I never thought I would ever say that there are different requirements within the processes of the dark night of the soul. In the beginning it was all darkness to me – obscured and painful.

At first, my senses could not distinguish anything else except for those two elements persistently troubling my “soul”.

Being under pressure of prolonged pain and darkness, the initial guidance was to surrender (which isn’t easy) to the unbearable feeling in order to survive it. Denying and putting up resistance was eliciting more pain.

Since this wasn’t my first dark night, from other instances I could already tell when my inner light was being switched off and with that my perspective of the outside world drastically changed for the worse, to simply put it. This time I was disconnected from a sufficient amount of energy required to be productive in any way, and my being was solely focused on the uncomfortable suffering, impossible to disregard by any means. Because of that I was able to observe the processes of the dark night, perhaps unrecognized by me before due to overall shock of what was happening to me back then.

Here are some requirements of the dark night of the soul that will help you ease up the process of awakening.

There were times when my mind was trying to dismiss my discomfort which I quickly came to understand that this maneuver of my ego was placing me in disadvantage, prolonging the already exhausting and confusing undertaking. After a few attempts of trying to disregard what was happening to me, it became obvious that this was the time to participate with the energies of the dark night which my soul was highlighting for me. For that reason, the requirement is to listen to how your mind is trying to intervene to prevent you from feeling. Be aware of the resistance of the mind which will rise up in order to defend its hurtful familiar identity.

Our unresolved traumas are severely weighing on us deep within our unconsciousness and this was an opportunity to sit down with them and face them fully. This isn’t the easiest task; however, it has to be done. Here the requirement is to be cognizant of the arising pain and be with it as much as you are capable of. Every minute counts and expands your awareness, despite the fact that your mind is trying to convince you otherwise.

Also, sitting consciously with our pain is extremely challenging every single time, no matter how many times we have done it. And it isn’t just one pain that has to be confronted, but many kinds of patterns of pain have to be completely seen and realized. Therefore, another requirement is to be aware that you will have to face more than one pattern of hurt, for that reason the requirement is to be okay with repetition. There was a period of time when the releasing was constant, and I couldn’t see the results of my transformation for a long while so don’t let that discourage you. Trust the process and its timing.

Another requirement of the dark night is to stay open to the pain that is beginning to resurface. Sometimes when we feel uneasy or detect some heaviness in our chakras, we tend to run away from feeling it, and when that happens we grab some substance to seek immediate relief. Hence, before satisfying the urge, be with the pain first at least for a minute or two, and then do whatever it is that you help yourself with.

All of the mentioned requirements won’t be easy to master right away. You will most probably fail at first attempts, but as that transpires, be as kind and gentle to yourself as you can be in that moment. Remind yourself that it is a new practice for you. A new style of life is coming your way and no matter how painful it seems, getting through that pain, will be well worth it.