Spiritual Maturity: Signs You're Growing on the Path

# Spiritual Maturity: Signs You're Growing on the Path My dearest friends, my beloved fellow travelers on this sacred journey of life, it is with a heart full of love that I welcome you here today. I want to talk about something that is so close to my heart, something that I have witnessed in so many beautiful souls over my 30 years of teaching and that I continue to explore in my own life: **spiritual maturity**. Now, that term might sound a little intimidating, a little lofty, doesn't it? As if it's some far-off destination you have to strive and struggle to reach. But I want to invite you to see it differently. Spiritual maturity isn't about achieving a state of perfection, my loves. It's not about floating on a cloud of bliss 24/7, detached from the beautiful messiness of human life. Oh no. It is something far more organic, far more natural. It is the gentle, graceful unfolding of the magnificent being you already are. It is the blossoming of your own divine nature, a remembering of the love and wisdom that has been patiently waiting within you all along. So, take a deep breath with me. Let go of any pressure to be somewhere you are not. And let's explore together, with curiosity and with love, some of the beautiful signs that you are indeed growing on your spiritual path. ## You Find Peace in the Present Moment One of the most raw shifts we experience as we mature spiritually is a change in our relationship with time. For so much of our lives, we are lost in the labyrinth of our minds, either ruminating on the past or anxiously planning for the future. But as our consciousness expands, we begin to find our home in the present moment. The **Now** becomes a sanctuary, a place of deep peace and rest.

I keep palo santo in every room, it is one of my favorite tools for shifting energy. *(paid link)*

This is what the Buddha taught so beautifully with the practice of mindfulness. It is the simple, yet radical, act of paying attention to our present experience without judgment. When you find yourself fully immersed in the simple act of washing the dishes, feeling the warmth of the water on your hands, or when you are walking in nature and are completely captivated by the dance of the leaves in the wind, you are touching the hem of enlightenment. You are tasting the sweetness of the present moment. **A loving invitation:** The next time you feel your mind being pulled into the past or the future, gently guide it back to your breath. Feel the sensation of the air entering and leaving your body. This simple act is a powerful anchor to the Now. It is a declaration of your intention to live where life is actually happening: right here, right now. ## You See the Divine in Everyone and Everything As we grow spiritually, the walls of separation begin to dissolve. The illusion of "me" versus "you," of "us" versus "them," starts to fade, and we begin to see the world through the eyes of love. We start to recognize the same divine spark, the same sacred essence, in every single being we meet, and in every aspect of creation. the heart of **Advaita Vedanta**, the ancient Hindu philosophy of non-duality, which teaches that there is only one ultimate reality, Brahman, and that we are all expressions of that one reality. When you look into the eyes of another and see not a stranger, but a reflection of your own soul, you are living this truth. When you can find beauty in the storm as well as the sunshine, in the weed as well as the rose, you are seeing with the eyes of God.

Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now remains one of the most important spiritual books of our time. *(paid link)*

**A loving invitation:** The next time you are interacting with someone, especially someone you find challenging, silently repeat to yourself, "The divine in me sees and honors the divine in you." Feel the shift in your heart as you do this. What we're looking at is not about condoning harmful behavior, my loves. It is about recognizing the inherent divinity that lies beneath the surface of all our human conditioning. ## You Are Less Reactive and More Responsive Another beautiful sign of spiritual maturity is a shift from being reactive to being responsive. Reactivity comes from the ego, from our conditioned patterns of thought and emotion. It is the knee-jerk reaction, the automatic defense, the surge of anger or fear. Responsiveness, on the other hand, comes from a place of inner stillness and wisdom. It is a conscious choice, a thoughtful and compassionate reply to the needs of the moment. Here's the thing: it's the essence of **Karma Yoga**, the path of selfless action taught in the Bhagavad Gita. It is the practice of acting without attachment to the fruits of our actions, of offering our every thought, word, and deed as a sacred offering to the divine. When we act from this place, we are no longer slaves to our impulses. We become instruments of a higher will, channels of love and wisdom in the world. **A loving invitation:** The next time you feel a strong emotional reaction welling up inside you, try this simple practice. Pause. Take three deep breaths. And ask yourself, "What is the most loving and wise response I can offer in this moment?" This sacred pause creates a space for grace to enter, for your higher self to guide your actions.

If you have not read The Essential Rumi, you are missing some of the most beautiful spiritual poetry ever written. *(paid link)* This isn't just poetry ~ it's like having a direct conversation with someone who figured out the cosmic joke and decided to share it through verse. Rumi cuts through all the spiritual bullshit and gets straight to what matters: love, longing, and the wild dance between human and divine. His words hit you in places you didn't know existed. Seriously. I've read passages that made me stop mid-breath, not because they were clever, but because they were true in a way that bypassed my brain entirely.

## You Embrace All of Life, the Light and the Shadow Spiritual maturity is not about living in a state of perpetual positivity, my friends. It is about embracing the full spectrum of human experience, the light and the shadow, the joy and the sorrow. It is about having the courage to face our own darkness, our own pain, our own unhealed wounds, with love and with compassion. In the tradition of **mystical Christianity**, this is often referred to as the "dark night of the soul." It is a period of real spiritual desolation, a time when we feel lost, alone, and abandoned by God. But it is in this very darkness, my loves, that the seeds of a deeper faith are sown. It is in this emptiness that we are hollowed out to receive a more real and unshakable connection to the divine. **A loving invitation:** The next time you are going through a difficult time, I invite you to hold yourself with the same love and tenderness you would offer to a beloved friend. Don't try to fix it or to push it away. Simply be with it. And ask yourself, "What is the gift in this challenge? What is the lesson that my soul is trying to learn?" ## Your Heart is Filled with Gratitude

Pema Chodron's When Things Fall Apart is the book I give to anyone going through a dark night. *(paid link)* I've probably bought fifty copies over the years. Seriously. Because when someone's world is crashing down ~ when the divorce papers arrive, when the diagnosis comes back, when the job disappears ~ they don't need platitudes about everything happening for a reason. They need Pema's raw honesty about sitting with the mess. She doesn't promise you'll come out stronger or better. She just teaches you how to breathe when breathing feels impossible.

Finally, my dears, one of the most beautiful and unmistakable signs of spiritual maturity is a heart that is overflowing with gratitude. As we awaken to the miracle of our own existence, to the infinite love that surrounds us and sustains us in every moment, gratitude becomes our natural state of being. We are grateful for the simple gift of our breath, for the warmth of the sun on our skin, for the love of our friends and family. We are even grateful for our challenges, for we have come to see them as our greatest teachers. **A loving invitation:** I invite you to begin and end each day with a simple gratitude practice. Before you get out of bed in the morning, and before you fall asleep at night, simply name three things that you are grateful for. Let the feeling of gratitude wash over you, filling your heart with warmth and with love. My beloved friends, please remember that this journey of spiritual growth is not a race. It is a slow and sacred dance. Be gentle with yourselves. Be patient with yourselves. And above all, be loving with yourselves. You are exactly where you need to be. And you are loved beyond measure. With all my love, Paul Wagner