What is a Spiritual Journey?

What is a Spiritual Journey?

Guest Post by: Rachael Angelo

This question is not one size fits all. Every one of us is on a journey of life. We all came here to experience something and grow through our experiences. I truly believe it’s about learning to love the journey and not the destination. The journey is what shapes us, molds us and ultimately what teaches us so much to become who we were always meant to be.

I can’t speak to everyone’s spiritual journey, but I can speak to mine and what it has taught me. My spiritual journey started 8 years ago when I found myself officially separated at 26 years old in the beginning stages of a divorce with a beautiful 2 year old boy leaving my corporate America job to go work in a restaurant, selling my house and completely starting over again having no clue how I was going to do it and feeling utterly lost.

At this point in life, I had also experienced what it was like to have had depression and love others with depression. As well as losing loved ones to suicide and watching some people I love battle addiction.

I had experience with loss at many levels and yet this was a whole new level for me.

I couldn’t see back then how beautifully life was coming together. The first two years of leaving my marriage were my messiest, darkest and oddly some of the most fun I had as well. I felt like a fish out of water trying to explore what life looked like for me going forward. I had no idea what restaurant life was like or how grueling the work and hours actually are. I realized it pretty quick though being thrown into the thick of it.

Some really beautiful and profound things happened though when I went to work in the restaurant. First, I discovered more of what I was capable of. My son has always been the person to teach me my strength and because of that strength I began to discover I could do anything I set my mind to even if I wasn’t consciously aware of it. The second beautiful thing was I met two amazing friends, power house women, that set me on two different paths that have been intertwining in ways I couldn’t have imagined.

One friend is younger than me and we bonded over being moms as well as writers. Back then I wrote in the quiet of my home never allowing anyone other than maybe one person read my work. This friend was in school for PR and loved writing. Eventually, she asked me to join her at a writers conference and the rest is as they say history from there. This friend pushed and encouraged me to step outside my comfort zone. I went on to attend many more conferences with her, intern for a small publishing house, create a blog with her and branch off in my writing to eventually self publish a chapbook. Now, all of this has happened throughout this 8 year journey.

The other friend is older and has always been very spiritually inclined to the gifts of this amazing universe. She set me on a spiritual path, I wouldn’t have been able to imagine if I tried! I began listening to many spiritual people talking about all sorts of modalities and principles. It was how I made a conscious decision for me to become vegetarian and really understand what I was feeding myself mind, body and soul. Listening to these new teachers eventually led me to working with a modern day shaman, finding my life coach Kevin and setting me on a path of going within to heal, shift my perception and take accountability for my life.

If someone would have told me 8 years ago that those two friends would still be my friends today, who I have built an amazing foundation and support system with, we all would have laughed. The three of us met at a time when we were lost and felt so broken. None of us could see what lay ahead and the beauty of such friendships.

I used to carry my divorce around like an anchor that was something to be so ashamed of but today it’s my biggest blessing. The reason why is because by losing myself I had the opportunity to find myself. To get to know me and discover so much about me that I didn’t know. I feel so blessed every day for old versions of me that no longer resonate because those versions got me to where I am today. They endured so much so I could begin to step into who I came here to be.

I have learned so much on this spiritual journey and I know that I am barely scratching the surface. Change used to scare me and now I embrace it as the beautiful part of life it is. If we’re not growing and changing we’re dying. I have learned how to shift my perception beyond what I knew I could and truly have an amazing understanding of how energy works and that everything is energy. I have a beautiful understanding of how our thoughts create our reality. Now, when challenges arise I see the opportunities in them. A chance for me to learn something new and grow. I now understand that no one else can save me, it’s my responsibility to save myself and the more I heal, the more I help others do the same.

I know I am here to help people and the more work I do on myself the more I am able to show up for others.

I can say this about my spiritual journey and that is that I wouldn’t change any of the things I have