4 Tips to Overcoming Spiritual Alienation

Have you ever felt like you don’t fit in?

Felt like your friends and family just don’t get you?

Felt like a gap has opened up between you and almost all the people you used to hold most dear?

That’s pretty common for a lot of spiritual practitioners.

Of course, most likely, you were always a little different from the majority of people. Most likely, you were a lot more sensitive to energy and your environment. But even so, chances are high that the more you have pursued your spiritual path, the more you have felt alienated from mainstream society and the people in it.

For a lot of spiritual seekers, this is primarily caused by a change in values and a subsequent loss of interest in the things that continue to matter to their friends, family and acquaintances.

In the past, for instance, you may have liked going to the pub, to late-night parties, and to the gossip corner at work. You may have loved shopping with the girls on weekends and thought success at work was critical to your happiness.

Whatever it was that excited you, it can get socially awkward when such things begin to lose their shine – and it is here that many spiritual practitioners start to retreat from the world. They stop catching up with friends. They stop doing the things that seemingly gave them so much pleasure in the past. They start spending more and more time alone.

These changes can be tough to navigate, but consciously desired or not, they are the inevitable result of a shift in focus.

Everyday people seek happiness from external things (material possessions, relationships, etc.), while spiritual practitioners seek more and more of their happiness from within.

Everyday people seek happiness from doing, while spiritual practitioners seek happiness from being.

As a result, spiritual practitioners often can’t go on doing the things they used to do, for they no longer have the same motivation and drive to do them.

This isn’t to say, of course, that spiritual practitioners don’t enjoy nice things and good relationships. They do. It’s just that such things cease to be their core pleasures, their core joys in life.

How to Overcome Feelings of Social Alienation

If you feel like you don’t fit in socially anymore, I have a few suggestions:

1. Spend time hanging out with like-minded people (Duh!). This sounds obvious, but a lot of spiritual practitioners are so uncomfortable going out and making new friends that they end up losing most of their old friends without replacing them. If this sounds like you, then you’re going to need to be bold and push through your social anxieties.

Remember that you most likely have these anxieties because in the past you found yourself in social situations where you couldn’t relax and be yourself. But this doesn’t mean that all social environments will affect you similarly. No, when you find the right crowd, you can be 100% yourself and still feel totally supported.

So make the effort to find a group you resonate with and spend time with it. Do that, and you’ll feel like the Ugly Duckling realizing it was a swan.
2. Stop judging others. One thing that often happens once you start to disentangle yourself from your old, everyday social activities is that you begin to view them – and the people who are still caught up in them – negatively.

Unfortunately, this creates a psychological (and energetic) wall between you and them – something that ultimately inhibits your energetic expansion and, as a consequence, your spiritual self-expression.

If this sounds overly complex, then simply remember that judging others makes you miserable. It closes your chakras and diminishes your auric glow.

So cease worrying about what other people are doing, and choose to think and act as you wish. Doing that is the best way to energetically expand to your fullest potential.
3. Go easy on yourself. You might feel like you are alienated from a large chunk of society, but that doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with you. Following your inner, spiritual longings is simply being true to yourself – and that is the correct path in any situation. So feel good about being different, for that is one of the best ways to avoid replicating the unfulfilling lives so many people lead.
4. Focus on your joy. When things get tough, when you feel lonely, it is easy to focus on your difficulties and pains. But that – as you already know! – is one of the worst things you can do, for it will only cause your suffering to increase (what you focus on grows, after all!).

So remember that you chose the path you are on for a reason – and then focus on all the blessings it gives you. Focus on the joy of meditation. On the joy of Reiki and Chi Activation. On the joy of being fully content just as you are, without needing external things to make you happy. Because nothing beats the spiritual journey. It is the most fulfilling adventure you could ever undertake.

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Conclusion

Most spiritual practitioners feel alienated from mainstream society at one point or another. Often, they even wish they could return to the ‘good old days’ — the days before they began their spiritual journey.

If they are honest with themselves, however, they will quickly realize that their former life wasn’t really so great. In fact, their new spiritual life, despite its challenges, is almost certainly far more radiant and fulfilling.

So if you ever feel tempted to complain about your lot, just ask yourself: would you really wish to change places with an everyday man or woman? Would you really like to be so reliant on external things for your joy and fulfilment?

No, all things considered, I know that option would repulse you. So feel good about your choices, relax, and don’t look back! The spiritual journey is your greatest blessing.

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