myself deeply appreciating the plant spirits again, in great awe and gratitude for the teachings they shared.
And what they shared was this: I’ve connected more than sufficiently with the plant spirits. I learn and walk beside them every day to offer blessings to my community. I need not ingest them, for they have been my allies all along!
In a recent Aubrey Marcus podcast, Astral Snakes and Binaural Beats (episode 59), Cory Allen shared his most recent devotion is not in using the plant medicines, but rather simply being in the astral plane without any enhancements. Under the influence of the medicine, “The consciousness of the plant is with you in that space and colors your vision of that space. If you get there without it, you are completely you and you are on your own.” Boom, validation! And Croc began to smile.
What I realized was, it all comes back to me not having any allies, any perceptions, any filters on my experience in these worlds. The mark of the shaman is not who they are when they’re on the medicines or how they handle these energies inside of them. It is who they are in the absence of any aids at all!
