What does “spiritually rebellious” mean?
and how does it relate to Courageous Self-Care?
Well hello there and good day to you!
I’m glad we’re together again. I hope last week’s cliffhanger wasn’t too suspenseful for you. (And you’re probably like, “Huh? What cliffhanger?”)
Well, let me tell you, I’ve been having a week of contemplation about the questions that surfaced in the last post.
In case you haven’t been on the edge of your seat for 7 days, let me refresh your memory. Here’s what we ended with:
What does spiritually rebellious mean?
What are these ninja skills you speak of?
How do self-care and ninjas go together?
Today we’re going to tie together all these loose strings (or ribbons because that sounds prettier than just plain old strings).
Let’s weave a web of self-care, rebelliousness, spirituality, and ninjas. (Wow… I just reread that and it seems like a somewhat daunting task but I’m up for it. Let’s dive in!)
When I’m unsure of something, I always like to start with a definition and so I just had a little foray down the rabbit hole of spirituality defined. What became clear is that people are not really clear about spirituality.
Spirituality Defined
Here’s Oxford’s definition: “The quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things. The shift in priorities allows us to embrace our spirituality in a more profound way."
(But, that makes me ask: Why are we concerned with the human spirit? Shouldn’t we be in wonder and awe with the human spirit? Concerned seems like a strange choice to me. There I go… rebelling already!)
Another description of spirituality I found on the website called HumanitysTeam is: “At its core, spirituality involves a sense of connection to something greater than ourselves, often leading to a quest for meaning in life.”
So that’s vague.
Along with definitions, I always love to head over to Etymology.com which goes right back to the original meaning of words. When I read what was there, I exclaimed, “Aha! Just as I suspected.” (Out loud. In the cafe where I often do my writing. Luckily no one heard me. Or if they did, they politely ignored me.)
Spirituality, of course, comes from the word spirit, which, in turn, comes from the Latin word spiritus. The original meaning of spiritus is breath; breathing; inspiration; or breath of life, hence life itself. Old French also had the word espirit, meaning soul.
I had been pondering that very thing. To me, spirit flows through the body with breath. It’s life force energy that creates and then animates every aspect of us. So the most simple and accessible definition of spirit/spirituality is breath flowing through the body. That we can do something with!
Rebellious Defined
Which brings us to rebellious. We’ll just go right to the source for this one. Etymology.com says that rebellious originated with the Latin word rebellus (rebel) which meant “one who refuses obedience to a superior or controlling power or principle.”
As someone who grew up being distinctly obedient, I quite like the idea of being spiritually rebellious.
As a child and then a teenager, I didn’t get the concept of religion. My grandparents were all very religious and so I sat through many a sermon wondering things like: Why would you behave however you want all week and then go confess? Why not just be a good person and make good choices all the time?
One Christmas Eve, sitting in a pew for the service, I wondered something else. The priest was ranting and raving to a room full of children excited to go leave cookies for Santa about how they were all sinners and would become nothing but dust of the earth. I wondered if he had ever met a child, especially one at Christmas. It didn’t seem like he was very in tune with the spirit of the season.
Another wondering came up when I was about to get married. I had a great uncle who refused to come to my wedding because it wasn’t in a church. I said to my dad, “I thought religion had love and compassion at its core. I thought it was about being accepting and loving.” Not so much in this case.
I’m not one for dogma or believing things just because someone says so. I have a mind that is curious and wants to dig deeper. Each of these experiences, among many others, made me question what I had been taught about religion.
When I read Eckart Tolle’s book A New Earth, I exclaimed, “Aha! I thought so!” (A common cry for me, as you can see.) It was the first time my suspicion was voiced by someone else. In his book, Eckart explains that much of religion is actually being driven by the ego, which made perfect sense to me. Essentially, if someone goes around saying “I’m right and you’re wrong,” that’s the ego. I feel like that happens a lot in religion, at least in my experience.
That’s what I experienced with my great uncle. He felt so right about his opinion and was so certain that I was wrong to get married outside of a church that he missed out on a wonderful family reunion and celebration. He also felt the need to tell us that he felt sorry for the souls of our unborn children because we were condemning them to a life in hell. Sadly, he never got to meet our outstanding kids who are deeply connected to the divine and anything but hell-bound. His loss.
Growing up, I didn’t know that spirituality was a thing. All I knew was that church wasn’t a fit. Then, thanks to some personal development courses, the idea of spirituality was introduced and I began to come home to myself.
I’m now very clear on what living a spiritual life means. All of my life has become spiritual. There’s not a moment where I feel disconnected. I am always basking in the flow of the divine. And, when I’m out and about, I see that this POV isn’t common.
