If you’re looking for more meaning, purpose, depth, or guidance in your life, you may find yourself wondering – how does one start their spiritual journey?
In our Western Culture, the path to personal spiritual awakening isn’t something that’s been supported as an essential part of our daily lives. But at some point, something may happen that creates a call from the inside → out. A desire to explore the unseen forces of life. The deep questioning that comes with this call can go like this: “There must be more than this, why am I here, where is the truth?”
Often, this call comes from hitting some kind of bottom. This will look different for everyone. It’s like an elevator, it stops at every floor.
For one person, their bottom may come when they realize they have everything they thought they wanted and it still feels like something is missing. And for someone else, it will come when they have truly hit rock bottom and they have nowhere else to turn.
We’re living in a world that is so chaotic and uncertain, driven by a real collective soul sickness, that has many of us crave something deeper.
So when someone asks me for a beginner’s guide to spirituality, the first thing I tell them about how to start a spiritual journey is that they just have to start. They simply have to decide to take the leap and begin.
A Spiritual Spring Cleaning
This starting doesn’t have a specific roadmap – each of our journeys will be unique. But if you’re looking for a practical way to dive in, it starts with taking inventory.
This means looking at your life with rigorous honesty.
Ask yourself:
What is missing in my life?
Am I thinking for myself or am I on automatic pilot?
Am I treating myself and others as sacred beings?
Where am I investing my time + money?
What is my higher power, and do I have a relationship with that power greater than me that I can count on?
What is my contribution and purpose in this life?
This process is like a spiritual spring cleaning.
When you start to look at your life through this lens, chances are you’ll notice some things you don’t like. Some things you aren’t proud of. Some areas that feel empty, like something is missing. Simply by taking note of those things, you’ll begin to shift.
Releasing the burdens of the past
As you take inventory of your life, you must be willing to love yourself in your “flawsomeness.” To choose to believe that when you were born, the Universe had a brilliant idea, and that idea was YOU, and it was perfect.
If you want to know what spirituality for beginners really looks like, it’s knowing that you will see things you want to change about yourself and your life and you can do so, but first you have to accept and forgive yourself exactly as you are.
For me, this meant trusting that God didn’t make junk. That I was worthy. And knowing that this process and this journey takes time.
Before you can forgive yourself, it might be easier to forgive others
As you’re in the process of releasing old stories, learning to trust, and discovering how to find yourself and how to forgive yourself, you may find that there are other people you need to forgive too.
Forgiving yourself can take time, and sometimes forgiving others comes more easily at first.
The key here is that when you forgive others, you can’t expect anything in return.
You have to aim to forgive so that YOU can be liberated. You must look honestly at your part in things and take accountability. Realize that you don’t want the burden of being constantly angry at someone else. If you hold on, you keep that story alive, and then you’re drinking the poison and expecting the other person to get sick. You are the one who suffers.
So you decide to make amends. Be accountable.To release and forgive. To be grateful for the little things.
Sometimes this will be mean outgrowing people or situations that no longer serve your highest good. It will mean accepting that others aren’t on the same path as you and that’s ok. That has to be ok.
All paths lead to Rome (a.ka. Spirituality), just pick one…
At first, the process of taking inventory and forgiving can be hard. When you’re stuck in your own head with your ego and your self-judgment, the most helpful thing is to have a solid relationship with your higher power.
Beginning a spiritual journey means realizing that this is actually your #1 primary relationship, and you’ll be much more grounded if you can develop a trust and a faith in something greater than you.
There’s really no right or wrong way to find your connection to Spirit. I always say, “All paths lead to Rome, just pick the one that feels right.”
Once you’ve found something that resonates for you, go devote yourself to that relationship first. For me, when I found this connection, everything became easier.
Meditation was a powerful tool I discovered early on, but that won’t be it for everyone. I loved guided meditation because I couldn’t sit through a silent meditation at first! If I had something to listen to, I stopped listening to my mind. Everything came together when I learned how to meditate. And you have to find what that is for you!
It might be meditation, prayer, journaling, breathwork, service, Oracle Cards, or a number of other practices. The most important thing is that you pick the thing that resonates and stay committed. This is all about reclaiming your relationship to your soul, your inherent connection to the Divine.
Another one of my favorite tools early in my spiritual journey was tarot cards (Oracle Cards hardly existed at the time!). I found that the cards kept me on track and showed me when I was lying to myself. And that’s part of why I am devoted to teaching others how to use Oracle Cards in their spiritual journeys today.
Oracle Cards are an incredible tool to begin trusting your intuition over time. And that’s the key component of the spiritual path because your intuition is your innate communication with the Universe. This isn’t something you have to learn, you came with the software! You just have to practice waking it up.
Whatever path you choose, there’s really no formula. A spiritual journey is a journey to you. 
Once you begin your spiritual journey, you’re in it.
There’s a reason we call this the road less traveled. It isn’t always an easy path. On this path, you have to self-reflect. You have to face your shadow, where the parts of you that you have disowned lives. You have to learn to love yourself. You have to make amends. And you have to be willing to make changes in your life when something isn’t aligned.
You’re going to change on this path – if you’re not ready to change, don’t sign up for spirituality! Don’t sign up unless you’re prepared to feel crummy sometimes. You are going to suffer a little bit because you have to let go your old ideas about life. You will be leaving your comfort zone and entering uncharted territory, and yes, you will need to be brave in this vulnerability.
This might mean you have to end up letting go of people. You might recognize that you’ve made poor choices and you need to change them. Sometimes soul searching hurts.
You have to enter this as open as possible with a mindset of curiosity, and you have to be very careful of self-judgment. This journey isn’t about judging yourself, it’s about being honest and curious so you can discover what parts of you need to genuinely heal.
You have to constantly be asking, “How can I get closer to Source, to the Universe, to what is best for everybody?”
No matter what tools or practices you choose to use to connect with the Universe, Spirit, or God – your spiritual path begins when you commit to your relationship with your higher power coming first.
If you’re craving a sense of belonging, purpose, or healing in your life – I invite you to explore. Take the leap and step into your spiritual journey.
And if you’re ready to start your spiritual journey, remember to bring your humor! This will be a wild ride, but it will be so worth it.
If you’re looking for a fun way to begin exploring your spiritual journey and discovering your intuition, check out my new quiz, How Intuitive Are You At Reading Oracle Cards?
This quiz is designed for people at any stage in their spiritual journey to get some insight into their intuition and begin to strengthen their natural connection to the Universe!
