If you’re yearning to take the spiritual path, then it’s obvious that you have already faced the hard realities and the ups and downs of life to a great extent. It’s no secret that pain and trouble do have the potential of making you mystical. They’re many who embark on a spiritual journey to erase various challenges they face in the course of their living experience. But not many have the patience to stick to it. Those who persistently walk on the path of spirituality do seek something greater and their purpose is bigger.
Desiring spiritual development is understandable but there are many obstacles in its way. Many get lost in the process and methods and many forget to step aside and take a hard look at what they were up to for spiritual development.
In the below pointers, we’ll explain various kind of hurdles that poses intimidation to your spiritual growth –
- Questioning Your Own Worthiness
Most of us truly believe that spiritual enlightenment is meant for a hand-picked few and it’s unachievable. Right from the onset we are convinced about our unworthiness and start to stay away from the spiritual course. It’s an improbable dream for many. But we do not fail to associate names like Buddha, Mahavira, Christ, etc. with enlightenment.
Frankly speaking, for being spiritual you do not need to visit any math, mandir, or monastery. Real spirituality is available to everybody, everywhere, and at all possible times. When you’ll start to believe in your inner voice, you’ll comprehend your own worth and will be initiated into a more spiritual way of life.
- Lack of Commitment & Steadiness
You can make hundreds of plans; can be completely decked up with your spiritual knowledge, but yet you might fail completely to have any kind of spiritual development. Doing these things in a superficial way doesn’t help. Commitment matters.
Commitment and steadiness are everything when it comes to realising spiritual development. If you’re not dedicated to your spiritual well-being and development with steadfast commitment you’ll face struggles, and obstacles, and eventually will be completely lost.
- Done It All Attitude
As a beginner, we all have this “know it all” and “done it all” outlook toward everything. Again, there’re people who have a tendency to rest on past laurels without trying to push further toward new horizons. They believe that they have gone far ahead but it may just turn out that they‘re on a sluggish juncture, waiting on the verge of spiritual enlightenment.
There’re experts who explain this phenomenon well. When you know a little bit about certain things, you actually believe you are an expert. But when you learn continuously and achieve a certain amount of mastery, you actually realise that you have just discovered the tip of the iceberg. When you comprehend this, even after your spiritual awakening, you try to perceive each moment of your life from a different perspective so that you reach for further spiritual growth.
- Unsuccessful Practical Application of Your Knowledge
A major obstruction to spiritual progress is the unsuccessful application of your gathered knowledge. Most of the time, we pick up things academically before we try to apply them in our own lives. We attempt to comprehend rationally the essential beliefs of what it actually means to be spiritual. But we forget that spirituality initiates us into performing certain activities right at this very moment. It’s all about practical actions. You don’t need to indulge yourself with another spiritual book but you need to admit that you understand your path and start to live that spiritual path.
- Just Being Lazy
Being lazy keeps you away from spiritual growth. It’s so understated that you tend to ignore it. You may have the mental strength to realise spiritual enlightenment but being lazy prevents you from utilizing your inherent strength to develop spiritually.
- Just Being Busy
Most of us are busy fulfilling the everyday demands of our lives. Completing office assignments, doing duties, looking after your near and dear ones, and more consumes a lot of our time. We are so engrossed with these daily activities that we either forget/ignore our spiritual development or never contemplate our relationship with the divine. Like any other development, spiritual development requires time, and we need to make that time.
- Distractions
There’s no dearth of distractions on a regular day. There are so many things that need our consideration. Some are necessary and some are unnecessary. For example, taking your child to her school is a necessary job to be done but being addicted to your daily pint is certainly not important. But we also make these unnecessary distractions important. So, distraction is one of the key interruptions to spiritual growth. It obstructs you from pursuing a relationship with spirituality. You may try things to nurture your spiritual growth but, something or someone will distract your attention away from it.
- The Idea of Achieving Enlightenment
Often people think that they have to do something or be something different to achieve enlightenment/spirituality. But the most basic thing for us to understand is that “Enlightenment” is not something to be achieved, it’s a realisation from within. It goes beyond the boundaries of your own personal self.
At a certain point in life we all desire spiritual growth. But there’re many challenges to it. We need to continuously strive towards it by eliminating the above-elaborated obstacles. Then only we will be able to attain true spiritual development.