Therefore, I’ve determined that I am spiritually rebellious. What does that mean? I’ve broken it down into 12 aspects (which aligns with the 12 chakras… which is also spiritually rebellious because didn’t you think there were only 7?)
1- Love Above All Else 🥰
Being spiritually rebellious means love above all else, even when and especially when there’s no logical reason to love. I work daily at cultivating more and more love, especially for the unlovable. Love is the divine and the divine is love.
2- Spirit as Breath 🌬
Being spiritually rebellious means paying attention every day, as often as possible, to spirit moving through the body as breath; conscious breath. We’ve got to breathe, all day long, and so I figure we might as well be doing it in a way that makes life better and better. Transformation requires conscious breathing.
3- Being Humble 🧎♀️
Being spiritually rebellious means knowing and trusting that Infinite Intelligence knows more than I do, and so I must surrender what I think is best (especially for others). I’m not the manager of the Universe and I don’t know other people’s life curricula. It’s not up to me to fix other people (what a relief… I used to use so much energy doing that very thing). I must trust and know without a doubt that everything is happening for my highest expansion.
4- Being Open 👐
Being spiritually rebellious means understanding that “new age” is actually really old. It’s just been hidden for a long, long time. Now, as human consciousness evolves at a more rapid pace than ever before, the secret information is being shared with early adapters, who are ready and willing to hear it and to put it into action.
We want to learn to be curious rather than judgmental. Viewing things as good or bad just doesn’t serve us. It’s exhausting to live in the energy of duality, constantly deciding where we stand. Instead, it’s preferable to open up and see everything as interesting. After all, we’re here for experiences. Everything serves our highest expansion. We want to be as open as possible to our own expansion. That’s the whole point.
5- Only One Thing is Happening 🌟
From my mentor, Dr Sue Morter, I’ve learned that when things seem problematic in the world, only one thing is ever happening and that one thing is that love as light is pouring in. It might not seem like it has anything to do with love, but love is mobilizing and so it stirs up what’s been hidden and suppressed. That previously stuck energy rises to the surface. It gets revealed to be healed. Chaos is an indication of love and light pouring in. It’s definitely spiritually rebellious to see the world’s issues as energy mobilized by love.
6- Go Within and Unify 🧘🏻♀️
Spiritual rebelliousness means rather than getting upset by the outer world and its seemingly inexplicable events, we choose to go within (a practice known as pratyahara). When we do this, we connect with the truth of who we are (brillant, powerful, glorious, magnificent beings) and we contribute to the world through our heightened vibration and centeredness rather than joining the mob and contributing to the issues (that are often steeped with anger, hatred, division, and judgment). It doesn’t seem like going within will help but it’s actually the most powerful and beneficial thing you can do to make a difference on the planet.
A lot of self-care out there has a decidedly mind-based approach, meaning it just focuses on the mind. The issue with just focusing on the mind is that everything else gets left out. Instead, we want to learn to unify mind, body, and breath. When we do that, we get the benefit of capitalizing on all of us rather than on just one small part. When we’re unified, stuck energy flows again, our inner healer awakens, we connect with infinite intelligence and energy, and every part of life gets better, without having to work so hard.
7- You’re a Powerful Creator 🤘
Spiritual rebelliousness means knowing that everyone who shows up in our lives is a teacher and an angel in disguise, especially those who are problematic. They are helping us rise to our greatness so that we can know ourselves as powerful creators.
For example, maybe you landed in a family devoid of love and it was painful. As a creator, you get to turn your trials into your treasure. There might be no external reason for you to love yourself in that circumstance, but you are so powerful that you can create self-love out of nothing. That’s how amazing we are.
We can do the same thing with forgiveness (forgiving when there’s no logical or rational reason to do so); fear (finding the courage to do scary things or healing from terrifying experiences); using our voice (speaking up for yourself with love and compassion); and so on. We can create whatever we desire and that’s why we came here - to know ourselves on this expansive and empowering level.
8- Embrace What Is by Loving All the Parts 💞
Spiritually rebellious means unconditionally loving and adoring yourself. All the parts of yourself. The critical part, the angry part, the doubtful part, the fearful part, the perfectionistic part, the mean part, the part that feels small, weak, or undeserving, and any other part that shows up. The more love we can pour into ourselves, the more meaningful all of our relationships become.
We also become accepting, flexible, centered, present, and peaceful. The inner critic subsides. The people pleaser diminishes. The perfectionist softens. We heal and awaken with boundless energy and life force.
9- We are Whole and Complete 🫶
This is a big one! Spiritually rebellious means knowing that on a soulful level, you are whole and complete. You are not broken. There is nothing to fix. You don’t need to get rid of anything. It’s more about allowing. The more you can open up and allow your wholeness and completeness to become an embodied experience, the smoother life goes. Experiences flow through you. Nothing gets stuck. You are a river of contentment. Suffering fades away and life becomes graceful.
