Spirituality
End Your Day With A Restorative Evening Ritual
How we end our days is just as important as how we begin them. Yet this time of the day is often overlooked as an opportunity to promote our personal and spiritual well-being.
Especially when navigating stressful situations or busy schedules, being intentional about how we transition into rest can significantly improve the quality and restorative nature of our downtime.
Creating a simple, personalized nighttime routine allows us to check in with ourselves and make sure we’re taking care of our mind, body, and spirit. It helps relieve the stress of the day and sets the tone for a restful night’s sleep.
There are countless ways to create an evening ritual or routine that resonates with your spirit. The important thing is that your practice feels authentic and meets your needs. It only takes a few simple steps to create a daily practice that helps us release the stress of the day.
Whatever practice you choose, make sure it works with your schedule and is relaxing, rather than feeling like it creates more daily tasks to complete.
Choose activities that help you relax and that you look forward to. Whether it’s journaling, listening to soothing music, or lighting a candle, choose activities that help you intentionally transition from the busyness of the day to the calm of the night.
Many people complain that they don’t have enough time in their day. For them, a daily spiritual routine is a frivolous luxury they cannot afford to waste time on, yet these same people often spend hours each night binge-watching television or endlessly scrolling through their phones. This modern paradox highlights how easily we prioritize mindless distractions over meaningful self-care. By consciously reclaiming even a fraction of this time, we can nurture our spiritual well-being every evening in a way that renews our body, mind, and spirit far more effectively.
What It Means To Align With Your Higher Self
The term “higher self” is a term often used in spirituality, metaphysics, and psychic work, but it can be very confusing. What exactly is it? Is it our subconscious, our conscience, our alter ego, our soul, our spirit?
While these aspects are all related in some way to the higher self, it’s best understood as the most enlightened and transcendent part of our being.
Our soul or spirit is the conscious, evolving part of us in this lifetime, while the higher self is our soul’s highest potential. It is our divine blueprint and our eternal spiritual essence that exists beyond our physical self in the non-physical. It’s the timeless, eternal part of us that embodies the divine essence of who we are.
While the incarnated aspect of soul is the conscious experiencer throughout our lifetime, the higher self is the permanent aspect of the soul that exists in the higher realms.
The higher self is not a separate personality or individual being, but a deeply integrated, higher foundation of our soul. It is like a spiritual archive of all the wisdom, experiences and lessons accumulated from our past lives, as well as our soul contracts and higher purpose for this lifetime, serving as a blueprint for our soul’s evolution and life journey. It reflects the highest aspects of our being.
When we connect with our higher self, we align with this elevated aspect of who we truly are and what we intend to accomplish in this life and the next. This connection gives us clarity and insight into our soul’s path. It allows us to see life from a higher perspective and guides us to make choices that promote personal and spiritual growth. Connecting with the higher self helps us navigate life’s challenges with greater ease and purpose, allowing our soul to evolve and expand.
Everything Happens For A Reason
Challenges, setbacks and disappointments are inevitable in life. Sometimes it can even feel like the entire universe is conspiring against us!
But this perspective is an illusion born of our human experience. Spirit doesn’t desire our failure or suffering. Instead, it seeks to lead us to joy, abundance, and fulfillment.
Many of us, however, fall into the habit of blaming God, Spirit, the Universe, or others for the hardships we face. But to truly grow, we must change this mindset. Instead of dwelling on blame, it’s important to examine the lessons hidden in each challenge. By asking why these situations arose and what we can learn from them, we transform pain into wisdom and setbacks into stepping stones.
Consider the heartache of losing a long-term partner. You may have built a life together – marriage, children, shared dreams – only to wake up one day to abandonment. Questions arise: Why did this happen? What could I have done differently?
It’s important to realize that in most cases these events are not your fault. Free will governs each person’s choices. While her decision to leave may hurt you deeply, it is a reflection of her own path, not your worth. Self-doubt often creeps in, especially for women, as thoughts of inadequacy arise. But self-esteem cannot come from others-it must come from within.
Instead of focusing on what you could have done, consider this: their departure may have been necessary for your growth. Spirit often removes people from our lives to make room for greater blessings. In hindsight, you may realize that staying with that person would have hindered your potential or delayed the arrival of something better.
The Spiritual Significance Of 666
The number 666 is undoubtedly the most controversial and misinterpreted number in spirituality.
Mostly shrouded in superstition and fear due to its portrayal in popular culture, based on its famous reference as the “number of the beast” in the Bible’s Book of Revelation, this enigmatic number actually carries a depth of spiritual significance and symbolism that goes far beyond its ominous reputation.
By delving into the true symbolism of this number sequence, we can uncover the profound messages and transformative potential it holds. Far from being a mere harbinger of evil and doom, 666 challenges us to integrate spiritual awareness and higher consciousness into our everyday lives, illuminating a path toward harmony, wisdom and enlightenment.
