Spiritual rebirth, also known as spiritual awakening, can have a different meaning to different people. Basically though, it is becoming aware of spiritual reality. To some people, spiritual awakening can be physical, like gaining or losing weight or improved sleep, while to others, it could be emotional, such as grief, fear, depression, or anger.
In other words, it is realising how your life should be – how you as a person, should be. You are waking up to life. The important thing to remember though, is that life doesn’t happen to you, but rather for you.
Good examples of famous awakened people
Mention “awakened people” and those in the know will immediately think of famous individuals like Buddha, Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, or even Nelson Mandela. Hearing that these world-famous, inspiring people are associated with being awakened, might make you believe that to go through spiritual rebirth, you have to be perfect.
However, this is far from the truth, when you think of others who have been awakened, that are far from perfect, but go all out to live the best possible life they can. These include individuals like:
• Jim Carrey – who became a household name not because of his hunger for fame or being a celebrity, but rather because of his absolute genius as a comedian
• Oprah Winfrey – who introduced Eckhart Tolle to the world, couldn’t care less about her weight problem, and spreads enlightenment to her world-wide viewers via Super Soul Sunday
• Russell Brand – a public thought leader and activist for drug and mental health rehabilitation, with a strange sense of humour
It takes imperfect people who are spiritually awake, to make spiritual awakening possible for everyone.
However, how do you know that you’re having an awakening?
15 signs of spiritual rebirth
The rebirth is a gradual procedure that doesn’t simply happen overnight. Also, as mentioned earlier, it is something that happens differently to different people, so you might experience some, all, or none at all, of the following:
1. Different sleeping habits – you could find it easier to perform all your daily functions with less sleep than you usually have, or you might need more sleep because you feel significantly more fatigued than usual.
2. Emotional outbursts – when you’re going through spiritual rebirth, it could make your emotions run riot. You will have times when you start crying for no apparent reason, become exceptionally angry over something insignificant, or suddenly feel incredibly sad. Accept these feelings if they happen to you, take deep breaths and the feelings will go away on their own. This way, you are allowing yourself to feel these emotions and prevent them from being stored in your body.
3. Weight changes – your weight could change one way or the other during this time, for no reason at all. It might be your body’s way of defending itself against the increasing incidences it is experiencing as you are going through this rebirth.
4. Activity on the top of your head – when going through it you could start having itchy or tingly feelings at the crown of your head. You might also experience a vibrating feeling on the top of your head, or “crawling” sensations across your scalp and down your spine.
5. Your past starts re-emerging – this spiritual experience might result in things from your past starting to show up again, such as people that you haven’t heard from in years, suddenly showing up again. It could also be old problems that you’ve already solved, coming to light again. This is when you will be faced with deciding whether or not you want to reopen these doors.
6. Different or new allergies – becoming more spiritual could result in your body being more sensitive to your surroundings. Your body could become intolerant to some foods, or develop new allergies, to get rid of any toxins. Consider changing your diet for a few weeks. Remove foods known to cause allergies, such as dairy, nuts, and gluten. Add them back into your diet slowly, and one at a time, to figure out which food it is that is causing your problems.
7. A change in eating habits – if you suddenly lose your appetite or it increases rapidly, or you start having strange food cravings, you could be going through a rebirth.
8. Physical issues – your body has its own way of working through things. When you’re going through this rebirth, you might experience symptoms like back and neck pains, headaches, and even those associated with influenza. However, it is best to see your doctor at these times, and not simply assume that they are the result of a spiritual rebirth.
9. Intensified senses – during this time, you might find that your senses are increased significantly. The colours in the world around you might seem brighter and you might become more observant. Some people even say that they see geometric shapes when their eyes are closed. Should this happen to you, be patient and just go with the flow these will correct themselves in time. Yawning is said to relieve hazy vision.
10. Sudden bursts of intense energy – these bursts of energy could make you feel hot all over and uncomfortable, but the feelings they cause aren’t permanent.
11. Realistic dreams – you may, at times, wake up feeling incredibly confused after experiencing a life-like dream, which could hold a message for you. After experiencing these dreams, don’t try to force the issue. If anything is important in the dream, it will come to you.
12. The feeling of being “trapped” – while on this path of rebirth, you could get the feeling that you are trapped. This could be a job you detest, or your current relationship. You will experience an overwhelming yearning to break free from these situations and develop a powerful urge to find yourself and work out what life should mean to you.
13. Confusion – during the rebirth, you can experience feelings of mental or emotional confusion. You might have these sudden feelings that your life is in chaos and you must sort things out. If and when this happens, make an effort to take a deep breath, slow down, and do not let these feelings overcome you.
14. Surges of creativity – you might at times, develop surges of creativity in the form of art, music, images, or ideas. You will feel exceptionally inspired during these times, and struggle to keep up with these feelings of creativity flowing through you.
15. Life-changing occurrences – there are certain things in life that you simply cannot ignore, such as sickness, death, and love, that could be trying to waken your inner being. When any of these events occur, it could be that they want you to look deep inside yourself to find out who you are as a person, and what you really want in life.
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What you can do to help you on your path to spiritual awakening
Many people who read articles about spiritual rebirth, sometimes have the feeling that they are going through it but are unable to open themselves fully. There are many activities recommended by the experts, that you can do to help you reach your full rebirth potential, including:
• Spending time in nature
• Meditation
• Dancing
• Laughter
• Slowing down your fast-paced life
• Doing volunteer work
• Becoming friends with the people in your community
According to Eckhart Tolle, world-famous author, and spiritual teacher, you don’t find inner peace by altering the circumstances in your life, but rather by recognising who you are as a person, at the deepest level. In other words, you must focus on spending time becoming yourself, totally.
