By Kai Simmonds
There are so many types of Spirituality out there, and I believe that Spirituality should be something that can be applied in everyday 3D life - not just astral travel and plant medicines,
So Here are 3 "non spiritual" spiritual books that changed my life and a little bit of how I found #spirituality #spiritualawakening #spiritualgrowth #spirituallifecoach #soulpurposecoach
First off, I didn't grow up in a Spiritual household or community. I grew up Catholic- every Sunday we went to Church, I prayed to God and forever cloaked in that "Catholic Guilt." which I am still shaking off. There was no one in my life who was "Spiritual."
I "officially" found Spirituality pretty late in the game, but Spirituality was always there hiding in plain sight, and it wasn't until recently that I started to look back at my life and realized I was actually very Spiritual all along.
At the time I connected Spirituality with woo-woo, airy- fairy hippies who danced in the woods and did weird things - which yeah I now love lol!
But I often made fun of Spirituality and Spiritual people and these 3 books taught me some of the MOST important Spiritual Life Lessons that I still go back to today.
the alchemist
I was 16 Emo Child with rainbow hair, facial piercings and covered in black eyeliner and teenage angst when I read this book. I spent most of my time being mad at the world and hating everyone. Then I met my best friend, a Russian Exchange student and we immediately connected!
She was super smart (still is) and read lots of books and when I asked her what her favorite book was she gave me The Alchemist.
I devoured it.
The book transported me to a whole new world, and opened my eyes to a life, travel, and adventure. It was the first time I felt a sense of purpose- I wanted to leave Hawaii and explore the world! I wanted to meet and fall in love with a foreigner, I wanted to live an exotic place, and I wanted to find my treasure.
I immediately got "Maktub," tattooed on my left wrist - my first tattoo. I'm not going to explain the meaning but when/if you read the book you'll know.
Then10 years later, I ended up moving to the UAE after traveling around the world, the UAE checked all the boxes that my 16 year old self had only dreamed about it was a place they spoke Arabic, filled with sand dunes, adventures, and yes I met my foreign love and found my treasure here in the UAE.
My treasure you see is my Soul Purpose. Even today, I pick up the book and still the journey he goes on perfectly describes the journey many of us will take to find our Treasure, our Soul Purpose.
So for me at 16, my Soul was calling me all the way to the other side of the world to find my treasure ( Soul Purpose) all the while was already within me.
solve for happy
This book also came to me by my super smart Russian friend ( who recommended The Alchemist) - thanks Varvara!
I had just broken up with my First Love, and we can all relate to our first heartbreak- it sucks! I needed some healing, I needed some direction, and this book came into my life.
This book was written by an Egyptian man who lived in Dubai and lost his son to a freak accident. This book was his healing.
At this point in my life, I was still not Spiritual at all- made fun of people who did Yoga and believed ONLY in logic and facts.
This book was full of it- lots of facts and ways to find happiness to heal, to overcome heartbreak and loss.
Years later, as I read several other Spiritual books such as The Power of Now, Hawaiian Healing Secrets and books on Taoism I felt like these concepts were things I already knew.
When my Dad was going through a tough time I recommended this book and as I glanced through it- I made the connection that so much of his book came from other Spiritual books.
As I look back and laugh at myself for NOT thinking I was Spiritual, when this book was all about Meditation, and Healing.
After all, true healing comes from the SOUL, and that is SPIRIT - ual.
breath
Okay, by this time I had definitely considered myself Spiritual- as I had just finished my 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training and I was 29.
After finishing my Yoga Teacher training, I had no intention to teach but did the training to deepen my knowledge of Yoga- but yes ended up teaching because it lit my soul up ( you can read the FULL STORY here).
But after finishing my training I learned that Yoga was more than just Asana (physical poses) and was obsessed with Pranayama (Breathwork).
This book once again gave a practical/logical explanation of Breathwork ( Pranayama). What this book really taught me was the healing power of our OWN body.
At this point of my life, I had been struggling with anxiety, burnout and stress and Yoga was definitely helping but the breath work is really want help me overcome it and this book is taught me how much POWER I had within me to HEAL myself- and how to access this so that whenever something stressful came up I could deal with in a much easier way.
For a long time I thought I needed OTHERs to HEAL me, this book awakened me to my OWN healing powers that I can use to HEAL me.
This is exactly how I support my clients, not by HEALING them- but by teaching them to HEAL themselves.
becoming spiritual
For me these books mark key points in my life where I had an awakening or a shift happened and I received guidance from the Universe via these books. So yeah Spirituality can be running around the forest in a circle and carrying crystals but it was also be reading books ( which may not seem spiritual).
In the end, when Spirituality comes into your life it may hit you like a brick in the face or it might sneakily creep in (like me).
But when you embark on this Spiritual journey KNOW that it is YOURS - you can live it YOUR WAY, DEFINING what Spirituality means to you - maybe its practical or maybe not and either way its only up to you to decide.