In numerology, for example, the number 6 is associated with balance, harmony and personal responsibility. It known as the “mother” of all numbers and symbolizes domesticity, love of home and family, and a nurturing, caring energy. Its energy promotes compassion and selflessness for the benefit of others.
The sequence 666 is a reminder to balance the material and spiritual aspects of life, encouraging self-reflection and aligning one’s actions with one’s higher self.
In Tarot, the number 6 is represented by the card The Lovers. This card symbolizes love, harmony, and the choices one must make to achieve balance in relationships. It emphasizes unity within oneself and with others, and the need for deeper introspection and harmonization of opposing forces.
The Mysterious Phenomenon Of Spiritual Chills
Chills and goosebumps are fascinating responses in the human body, rooted in biology and physiology, but also shrouded in mystery.
These physical reactions are mostly triggered by cold temperatures, strong emotions such as fear, excitement, or awe, or as part of the fight-or-flight response.
But not all instances of shivering, goosebumps, or the “heebie jeebies” are rooted in physical stimuli. Some occur for no apparent reason, suggesting a deeper, more metaphysical significance.
While science attributes shivers and goosebumps solely to primal survival mechanisms, a spiritual perspective offers another level of understanding – one that links these sensations to supernatural phenomena and spiritual encounters.
Goosebumps and shivers are ancient responses inherited from our primal ancestors. When our ancestors faced cold temperatures, their body hair stood up to trap heat and provide insulation.
Similarly, when threatened, their hair would stand up, making them appear larger and more intimidating to predators. We also see this response in the fur on our cats and dogs when they go into fight or flight mode. In humans, the function is just not as pronounced due to our sparse body hair, but the response persists.
This mechanism, called piloerection, causes the tiny muscles at the base of each hair follicle to contract, making the hair stand on end and creating the characteristic bumps we call goosebumps – so named because they resemble the skin of plucked poultry. This reaction is part of the body’s autonomic nervous system, which controls involuntary responses.
The Spiritual Implications Of The Lazarus Syndrome
Recently, while watching the 2008 film The Lazarus Project, I was reminded of the paranormal phenomenon of near-death experiences (NDEs) and became intrigued by the possibility of someone coming back to life after death.
The plot of the movie is about a man who is given a second chance at life after being executed for a crime. Despite being lethally injected, he somehow wakes up in a psychiatric hospital and must overcome a series of mysterious and mystical challenges to be reunited with his family.
The title, of course, refers to the story in John 11 of a man named Lazarus who was raised from the dead by Jesus after four days. While the plot of the movie does not directly parallel the biblical story, it does draw on the themes of resurrection and second chances.
My newfound curiosity soon led me to discover a documented medical phenomenon known as “Lazarus Syndrome.” Also known as the “Lazarus phenomenon” or “autoresuscitation,” it is a rare medical condition in which a person spontaneously comes back to life after all attempts at resuscitation have failed and the person has been pronounced dead.
The phenomenon was first noted in medical literature in 1982 by Finnish anesthesiologist Dr. Kalevi Linko, who described it as the spontaneous return of circulation after resuscitation efforts have ceased. The term “Lazarus phenomenon” was later popularized by Dr. John Francis Bray in 1993, who used the biblical reference to describe these rare cases of patients who spontaneously return to life.
Embracing The 12/12 Energetic Portal
Today, we have the opportunity to align with the powerful energy of the 12/12 portal, a sacred gateway traditionally celebrated in the esoteric community for its symbolic themes of unity, completion, and integration. This portal offers a chance to reflect on the lessons of the past year and prepare for the transformative energies that lie ahead.
The number 12 represents cosmic order, harmony, and wholeness. It’s a complete number tied to cycles such as the 12 months of the year, the 12 signs of the zodiac, and the 12 disciples. On December 12, this numerical energy doubles, amplifying the vibrations of balance, completion, and unity.
The 12/12 portal marks the final energetic gateway of the year, offering a moment to integrate the wisdom we’ve gained in 2024. It encourages alignment with the universal flow and the bridging of personal growth with collective evolution. Unity isn’t just about external connections — it’s about uniting the different aspects of ourselves. Consider this portal an invitation to balance your mind, body, and spirit, fostering inner peace that radiates outward.
As the year draws to a close, the 12/12 portal serves as a moment of reflection. What lessons have you learned? What challenges shaped you? This energy threshold encourages embracing both your triumphs and setbacks, recognizing them as essential parts of your personal growth. Integration is key at this time — taking a step back to evaluate how you’ve grown and how you can carry those lessons forward ensures that you will enter the next year wiser and more aligned with your higher purpose.