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Wellness

Beginner’s Guide to Finding Joy Through Spirituality

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at ASU chapter.

During the beginning of quarantine back in March of 2020, I found myself looking for ways to help my mental health and deal with the negativity in everyday life. Something that helped me, and still helps me today, is spirituality. Spirituality is essentially focusing on your soul or spirit. The main idea behind it is that we must find ourselves and when we do that, we reach enlightenment. The path toward enlightenment is never easy, but that is why we look to our spirit guides. If your very first impression of spirituality came from the tarot card readings and crystal cleansings on TikTok, you may be a bit intimidated by it and not know where to start. To be spiritual, you don’t need expensive crystals, singing bowls, tarot cards or incense. All you need is a soul and a desire to be the best version of yourself.

The first thing I did when starting my journey was buying a journal. This can be any journal or piece of paper from anywhere. It does not need to be cute or expensive; it can be a plain spiral notebook or random piece of paper. Before you can become a better version of yourself and follow your spirit guides to a better human experience, you must practice gratitude. Start by writing down five things you’re grateful for each day. Then soon you’ll be able to write down 10-15 things you’re grateful for each day. If you wake up each day looking for things to be grateful for, you’ll always find them.

Opened Paper Notebook
Photo by Marco Verch distributed under a CC BY 2.0 license
The journal can be used for much more than just gratitude. A big part of the spiritual journey is “shadow work” also known as diving into the deepest darkest parts of your soul and healing from the inside out. To heal, we must be able to face the pain head on instead of suppressing those feelings or running from them. Journaling the painful things that have happened in your life can help you work through them productively so you can use this “shadow” to propel your soul toward enlightenment.

Meditation is another way that you can get started on your spiritual journey without breaking the bank. This is not only a great way to get in touch with your soul and the present moment, but it also does wonders for your mental and physical health. I started my meditation journey by watching YouTube videos. There are so many guided meditations out there that can help clear your mind and your heart.

Manifestation, or speaking things into existence, has become such a popular thing. You can manifest anything from material items, happiness, soulmates, friends, money, etc… Manifestation is a must when starting your spiritual journey, in order to become a better version of yourself you need to create this person in your head or on paper. What does the enlightened version of you do? What do they look like? How do they treat others? How do they take care of themselves? Anything you may want to change about yourself can be an aspect of this highest self, but it is important to note that manifestation can only work if there is an aligned action. You can’t just lose weight or make more money without actions that can lead to those things. It’s like planting a seed, then later you get to harvest the fruit.

crystals on table
Photo by Sarah Brown from Unsplash
Crystals, sage cleansing, zodiac signs, singing bowls, spells, tarot cards, etc… are all aspects of spirituality that help and can be interesting to learn about, but aren’t necessary. The most important thing to have on this spiritual journey is a trust in the universe and your spirit guides. To get through the shadow work and become mindful or enlightened requires a certain level of surrender to the universe and your spirit guides. The part of the journey that brought me so much joy and clarity was giving all of my worries to the universe. My willingness to surrender to the universe reassures me that my stresses and worries have a greater meaning in my life that I don’t see just yet. I hope that you can find joy and clarity on your spiritual journey. Remember that you can reap the rewards of spirituality and mindfulness now, you don’t need to wait until you become fully enlightened.

Happy manifesting!

Sydnee is a junior at Arizona State University studying Journalism and Mass Communication. She has been a figure skater for 15 years and has competed collegiately for ASU. When she isn't writing or skating, she can be found working out, traveling, reading YA romance novels, or watching Gilmore Girls.