People on a spiritual path display certain characteristics. These are the top 10! Photo: Pexels
People who are in touch with spirituality show a number of spiritual traits, characteristics and attributes. In order to identify with a belief, one has to follow its guidelines, otherwise one could turn into a hypocrite. However, it’s not like spirituality is a black or white thing.
Everyone has the right to believe in what they want to believe in. Doing certain things or not doing others doesn’t mean that person will be excluded from the ‘spiritual community’. Spirituality doesn’t require blind obedience.
Generally though, ‘spiritual people’ have a number of the following attributes, that automatically come when you start having faith in something like spirituality. Do you have any of them, too?
1. They know that they are a soul first and a body second
Whatever’s going on inside your body is much more important than your shell, aka your body. People who know this put more emphasis on their inner growth, rather than their outer one, since they understand that they can’t bring anything physical to the afterlife.
However, what you learn and who you are is much more important. They understand that, primarily, life is a school and we’re the students. Whatever happens to us now, will serve us later.
It’s not that important what you achieve in terms of traditional ‘success’, but rather how you grow during a lifetime. They don’t talk down on their own bodies, because they know it’s only a tool that allows us to roam around this planet during this lifetime.
2. They are detached and trusting
Spirituality teaches us that there are no good and bad experiences. Rather, they are pleasant or unpleasant. But that doesn’t mean that they are wrong or shouldn’t have happened. Spiritual people understand that everything that happens to us serves a purpose and brings us to where we are meant to go.
They don’t blame anything or anyone for their miseries, but rather trust in the process and work on themselves. They understand that probably, they live a very privileged life and know how to appreciate what they have.
And whenever they go through hard times, they see the deeper purpose behind it, as pain and obstacles helps them grow as a soul and a person and, in the end, guides them into the right direction. They trust that everything will be fine in the end.
3. They are focused on their journey and growth
When in touch with spirituality, you are interested in fulfilling your life purpose, even if you don’t yet know what it is. They don’t want to stay in the same place, but rather want to grow, learn, experience, fail, suffer, ripen, bloom and move in this lifetime.
They strive towards more understanding of the universe and look for deeper meaning. Such people are uncomfortable being stuck in the same place. They would rather get hurt along the journey and learn from those experiences than stand still in the same place for too long.
They make sure this lifetime is useful to their advancement as a soul and child of the universe.
4. They are kind and trustworthy
A person that is secured in their faith and strives towards a life of spirituality doesn’t feel the need to talk down on other people or behind their backs, manipulate, lie, yell or be anything else other than kind and understanding.
They wouldn’t purposely take valuable energy and time out of their day to make someone else feel miserable. Spiritual people have balanced their emotions, are interested in good communication growing together with the people around them.
And they know that if someone isn’t good for them or brings them out of their tranquility, they stay away from such people. I’m not saying a spiritual person never gets sad, mad, disappointed or annoyed. Instead, I mean that they don’t take it out on people that have nothing to do with their situation.
5. They practice their faith
Once you have found a reason you want to have a certain faith in your life and you see the value it brings to you, you also care about practicing it and everything that brings you closer to it. It’s like an athlete feeling the need to train.
It doesn’t have to be every day, but regular practices are what keeps them spiritually secured. These practices can be different for everyone.
They could be meditation, journaling, reading, talking to a mentor, sitting in silence, grounding, traveling, affirmations and manifestation, praying, fasting, doing courses, workshops or readings, going to an ashram, etc. Whatever it is, it makes them feel inclined with their faith and as a results makes them feel good.
6. They are interested in growing their knowledge
As we roam around on earth, we realize that there is more knowledge out there than we could ever take in. Personally, I have understood a long time ago that I could never know everything or even just a lot. But on the other hand, that means that there will always be knowledge out there to acquire and that to me is very exciting.
A spiritual person is always interested in growing. And the starting point of growing is always understanding. Personally, I love to read. There are a ton of good books out there that keep opening my mind to new spiritual explanations I haven’t known of before.
However, there are a lot of ways to expand one’s knowledge about a topic. Another way to learn a lot is to learn from someone, ergo having a mentor.
7. They embrace failure and bad experiences
It is very comforting to know that there are no mistakes in this lifetime. Rather we have pleasurable and painful experiences, some we enjoy and others that serve as lessons to us. That’s the point of making a mistake! You find out you’re going in the wrong direction and are therefore able to turn around and go somewhere you’re actually supposed to go.
Every experience serves as in one way or another. And, at the end, we are always smarter than in the beginning. In this context I not only mean we lost a job or a person we thought would be in our lives always.
I also mean that one life we were a pirate, then a princess, then a beggar, then successful, then a widow, then a movie star, then a gypsy and then we found ourselves where we eventually ended up in this life.
8. They live a life true to themselves
This is one of the things I’m currently working on the most. A person that is spiritually secured let themselves be guided by their intuition, their mind, heart and soul. They can recognize when something feels very wrong. They are not afraid to listen to that feeling.
Rather, such people are more comfortable saying ‘no’ to something that goes against who they are or who they want to become, then saying ‘yes’ to something that could be destructive to them or deplete them of their energy.
They were able to develop an antenna that tells them what situation is worth investing in what to better stay away from. Listening to what your gut tells you is a form of self-care, by the way.
9. They live what they preach
A person that truly feels in touch with spirituality turns away from ‘non-spiritual’ practices. It’s like a vegetarian that says ‘no’ to eating meat, not just once but every time. They understand the concept of karma and wouldn’t risk ruining theirs.
They wouldn’t destroy their spiritual growth by being ‘a bad person’, they wouldn’t engage in activities that steal their precious energy. It’s not in their interested to bring someone else down, just so they can feel better about themselves, but rather work on improving their own lives.
They wouldn’t hurt, damage or negatively affect another persons’ life, nor the one of animals. What am I actually trying to say? No criminal person is in touch with spirituality! I guess, just that.
10. They are interested in other people’s well-being
There is a difference between caring for someone else’s well-being and being a people pleaser. The first one is good! Spiritual people know how important community and connection is. They also understand that each and every one of us faces difficult times and needs help and company sometimes.
A spiritual person offers their help to someone when they need it. However, they have their boundaries and don’t let other people walk all over them or use them for their advantage.
Instead, they have a healthy sense of fellowship and aren’t scared to share love and care when it’s needed. ‘Serving others is what makes us truly happy’. That, or something like that, the Dalai Lama said in ‘The Dalai Lama’s Cat‘, a quote I really like.
Thank you for reading, I appreciate it! Let me know what I missed.
Love, Valentina <3
Written by Valentina – spiritual writer & founder of Valentina’s Diary
