As somebody that used to meditate for hours every day when my journey first started, I began to feel like an imposter as I suddenly started losing interest in the spiritual path.
I was doing a lot of spiritual workshops and writing about spirituality, but a part of me had become stagnant. And I was moving away from the very thing that had changed my life.
I would find myself becoming lazy or using excuses like “busy” to not focus on sitting still. It was a phase that took a lot of time to get out of, but I eventually did.
Recently, as I was working with one of my clients, flashbacks of this phase came to me, as she expressed her own disconnect from the journey. And so, the writer in me was inspired to share something that might help her, and you.
The Stages Of Gaining and Losing Interest In Spirituality
Let’s think of this through an analogy.
Stage 1: The Waters Rising
Let’s say you’re swimming in the waters, and one day, you start getting tired. There’s extreme turbulence and you’re having a tough time keeping your head above the water. At this point, you don’t think you’ll make it. This is where we experience the dark night of the soul, and start having a meltdown.
Stage 2: Finding The Log
By some miracle or grace, as you keep swimming, you find a log that gives you some support. You latch on for dear life.
This log has the word spirituality written all over it. You have either seen an angel number like I did, read something magical, or found something “otherworldly”, which has opened up a new way of life.
You have officially entered the path.
Stage 3: Building A Boat
Piece by piece, you find more spiritual insight and gather pieces of floating wood to build a boat. Eventually, you have built a solid spiritual foundation, and have developed an ongoing relationship with the Divine.
You meditate or burn sage, you have crystals that keep your boat nice and shiny. Life is good, and everything is in perfect order.
Stage 4: Sunny Outside, Dark Inside
This is when the storms quieten around you, and your boat is floating in steady waters. But now that everything’s alright, you decide that you probably don’t need the boat.
It’s too much maintenance and you aren’t able to enjoy the waters with the rest of your friends swimming around you.
It’s as if you are losing interest in the spiritual path.
You’ll keep the boat around, but you decide to dive back into the water again. At this stage, your ego-mind is suggesting that the ‘old way’ of living wasn’t as bad and that you should try living that life again.
Of course, you don’t like it. But you have no intention of getting back into the boat – it’s just not worth the consistent self-disciplining and heavy healing!
To many people, this will feel like the dark night of the soul is back again.
Stage 5: Getting Back On The Boat
You eventually come around. You realize that you’re becoming too moody again and that it isn’t helping you to prolong your healing. You’re worried you’ll become your old self and that all this progress will go to waste.
So, you climb back into the boat you had built. Now, mind you, it’s been a while since you’ve done all this spiritual stuff, so your boat is rocky. There are cracks and more repair work is required.
At this juncture, some people feel worse because they think they’ve lost their path. That’s not true.
I like to call it beginner’s luck. When we first start off on the journey, everything we do seems to help us heal. Every meditation session feels powerful, and every spiritual discourse you listen to feels like an AHA moment.
But eventually, when you get back on the boat, you realize that things aren’t as easily helpful. It’s taking you more time. This is natural.
From this stage on, your actual discipline and maintenance is what will determine how your spiritual journey goes on. You’ve had a taste of some of the sunny and stress-free days, but now it is up to you to stay in the boat, take care of it, and keep building it to be stronger and stronger.
It’s important for you to be able to look into the water, and know that that’s one way of living, but to choose to live in the boat instead.
So, from this point onward, focus on internalization. Spend just as much time “digesting” the information you consume about spirituality, as you do reading it. A good rule of thumb is to sit down with a pen and paper after any book, video, or session and ask yourself, what were my key takeaways?
As you integrate the wisdom in deeper capacities, you don’t need to read as many books as you first did, or jump from one spiritual practice to another. Now, it’s about slowing down and actually putting everything into practice. It’s about building a ship out of this small foundational boat.
To build that ship, remember, that to accelerate your learning, really slow down. Healing happens most effectively when it’s not rushed or forced. One recommendation is to become aware of your window of tolerance so that you’re not trying to heal too fast (and sabotaging your growth).
Are you ready?
Personal Reflection: Experiencing Amplified Growth After Losing Interest In The Spiritual Path
The biggest revelation I had after losing interest in the spiritual path was that it wasn’t as if the Universe had disconnected itself from me.
The Creator was always around, nudging me and guiding me. But it was me that had stepped back and stopped listening.
If you are in the phase of losing interest too, I want you to know that it’s natural and that you’ll come around. I would also encourage you to put a sincere effort to get back on the boat, by having a real conversation with the Universe.
I don’t mean meditating, or journaling. No – these are indirect. What if you actually sat underneath the stars and talked to the Divine Forces?
This is what I mean. And this is why it works.
Going on a date night with the Universe was the turning point for me in my spiritual journey. And I truly believe it can be yours.
Concluding Thoughts
It’s natural to lose interest in the spiritual path because this experience is also very much a part of the process! And analogies help us look at our life with more animation. I’ve put together some more analogies for you to reflect on life, here and here. I hope they bring you clarity and give you something to chew on.
And as I always say, if you need somebody to talk to – you have me!
Vasundhra is the Founder & Writer of My Spiritual Shenanigans. After seeing 11:11 on the clock one fateful night, her life turned around. Ever since, she has been blending modern psychology and ancient spirituality, to help herself and people around the world elevate the quality of their lives.
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