Awakening Isn’t Just for Mystics—It's for You, Right Now

Last week, I sent out a poll asking you, my subscribers, what topics resonate most deeply. Over 90% who responded chose “Spiritual Awakening: Navigating Inner Transformation.”

At first, this surprised me. But when I sat with it, it made perfect sense. Many of us are sensing something profound beneath the surface of our daily lives, an inner shift. We're collectively feeling the edges of something ancient yet entirely new.

What Does "Spiritual Awakening" Even Mean?

If you're anything like I was five years ago, "spiritual awakening" probably feels mystical, vague, or even a bit "out there." Raised with a Western Christian perspective, my first encounters with Eastern concepts around awakening seemed foreign and confusing.

Yet, the more deeply I explored, especially through my own direct experience, the clearer it became that awakening isn't exotic or distant. Rather, it is deeply human, natural, and already right here.

Awakening, I’ve found, isn't just a mental concept, it involves our whole being: body, emotions, nervous system, and soul. It’s more of a remembering of who we really are beneath societal expectations, conditioned narratives, and evolutionary survival mechanisms.

It's not something we acquire; it's more about shedding the blindness covering our perception, revealing reality exactly as it is.

In recent years, I've experienced waves of intense emotions, unexpected physical sensations, and profound moments of clarity and interconnectedness. Through it all, the concept of surrender became crucial. But surrender didn't mean passivity, it meant courageously and intentionally releasing resistance, allowing life to flow rather than fighting the current.

My Personal Journey and the Shift Happening Now

Reflecting on my awakening process, one period stands out vividly: months of deep, inexplicable emotions rising to the surface, particularly last fall. Tears would spontaneously flow without any conscious reason. I felt drained of energy and lost interest in many activities that had once defined me. It was confusing and troubling.

This experience connected me to a teaching from The Gospel of Thomas, where Yeshua says:

Awakening to reality indeed can initially be troubling. Yet, as I opened up to these troubles and learned to be with them fully, confusion gave way to profound wonder and clarity.

There were certainly moments when I resisted the unfolding. For nearly thirteen months, my nervous system fought hard against what was happening, it was disorienting, volatile, and exhausting. But gradually, I came to trust not only the process but even my own resistance, recognizing it as a wise teacher.

On a recent 7-day meditation retreat, I entered with the intention of deeply embodying surrender. I think I was expecting a dramatic and sudden shift. What I discovered instead was a realization that surrender had already happened. It is an ongoing, layered process that my nervous system needs time to metabolize, especially after being locked in fight-or-flight for decades.

Bridging Ancient Wisdom with Modern Insights

This journey has ignited my passion for bridging ancient wisdom and modern insights, integrating Eastern traditions with contemporary neuroscience, psychology, and trauma research. Modern science beautifully mirrors ancient teachings, particularly regarding surrender.

Researchers like Dr. Stephen Porges highlight the biological basis of surrender as safety. This alignment between science and spirituality felt like finding missing puzzle pieces, clarifying what awakening is and how it unfolds within us.

Awakening in Everyday Moments

We often romanticize awakening as a grand, mystical, mind-blowing event, and it’s true that sometimes it can be. Yet, I've discovered that the true nature of awakening occurs continuously in subtle, everyday moments.

Recently, I noticed a meaningful shift in how I respond to my oldest son, who is ten years old, non-verbal, still in diapers, and often quite loud and chaotic. For years, interactions with him triggered intense feelings of helplessness and frustration within me.

But gradually, through embodiment and mindfulness practices, I've learned to simply be with those disturbances, to remain present, loving, and curious, even in the most challenging moments. This subtle shift has transformed our relationship and touched my heart, revealing awakening's practical, daily impact.

Normalizing and Clarifying Awakening

One crucial insight I've gained is that awakening is already here in every moment, waiting beneath our habitual ways of seeing and being. Every arising and passing experience, no matter how mundane, can be (and is) an extraordinary moment of awakening. Recognizing this helps demystify the process, making it accessible, normal, and human.

I wish more people had normalized this for me earlier, reassuring me that awakening is nothing to be afraid of or to idealize. It's part of our nature, something we can explore without resistance and open up to deeper and deeper. Any skepticism or resistance you feel toward these ideas is natural and beautiful.

Embracing these feelings with curiosity, without pressure, is itself part of the awakening journey. For example, if for whatever reason you're not resonating with my framing of the concepts around awakening, that's perfectly okay too.

Practical Insights and Embodied Practices

Navigating awakening practically has meant learning to learn to listen to my body and emotions. Rather than resisting intense feelings, I've gradually learned to soften, breathe, and allow these energies to flow freely, through gentle shaking, deep breathing, journaling, or simply allowing tears to come.

Practices like meditation, walking in nature, slow mornings, listening to beautiful music, and spending intentional time outside with the birds and the trees have helped me to ground my experiences. They've transformed my inner world, shifting resistance and confusion into acceptance, peace, and joy, even amidst fully experiencing chaotic emotions.

An Invitation for the Week Ahead

This week, I invite you to observe the moments that challenge or trigger you the most. Consider these not as obstacles, but gateways to your own subtle awakenings. Get curious about these emotions, especially when resistance arises. Ask yourself, "What's beneath this feeling?"

Remember to always care for yourself in the process, stepping back if it ever feels overwhelming or too much for your system to handle.

A Vision for Our Collective Future

We are at the in the middle of a collective awakening. Over the next few years, awakening will increasingly enter mainstream conversations. More and more people from all walks of life will recognize awakening as accessible and vital, not just reserved for mystics.

We're just scratching the surface of our human potential. Our bodies, minds, and souls hold incredible capacities, intertwined with quantum realities and timeless wisdom. As more people embrace meditation, breathwork, mindful living, and the subtle awakenings inherent in everyday life, we'll collectively accelerate this unfolding.

Together, let's consciously, compassionately, and courageously step forward into this collective liminal leap, one everyday awakening at a time.

Now, 
-Matt