One day in 2012 my husband and I were traveling home from a typical run to the grocery store. A feeling hit me like a lightning bolt. I heard the word ‘ascend,’ and felt a resonance in my entire body. I said to my husband, ‘I want to ascend.’ There was a silent pause.
‘What’s that mean?,’ he asked, feeling confused and apprehensive. At the time I didn’t know, yet since then, I have gained an understanding and want to share a summary with you.
Spiritual ascension, or spiritual awakening, is the process of becoming more aware of the spiritual aspect of your nature, the aspect that is limitless and infinite. I refer to this aspect as consciousness or soul. Awakening requires a shedding of your previous self, to experience an inner rebirth. It requires transcending limiting beliefs and releasing trapped emotions that were generated from trauma and is now stored in your subconscious, and in the cells of your body.
To support you in your ascension process, I share a practice for connecting into love through your heart. I explain how we are all moving through a behavior pattern of being triggered and what that means. Then, I offer one way to listen to your soul so you can receive the truth it wants to impart.
Moving At the Speed of Love
‘Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.’ ~Rumi
How can you shift out of fearful barriers, and instead, connect with your loving presence within? Here is one pathway:
- Be aware of the noise, confusion and spinning in your mind. Be aware of the anxiousness, restlessness, or tight feeling in your body. Be aware of your shallow breathing.
- Now, shift into being present, really present. Be aware of your breath, allowing an exhale to become longer than an inhale.
- Drop in to your heart center. You may want to place a hand on your chest, thinking to yourself, ‘I am here, in this now moment.’
- Place your other hand on your low belly and breathe into the low belly.
- Feel an anchoring and comforting sensation within your body awareness.
- Notice a calming sensation settling in. Feel a merging into the ever present softness of your heart.
- Acknowledge at least one thing that you are grateful for.
- Can you remain here, for just 10 seconds? Stop reading. Just be in this mode, eyes closed.
This pathway calls you to revisit again and again, with a feeling like savoring a warm cup of tea, or hot chocolate, while gazing upon a crackling fire. Warming, present, calming, and quiet.
Value: The value of this pathway is that it serves as your personal gateway to love. But wait there’s more! This gateway also leads to experiencing the Divine Feminine frequency of ‘being,’ rather than the frequency of ‘doing.’ The ‘being’ state of consciousness holds equal value to ‘doing’ and is necessary to experience balance. And, allowing yourself to simply ‘be’ allows an inner receptivity which prepares you to receive your soul’s guidance.
Being Triggered
The ascension process is not just about peace, love, and harmony. Part of the ascension process involves uncomfortable, severe, and shocking shifts, like what humanity experienced, or is still experiencing, with the pandemic. Everyone has been triggered because everyone has previously experienced trauma in their life.
Some people are being triggered more intensely than other people and for longer periods of time. Other people who are being triggered are moving through emotions and releasing them rapidly. They can quickly toggle back into feeling grounded, peaceful, even joyful. If you are one of these people, we need your joy!
Trauma and Self-Responsibility
Trauma is defined as a moment when you felt emotionally overwhelmed from an event that happened. Your brain and body shut down, unable to fully let the emotion process out of you at the time. The trapped emotion gets stored in your subconscious and in the cells of your body. When you have an emotional ‘reaction,’ or an electrically charged sensation in your body to something someone says or does, or reply with a quick defensive or snarky remark, this is referred to as ‘being triggered.’
To help heal a triggered moment when an emotion surfaces for you, feel through it. You may feel sadness, resentment, anger, or jealousy. You may blame, judge, feel shame or guilt. You will want to control someone or something, or say something to put someone in their place, or hear yourself name calling. Whatever emotion surfaces feel through it. Allow a releasing and clearing.
Value: You are learning to be self-responsible with YOUR feelings and working to discharge your trapped emotion.
Equally as important, you can consciously choose not to engage with another person who is experiencing a triggered moment. You can avoid lashing out or spewing back to the other person what you just felt coming from them.
Value: You can choose to step back when you recognize someone is being triggered, and they are reacting from their fearful trauma self. You can choose to remain heart centered without dueling with them. You can decide whether to speak your truth or not, as it may fall upon deaf ears. It’s ok to refocus and gently move on with your day.
Listen, Your Soul is Talking
You may be thinking, ‘Ok, Renee, I appreciate my heart practice and will give myself more moments of quietude and going within. I admit I’m feeling triggered and will be more aware of needing to process my own emotions.
So how can I know what my truth is? How do I listen to my soul?
Remember when your parents said to you, ‘If Susie jumped off the bridge, would you jump too?’ This was their way of imparting the message, just because someone else does something, you don’t need to do it too.
First, step back from getting caught up in the moment and check within to discover your own truth.
When you access your pathway of love within, feeling calm, present, and receptive, you can receive ‘live streaming wisdom’ from your soul, on a need-to-know, moment-by-moment basis.
You can interact with your intuition by asking for guidance. For example, ‘Is it in my highest good to . . . eat this food, meet with this person, relocate, leave my current job, release a relationship, or enter a relationship, start this project?
Pay attention to the sensations in your body. When you feel contracted in your body, particularly in your belly, this signals a ‘no’ message. When you feel a relaxed, open sensation in your body, or belly, you’re receiving a ‘yes’ message. Discernment, which is the ability to determine truth for you, requires awareness, maturity, and practice.
During the ascension process, we will continue to move through shifts in consciousness. According to one spiritual channeler, in the month of March some of us will be shifting daily! The person who you are in the morning, may not be the same person who you are by the evening. This is not a race, though, so trust your own pace. Keep checking in with your heart, listening to your soul, and paying attention to your body, all of which are providing a loving vessel for your inner rebirth and ongoing awakening!