10- We’re Not at War with the Ego ⚔️
Spiritually rebellious means knowing that we’re not in conflict with the Ego. There’s not a war and we don’t have to conquer it. The only thing we need to do with the Ego is love it. It’s just the mind trying to be of service by keeping things familiar. What’s not to love?
The mind is meant to be a humble servant; it’s not meant to run the show. When we acknowledge the egoic part of the mind, say thank you, and let it know it’s loved, it turns from an inner critic into an inner cheerleader. Again, love is the solution and we want to shower all parts of ourselves with as much love as possible, including the Ego.
11- All Emotions are Created Equal ≈
I also learned this very important point from Dr Sue. All emotions are created equal. Again, we’re not trying to get rid of any part of us. We don’t have to fix how we feel. Emotions aren’t good or bad; positive or negative. They are all just energy flowing through us. Some certainly feel better than others but when we learn to harness the various vibrations of energy, we can use them all to our advantage.
12- The Goal Isn’t Enlightenment 🕉
This is a particularly spiritually rebellious concept. As Dr Sue says, we’re already made of light so we don’t need to try to “get enlightened”. Rather, it’s all about embodiment. If something isn’t showing up in your life in the way you would love, it means it’s just not embodied yet.
We don’t raise our vibration by going higher and outside ourselves. The body is actually the point and the solution. The body is never against you; it’s always in support of your growth and healing.
At an atomic level, we’re made up mostly of vast amounts of space. That space can become very contracted, though, with “negative” thoughts and the lens through which we see the world. Contracted thoughts lead to contracted bodies (tightness, pain, density, heaviness) and when that happens, there is literally no space for what you want to reside.
If we want experiences that feel expansive, light, joyful, celebrational, adventurous, and fun (which is what life is meant to be), we must learn to make space in our physiology for those high-frequency energies to flow through. When the high vibrations become embodied, our lives reflect the embodiment and we experience daily wonder, awe, magic, gratitude, and flow.
So there you go; twelve spiritually rebellious ideas for you to consider. I didn’t initially think that there were so many aspects to spiritual rebelliousness. That took a little longer than I anticipated but I think it was worth it. I feel so much more clear now and hopefully you do too.
Let’s leave these other two questions for next time:
What are these Courageous Self-Care ninja skills you speak of?
How do self-care and ninjas go together?
Another cliffhanger for you. I hope you have good grip strength!
Until next time.
With rebellious love and unruly courage,
Christina
🕺🏻Creator of Courageous Self-Care
🕺🏻Unique Stupid-Human-Trick: being able to recite passages of Good Morning Vietnam verbatim (very useful at parties)
🕺🏻Last movie watched: Widow Cliquot (On Netflix - it was fantastic! Another great example of a strong, feisty woman making a huge difference in the world. She was totally a rebel.)
Get Spiritually Rebellious with these Upcoming Courageous Self-Care Sessions
Breathwork 🌬
9D Breathwork is the Cadillac of breathwork. You can talk about an issue for 10 years or release it in a couple of hours of conscious breathing. There’s nothing like it. Freedom is just a few breaths away.
Tuesday Feb 11: 9D Breathwork - Releasing Guilt and Shame- virtual session; replay available for 7 days
Monday Feb 24: 9D Breathwork - Healing Ancestral Trauma- virtual session; replay available for 7 days
Saturday Feb 22: In Person 9D Breathwork Session - The Inception. Join us at Currie Barracks Calgary in our cozy healing space for a powerful journey and sacred circle.
Online Yoga 🧘🏻♀️
Mon Feb 3: Online Yoga Class (Yoga for Divine Alignment)
Transformation awaits! Experience what it feels like to unify mind, body, and breath simultaneously. Why would you want to do that? In this unique style of yoga, you’ll awaken your inner healer so that your mat becomes a healing sanctuary. Whether you desire physical, emotional, financial, or mental healing - it’s available. Truly, your life will never be the same.
Soulful Time Management 🗓
Fri Feb 14: Sacred Success Friday Review
There’s time management and then there’s Soulful Time Management. Get organized in a way that honours your entire being. This session is the perfect antidote to overwhelm. You’ll be guided through my signature planning process that will help you feel more present, gain clarity, and celebrate your accomplishments.
Tropical Retreat 🌴
Apr 27-May 3: Panama Retreat (1 spot left!)
Go on a sacred journey to ignite your inner oasis. Join us for a week in paradise with like-minded souls where you’ll be nourished in every way possible. Take your life to the next level and become magnetic to your heart’s dreams and desires. Is the last spot yours?