“The days of thinking that spirituality is only for the mystics, the saints, the gurus, the monks, the religious people, and a few chosen ones are long gone. As spiritual beings who are living in a physical world, we are invited to remember our True Nature and our Origin and start living our lives with integrity and in alignment with who we truly are.”~ Luminita D. Saviuc

From what I can remember from elementary school, I had lots of friends. Although I’ve always been more of an introvert, I can’t say that I was shy. For example, I was cast as the main protagonist for quite a few school plays, and I loved it. I actually liked being the centre of attention. I never worried about all the eyes that were fixated on me and watching my every move.

Stage fright was a term I wasn’t all too familiar with at the time. I might go as far as to say I was “popular”. This might have had to do with the fact that me and my brother were the only twins in school, which I guess was pretty interesting to the other kids.

But something changed as I grew older.

When I reached junior high, I got increasingly self-aware. I started to worry more about what others thought of me. I can remember having to do a presentation in 8th grade and being nervous to speak in public for the first time.

I wasn’t really nervous beforehand (as I didn’t have a lot of experience with being nervous or presenting), but when I started to talk I just felt so awkward. I could feel the eyes of my classmates piercing through me, which is why I tried to finish the presentation as soon as possible. I can remember asking the kids in my class what they thought of my presentation, as I wanted to know if they could see I was struggling inside. They didn’t really seem to notice. But that didn’t change the way I felt.

From then on, I got increasingly anxious every time I had to do a presentation or had to speak in public. Although some presentations turned out relatively well (as I put a lot of effort in making sure I wouldn’t mess them up), some turned out to be a real disaster due to my nerves.

There was a time in 10th grade where I just completely blacked out during a presentation and started shaking like a leaf. I can remember thinking I had just ruined my entire school reputation, and people weren’t going to take me seriously anymore. This in turn increased my level of anxiety exponentially and drastically decreased my self-esteem.

The Power of Spirituality

This is when I began to immerse myself in the world of spirituality and awareness. I completed multiple spiritual awakening courses and read everything I could find on the subject. After some time, my view of the world had changed drastically. I learned that the “real you” is not the body or the mind. It’s actually consciousness itself.

Even though this information was new to me, it felt as if I had always known. Besides, it’s not that hard to see if you just take your time and observe.

With the most modern technology (or technology 10 years from now) they could amputate or replace almost your entire body and you’d still be alive (think of an artificial heart for example). You’d still be you.

So how could you be the body?

Similarly, it’s easy to see that you are not the mind. Just close your eyes and try to think of absolutely nothing for 1 full minute. You can see that it’s impossible as the mind starts talking on it’s own. That’s because the mind is a tool that helps us navigate through this world and helps us to stay alive, but it is not us.

So, the problem is that we identify with the constant mental chatter that comes from the mind. We actually think it’s us talking to ourselves. But your mind is actually just a collection of memories that you have gathered through your life. And it’s now acting like a parrot. It’s interpreting reality based on these stored impressions.

Since everyone collects different impressions in different places at different times, everyone has different views of the world. Of course, with a lack of awareness, that leads to conflict, which is why we as humans tend to fight so much (but that is a story for another time). Let’s get back to my experience with spirituality and how much it has impacted my life.

The Beauty of Spirituality

The revelation that I was not the mind or body, but rather a piece of consciousness that is part of creation (and not separate from it) changed my life. Just as the trees outside the window, the ants in the backyard and the planets in the solar system, you and I are actually part of the whole.

When you become aware of this fact existentially and not intellectually) it’s easy to create a distance between yourself (consciousness) and everything else.

It turns out that when you create a distance between yourself and the mind, anxiety and other negative emotional states such as anger, jealousy and sadness can’t faze you. And because you’re not playing with these negative emotions or identifying with them, they start to fade over time.

What’s left is a beautiful feeling of liberation and joy as you can now experience life to the fullest without fear, anxiety or depression. You see life just as it is, and not how your mind has decided it should be. This is the power of spirituality.

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