Why the Universe Isolates You During Spiritual Awakening

So you had a spiritual awakening? One day you woke up and realized that the life you were living…didn’t make sense. The the way we are taught to view reality…didn’t make sense.

It all hit you at once, like a slap in the face, and now it feels weird to go about a “regular day” as normal. How can you not ask yourself “Why the heck am I here, what the heck am I doing?”

A spiritual awakening, from one perspective, triggers intense awareness of separation. If we zoom out, we’re all connected in some way. We all came from the same star stuff. However, as humans we’re often acting contrary to this.

The separation we grapple with during a spiritual awakening is centered around the ego, and the way it pulls us away from our soul. As an extension of this, we start to become incredibly aware of how unaware others are of this.

Being around certain people, being around people in general, can become an exhausting experience.

As dramatic as this sounds, this was my exact experience! In 2018 (the year everything seemed to begin again for me) I recommitted to a meditation practice. I started doing the shadow work. I practiced the affirmations.

After not very long at all, I started to have some ‘weird’ experiences. Unusual sensory and visual experiences, out of body experiences, but most interestingly, I started to become incredibly triggered by other people.

It was as if my body was on high alert. It felt like I was exposed, raw, because I had completely poured out my shadow (unconscious) and now it was all out in the open asking me to address it.

I was healing and those around me – in some sense – were a threat to that process.

Emotional recalibration

One reason we might isolate ourselves or have an experience that forces isolation during an awakening, is because our souls are asking for deep emotional recalibration.

I was doing an intuitive reading the other day and mentioned to someone that often we have to start with our emotions first. Not our thoughts, not on more ‘spiritual development techniques’ our emotions!

Everything flows from our emotions; the more emotionally regulated we can be (we all have different capacities for this of course) the clearer everything else becomes. Sit with your emotions and simply allow them to be.

It took me many years to realize that spiritual differences – the deeper not superficial ones – are not just inconvenient or uncomfortable, they can be a health issue.

When you’re constantly over-explaining your intuition, performing for others, repressing who you truly are, your body pays the price! You start shrinking yourself, speaking up less, and before you know it you’re experiencing a whole slew of random illnesses and ailments.

Sometimes spirit moves us away from certain people, because we simply cannot function around them with our level of awareness.

Spiritual clarity

One of the reasons the Universe isolates us is because it wants us to get really clear on our purpose. We all have a soul purpose, something that calls to us on a deeper level.

However most of us are disconnected from this calling and take on the goals and expectations other people have for us – starting with our parents and then friends, the media, society at large.

The first thing we have to do is completely let go of all of that.

At the start of a spirituality awakening you can spend a considerable amongst of time feeling, and looking, a complete mess – the inside reflecting on the outside if you will 😂no judgement here!

Separating who you are from who you’ve been expected to be is no joke. It can take seasons to feel you’ve properly cleared your slate. Long walks, deep meditation sessions and conversations with those you trust can help speed the process along, but there is really no rushing it.

Once the slate is clean it’s a case of carefully considering who you are, and gradually working out how you feel about the world and what you will do. Journaling can be a great help there.  

Another reason we are isolated on the spiritual path, is to better understand and work with the ego.

The ego is essentially the armor we wear as humans in order to survive. It’s the idea we hold of ourselves, of who and what we are and where we belong. 

We all have a name, country, roles, beliefs and values – these are all important in navigating day to day life, and as such we don’t necessarily want to get rid of the ego altogether.

However the ego becomes a problem when we believe that is all there is to us; when we get so attached to temporary concepts that we disconnect from our spirit and become overly self-serving. 

In understanding the ego we get clearer on what really matters to us. Even if this is all temporary, there is still important lessons to learn and people we can connect with. 

Isolation is in itself a gift. There are so many things vying for our attention, and in this day and age even more access to distraction. Being alone allows us to understand ourselves and our motivations better and come out of our cocoon engaging with the world more mindfully. 

The spiritual isolation phase has its ups and downs, it’s not all meditating away while feeling waves of bliss or writing joyously in a pretty journal. Some of the stuff you uncover is deep and hurtful. Sometimes you have to reconsider who you are, and if your own behavior is productive – it’s not all about others.

However, there is a kind of cosmic humor that you may tap into too. It’s just all so funny. The way us humans walk around acting as if we know everything, when we know very little. Separation is funny. Ego is funny. Because it’s all too obvious that’s not the way things need to be.

However I think it is from that humor, the absurdity of existence making itself very clear, that gives us the most freedom. We can do and create beautiful things, there is no need to worry about performing or getting things “right”. We can in fact do the things that fill our soul up.

What happens after the hermit phase?

Sometimes being isolated does more harm than good; we get comfortable in our own bubble and away from anything that might trigger us.

This was the case during my own awakening. I spent many years in an isolation period, and didn’t do the necessary work to reintegrate back into the world. I spent a lot of my time avoiding people out of fear they wouldn’t understand my experience or would distract me from my spiritual progress.

I’ve come to understand that the hermit phase is just the beginning.

“When we heal we don’t just lose the people who aren’t aligned with us, we also find those who are. Solitude guides us to our community”.

There is a lot of talk about loneliness and isolation on the spiritual path. A period of solitude is somewhat required for our spiritual growth, especially at the beginning of our journey..

However, I think a lot of us get stuck in healing or shadow work; learning about ourselves and the different ways we can develop inwardly. This is just the first phase.

It’s just as important to understand the energy we are building, with community in mind.

Visualize the type of community you want around you. In your personal and work life.

Think about (and feel) the type of energy exchanges you’d like to have. Write them down on paper. Have something you can look back on when you are connecting with people – and ask yourself if it matches up.

Remember you don’t have to be perfectly healed or or spiritually developed to enter into or build community.

Here is a journal prompt from my the shadow work guide that can help you reintegrate after an isolation phase.

Re-entering hermit mode

With that being said there will be phases where you reenter hermit mode!

There is a distinct hermit phase at the beginning of a spiritual awakening that can last weeks or months, where we crave solitude and dive deep into learning.

However there are also many smaller hermit phases we’ll go in and out of in order to adjust and realign ourselves.

I actually feel these are necessary for anyone, regardless of whether they are on a “spiritual” path or not. We need to be able to recharge and do so without shame or guilt.

The deeper I trust myself and feel supported by the Universe, the freer I’ve felt to dip back into a hermit phase, knowing it isn’t going to last forever.

Recently I spent time in a hermit phase while traveling Thailand. Here I was in Koh Phi Phi. This felt like a very conscious decision, although I hadn’t planned on being alone beforehand.

The place doesn’t have as good a rep as it once did, largely due to destructive tourists but I felt called to come here and spend some time. For whatever reason I felt a deep sense of peace, spending many days just swinging from a tree by the beach 😆

There was some awkwardness at times appearing solo, but pushing past that I felt ‘at home’.

When you get deeper onto the spiritual path there is value in going through a hermit phase ‘on purpose’, allowing insights to flow, getting comfortable in solitude and feeling more at ease in your own energy.

There’s nowhere to hide when you truly allow yourself be alone, and at times lonely, and this can act as great spiritual alchemy ❤️‍🔥