Spiritual Competition, Comparison or Out-Spiriting as my mates Lucy & Jo from Higher Selfie would call it, is freaking rife right now in the spiritual communities and it's a major bummer.
Spiritual Comparison has so many different faces, but for the most part it just describes anything that gets you into a vibe of comparing your spiritual journey with someone else's.
It could be feeling like someone who's opened their third eye is more enlightened or spiritual than you are when you're still struggling to get any flippin' guidance at all. When the spiritual peeps you follow on Instagram have like a thousand Tarot decks when you've got one deck of oracle cards (I seriously know someone who literally has two thousand). Maybe you're starting a spiritual blog and checking out your fave woo woo Tweeters and feeling so many jelly donuts because they have way more followers than you think you ever will... and in the Tarot community it's super easy to feel a lot of feelings about the success of other readers, especially when you're having a slow month.
Just like with everything in spirituality, or hey, life in general, your version of spiritual comparison is going to be different.
For the most part I believe that when we find ourselves getting into judgement and jealousy there's a lot to learn for us about ourselves and our own journey. Most people who won't shut up about their awesome meditation with Archangel Orion are just super excited and want to share their experience and want you to experience it too! They don't mean to harsh your vibe...
But then there are people out there who get their kicks Out-Spiriting others. Old school Tarot Readers who belittle New Age Hipsters for reading with Angel Tarot. Shadow-workers who call what light-workers are doing "crap" (woah Nellie!). There are spiritualistas who roll their eyes at you for eating cheesy nachos, because like, OMG everyone should be vegan if they are spiritual (I wish I could be vegan, but my lifestyle and enjoyment of cheesy nachos can't handle it, maybe one day), and then there are those chics at yoga class who look over at you like OMG you can't even do tree pose - LOLZ. :S
This is something that has been in my face a lot over the last few weeks, and I know many of you are feeling it too, so I thought I'd jot down a few things to remember when you feel like your spiritual journey is similar to sitting in a wheelbarrow being pushed by some drunk guy while everyone else is riding about in a glittery limo pulled by unicorns.
Does Out-Spiriting make you feel like this guy in the Four of Swords from the Unicorn Tarot? x
You can totally un-follow or hide stuff that annoys you
If someone in particular is getting on your goaticorn (you know, like a unicorn but a goat) you can totally just hide them off your feed, unfollow them for a while or just unfollow them forever. Even if you don't know why they are getting to you.
Sometimes we just don't vibe with people who are doing the same things we're doing and that's totally fine. There are a lot of woo woo people coming out of the closet and onto social media with a lot of different vibes and messages. If someone is making you feel bad about yourself and your journey, hide that shit and search out the accounts that feel more loving and better for where you're at.
Don't hang around with people who make you feel bad
It's easy to hide stuff online so you don't have to see it, but IRL (that's in real life for those of you who didn't hang out in chat rooms in the 90's) things are different. You can't just stop going to Yoga because someone scoffed at your downward dog. Well, you can, but you really shouldn't have to. If you have woo woo mates who enjoy Out-Spiriting each other maybe don't hang around with those people as much.
You don't have to resonate with everyone and everything
Just because someone is a super famous spiritual leader or hot blogger or whatever it doesn't mean their message has to be for you. I follow a few people that I really admire and even though their work doesn't totally resonate with where I'm at in my journey right now I can totally see the value in it for others. I don't have to resonate and click like on all their posts to totally respect their work.
I think a lot of us are like - oh I didn't vibe with that one thing that person said, I can't follow them any more. Well that's totally your choice, but you're never gonna resonate 100% with anyone, not even yourself! Woah! Search out the people you resonate with most of the time and it's all good.
Go rogue
Forget everything you've ever learned about woo woo and just close your eyes and listen. Your spiritual journey has nothing to do with books, courses and gurus. It's about you and your own soul. While all this outside stuff can totally help you on your journey it's only supposed to be a way to help you connect with yourself and your own guidance, it's not the answer, it's just a way to help you find the answers you already have!
Tell them you're not playing the game
If you have a blog or social media account tell everyone you're not playing. Just be like: I'm totally #SpiritualComparisonFree! (Thanks Lucy for letting me mashup your hashtag!)
Look in the mirror
When stuff comes up that makes us feel shit about our own journey it's super easy to go straight into "that person is a jerk" mode. Sometimes that person is a jerk, but it's also super valuable to ask yourself what they triggered in you and take a look at that.
Maybe all those Yoga bunnies are bringing up your own stuff about getting healthy. Maybe the guy that speaks his truth pisses you off because you really struggle to be authentic and have some of your own throat chakra stuff to clear. Maybe everyone getting a book deal makes you feel like a loser because you haven't even tried. Whatever comes up is important to consider. Sometimes people are just jerks, but even jerks can bring spiritual lessons!
Don't go down to their level
Don't react to Out-Spiriting with more Out-Spiriting.
I learned this the hard way when I started getting massively trolled on the Tarot forums. Hard-core Tarot traditionalists are very rarely (I know some of you are out there, stop hiding!) New Age Hipster fans, and that's totally OK because I didn't actually start New Age Hipster for those old school traditionalists, I started it for you, that was the whole point!
Sticking up for yourself and speaking your truth is super important, saying it 26 different ways to people who've already left the building is not so important. Know when you're chatting to closed ears and move on with your life. Leave that group and don't worry about those guys.
Have a moan
K, so this isn't very high vibe advice and I appreciate some people might be like - OMG Vix I expected better from you. But seriously, when you've been Out-Spirited sometimes it's better to talk about it than keep it all inside!
If you don't have a woo woo mate who gets it to FB chat with you're always welcome over at the Spiritual Journey Pitstop to talk about this stuff. We've been chatting about it this week and it's been awesome. We don't always agree 100% on stuff, but we're always supportive of each other and that just makes it way more interesting, awesome and conducive to everyone's spiritual growth! Whooop!
Remember everyone is on their own journey
This is seriously my favourite mantra. When faced with Out-Spiriters or even well-meaners who get under your skin remember that we're all here to learn different stuff, to experience different things and that's OK.
Some people are probably even here on divine missions to be Out-Spiriters just to give the rest of a us a chance to work on our stuff, so we should really be thanking them! :P
Live in the now man
Some days you need to switch off from being "spiritual" and just go to the pub or something. Talk to people who aren't woo woo. Talk about work, relationships, politics, environmental issues, what night the bin goes out, share your life goals and dreams, gossip about hot celebrities or sit in a cafe and just check out people's outfits for fashion inspo.
Your spiritual journey is a huge part of your life, but it's not the only part. You came here to be human, so like, focus on that too!
Forgive Yourself
If you've Out-Spirited people in the past whether knowingly or not, forgive yourself. Let it go and just set an intention to try not to do it so much.
Sometimes when we are being jerks we don't even realise. I'm sure at some point someone out there has felt Out-Spirited because of something we've all said or done, intentionally or not.
Let's just all try really hard not to Out-Spirit each other.
Let's share our journeys with the intention of sharing the love and knowledge rather than looking cool or enlightened. Hey, we're all human and it's still going to happen, but let's try our best to be excellent to each other.
With love, light and huge spiritual community group hugs,
Vix
x
