I don’t know if you know this about me, but I used to be a makeup artist, and I taught a lot of clients how to put on their makeup. 

Before we would start, I would always ask them, how much time do you want to invest in this process? 

5 minutes? 15? 30? Or all the time in the world to look their best? 

And not that a 5-minute face didn’t look good (it did!), but it's not the full dance. We were sticking to the fundamental essentials. The step ball change of makeup applications.

A 5-minute face would be some tinted moisturizer, mascara and some gloss. They would look awake. 

With a 15-minute face, we would do the same but add some concealer blush and curl their lashes (if applicable). 

A 30-minute face was foundation, concealer, blush, mascara, lipstick and liner, and we finished it all off with a misting spray. On the surface, they looked rested, hydrated and present. 

And then there’s the “I got all the time in...

A spiritual awakening is a process of change.

When we go through it, our old beliefs and societal conditioning start to fall away and we begin to see the world in a new light. Some people call this "waking up."

Now, being spiritually awakened is not all sunshine and rainbows.

In fact, for everyone (with the exception of Eckhart Tolle), it's downright painful.

There’s no doubt about it: undergoing a spiritual awakening can feel like everything you know to be true has been shattered into tiny little fragments that don't quite seem to fit back together again. But rest assured: there are ways to tell if you're going through an awakening (even if you don't have things all figured out just yet). 

Here are signs that you might just be going through the process of waking up—and yes, this includes the "dark night of the soul" stuff too!

You're spending a lot more time alone.

You're spending a lot more time alone. The idea of spending a Saturday night at home, alone, is no...

We’re so used to living in a world where only what is tangible is real. Making it easy to just believe in what our eyes can see, and our hands can touch. The practice of mindfulness and compassion can help us choose to perceive the outside world from a perspective that is of service to our spiritual health.

Just like how our body gets tired and run down and needs a break from time to time, so does our soul.

When we veer off a steady diet of love and gratitude, our soul begins to lack the proper nutrients that let energy flow, just like in our body. Much like our ability to walk up a flight of stairs requires a certain level of fitness, our ability to choose love in challenging situations requires a healthy connection to our soul.

As someone who’s struggled with depression for years, I’ve learned that having compassion can mean the difference between feeling broken and having what I like to call, a spiritual cold.

Instead of the physical symptoms of a fever keeping...