Hi everyone! For the last two years, I have been writing my doctoral thesis on individuals' experiences of spiritual awakening and their views on psychological therapy. It has been a wonderful journey, full of emotions! Tomorrow is the day where I have to sit in front of a panel and defend my work (viva voce). Please keep me in your thoughts! This is for all of us who have felt judged, misunderstood and unheard throughout the spiritual awakening journey. I hope I'll do it justice 💜 P.S A special thanks to Aaron for his workshop earlier - the timing was perfect!

Thank you all so much for your well wishes on my post yesterday! I wanted to let you all know that I passed my doctoral thesis titled 'Exploring individuals' experiences on spiritual awakenings and their views on psychological therapy' with very minor amendments! 😁 A great outcome overall! The panel felt that the paper was strong and a great contribution to the field of spirituality and clinical psychology 💜 I intend to publish within the year to the Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health ☺️

Hi everyone! I'm super close to completing my thesis titled, "Exploring individual experiences of spiritual awakening, and their views on psychological therapy", and wanted to share the closing section of my reflective essay with you all. I hope you like it 💜 "As I write this final section, I find myself reflecting not only on the research journey, but on the wider journey that unfolded alongside it. A week prior to the submission of this reflective essay, I experienced two significant life events that brought many of the themes explored throughout this thesis into sharp focus; my sister got married, then two days later, my grandmother passed away. Within the space of a few days, my family experienced both a beginning and an ending. One moment was filled with celebration, hope, and the joining of two lives; the other was grief, loss, and saying goodbye to someone who had been a constant presence throughout mine. Side by side, we witnessed the continuation of one generation and the departure of another. It felt as though life had condensed one of its greatest lessons into a single week. As I reflected on these events, I found myself returning to a theme that has appeared repeatedly throughout both this research and my own life: transformation. My spiritual awakening initially felt like the beginning. There were moments of awe, wonder, liberation, and excitement. It felt as though I had discovered an entirely new way of seeing myself and the world around me. What I did not anticipate was that every beginning would require an ending. Before a new understanding of myself could emerge, an older version was departing. Alongside connection came periods of loneliness. What I initially understood as an awakening eventually revealed itself to be a process of continual becoming. The same has been true of doctoral training. When I began the doctorate, I imagined qualification as a destination. I believed there would be a moment where I would finally feel certain, knowledgeable, and fully formed as a clinical psychologist. Yet, the further I progressed, the more I realised that growth rarely arrives in this way. Instead, it unfolds through periods of confidence and self-doubt, clarity and confusion, certainty and ambiguity. Just as participants described spiritual awakening as a process rather than a single event, I have come to view professional development in much the same way.

I wanted to share with you a poem I wrote about a tough, relational ending 💜 Drowning inside your misery, the price of my innocence paid. I gave you a love without boundaries, but love was a mask you portrayed. We forged what I swore was forever, a bond that no fire could break. But glass can disguise itself golden, and dreams can be easy to fake. How do I tear down the visions, the stories you painted as true? A castle of paper and silence, that crumbled the moment I knew. For love is not always in holding, sometimes it’s in the letting go, To lose you became my redemption, in breaking, I found my salvation.

Hi everyone!! It's been a while since I've spoken to you all. It's been quite the journey over the past year which I look forward to sharing with you all! Here's a short poem to capture it all. I wrote this in a couple of minutes so it needs a little fine-tuning! I hope you like it! "Look into my eyes, just one last time, Pierce into my soul, it's not a heinous crime. What do you see? A mirrored reflection of you? Or sparkling glass marbles, only seen in a few. Like planets orbiting in space, In a timeless, expansive page, Stellar flares, supernovas - stars exploding in rage. What do you see? A carefree, divine feminine, illuminating calm through chaos, Her eyes gaze across, With silent stories of heartbreak, grief, and loss. Who do you see? Connect the dots like a detective. Am I just another body surviving like the collective? Or a tired soul having a human experience, Just like the rest of us? Now, do you see?"