What are the benefits?
Although different religions describe spiritual awakening differently, they still have the basic belief that it makes a person more aware of life as it is, rather than what that person wants it to be. The experience is described by most religions, as a way for a person to move away from their personal view of the world, their inner voice, and selfish concerns, by gaining a clearer and broader viewpoint of life.
Many people think of a spiritual awakening as a type of Buddhist-like inner calmness. However, most individuals who have gone through this awakening, report it to be a difficult process, as it required them to give up the beliefs that were important to them. This can be incredibly overwhelming, as it forces people to make difficult decisions as to how they should move ahead and live the new life they have chosen for themselves.
Even though they have the feeling that something special is happening to them during the process, people still find it hard to pinpoint exactly what it is. Others who have gone through the process, report the following benefits that they have experienced through spiritual rebirth.
They see the things that to them were ordinary and mundane before, in a completely new and positive way, such as stars that shine brighter and flowers having a sweeter scent They also now actually “see” the building, person, or tree, that they saw and ignored every day. Even the characters of people they have known for a long time are different, with previously hidden traits coming to the fore.
This new perception of the world around them, leads people to be more aware of the here and now, instead of being concerned about what others around them are doing and the things they could be missing out on. Spiritually awakened people also tend to worry less about past mistakes and instead, make plans for their future.
They see people and things more clearly because of their new, increased intuition. A spiritually reborn person sees more in the world around them and because of this, they seem to know who they can connect with, who they should not trust, and what situations they should avoid.
Despite this all seeming to be incredibly positive, there is also a challenging side to it, because the people and things they thought they could trust, suddenly turn out to be completely the opposite. This can prompt them to make certain significant and exceedingly difficult changes in their lives.
Spiritual rebirth increases your compassion
Compassion is inspired by empathy, which allows you to feel what those around you are feeling. Literally, having compassion means being able to suffer with others. When you’re in the process of spiritual awakening, you will begin to notice increased empathy and compassion that feels quite natural, normal, and fulfilling to you.
Self-compassion is one component of compassion that is frequently forgotten. Kristien Neff, a self-compassion researcher, states that there are three main components that make up self-compassion, namely:
• Mindfulness,
• A sense of common humanity
• Self-kindness
If you experience the components mentioned above, you are on the right path to spiritual rebirth.
A Spiritual awakening provides inner quiet and tranquillity
We all have an inner voice that speaks to us every day. People going through the process say that their inner voice becomes a lot quieter after spiritual rebirth. Inner voices are cruel. They say things to us that we would normally never say to another person. This doesn’t necessarily mean that we are bad people. It is simply our inner voice trying to protect us, by saying the things that need to be said, to keep us in that “safe” place, normally based on past experiences, the norms of society, as well as the instinct to protect ourselves.
During the rebirth process, the person comes to the realization that it is not necessary to stay in this safe place all the time, so they start ignoring those inner warnings. This results in those inner voices becoming quieter and less critical. When this happens, the person feels less critical of himself, more positive and a lot happier.
Notice important things in your life
Noticing is one of the first signs that you have been through spiritual rebirth. The chances are good that you have been going through life completely unaware of who you really are, why you are alive, and what you really want in life. Asking yourself the following questions is like a light going on in a darkened room.
• Why do I get angry so often?
• Why do I always compare myself to others?
• Is it necessary for me to drink so much?
• Why do I have so much drama in my life?
• Why am I not able to get out of bed when my alarm rings?
• Should I really be eating so much red meat?
Being aware of the present moment and having the impulse to change things, is the first step to a positive growth in life. Spiritual rebirth will help you to achieve this.
Your connection to the world around you
People who undergo a rebirth are a lot less restricted by their inner voice and more connected to their surroundings. This makes them begin to feel the energy of the universe more and come to the understanding that they are indeed a part of something way bigger than themselves. They realize then, that they can use that something for extra energy.
It depends from person to person, how this feeling manifests itself, their basic, important beliefs, but they frequently feel that they are not on their own in this and that they do have some other, higher purpose in life.
Together with this connected feeling, many people also begin to see certain signs, almost as if the universe can tell what they are thinking and feeling and gives them the information to achieve these things.
These signs can come across as anything, and depends very often, on what that person’s beliefs are. There are things that signs have in common, including the fact that they appear in an instant, in a way that is meaningful to the person, with the recipient recognising the significance of the sign immediately
With spiritual rebirth comes confidence and positivity
People worldwide, who have undergone spiritual rebirth, say that they are happier and more confident where their beliefs and decisions are concerned.
It can be an extremely painful process because people learn things about themselves and the world around them, that they don’t want to admit to. These things can sometimes force them to make hard decisions in life, like walking away from bad relationships, changing jobs, changing religions, or anything else that doesn’t feel right to them.
These things can cause a tremendous amount of upheaval in their lives, both materially and emotionally. However, everyone who has gone through these changes and reached spiritual rebirth, reports that they are totally at peace with the decisions and the changes they made.
However, the one thing that these people emphasize, is that spiritual birth is a gradual process that you must not even try to rush through. There is no short way to get through the doubt and pain associated with spiritual rebirth. Everyone has demons that they must face in their own time, at their own pace.