What do you yearn for?
Not what you want. Not what you say you’re working toward.
But what aches beneath your chest when it’s quiet enough to hear it?
Within each of us is a sacred yearning- a pull not toward achievement, but toward home. A longing for something we can’t fully name: belonging, union, peace, God, love, wholeness. This longing isn’t weakness. It’s the soul’s compass. It is what sets us on the path.
In our community chat last week, we asked:
“What do you long for that feels just out of reach?”
Here are some responses:
“All of it but to choose belonging and being able to share my inner world with others... which is difficult because they dont speak my language. I feel I kind of give up to even try... only a few understands it. The pain. That is my home... so to share my inner home.”
“Belonging. Security. Community understanding.”
“I ache for connection. And let me be more specific, a connection that doesn't make me feel depleted and one that adds to my peace…”
“Stability, routine, high energy, consistent confidence, growth & expansion.”
“Deeper connection within myself, with source, with my guides. Not only tapping into my spiritual gifts but sharing them for the collective healing and receiving feedback to build up my practice.”
“Belonging, spirituality, my path, my purpose”
“Peace”
Join the chat for intimate conversations with Dr. Connie and I below 👇
So many different words.
But one root: to return to what is real.
This is the paradox of spiritual shadow: that sometimes, in the pursuit of the light, we lose ourselves in someone else’s version of it.
But it’s also where healing begins.
But what happens when that longing is projected outward onto a teacher, a spiritual leader, a partner, or a community? What happens when we hand over our holy ache to someone who doesn’t know how to hold it?
Sometimes, it leads to beauty. Other times, it leads to betrayal.
In my recent conversation with Dr. Connie Zweig, we explored what happens when longing becomes spiritual naiveté, when the desire to merge with something greater becomes an opening for shadow to enter through the guise of love, devotion, or truth.
But what struck me most was this:
“The longing itself is not the problem. It’s the projection of it that leads us astray.” – Dr. Connie
📖 Read Dr. Connie’s Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path HERE
We long. That’s what humans do. We long to come home to ourselves.
And yet, when we give our longing to an authoritarian figure, or a community that promises wholeness but delivers coercion, we are left fractured and more disconnected from our own light than when we began. This is how spiritual trauma forms: the teacher becomes the God. The institution becomes the truth. And our inner compass goes silent.
When we reclaim our longing as holy, not something to be “fulfilled” by a system or person, but something to be honored as a guide, we stop outsourcing our soul’s work. We begin the transition from spiritual naïveté to spiritual maturity.
We stop asking: Who will save me?
And instead ask: How do I become the space where the divine can meet me?
🕯️ Use these prompts for your next journal entry (or in the Zenfulnote app):
What is your secret longing right now?
What have you projected onto a spiritual teacher or system?
Where have you confused charisma for truth?
What parts of your longing are ready to be reclaimed?
This is why we created Zenfulnote, not to replace your spiritual practice, but to help you see through it. To feel through it. To find your own flame again.
Download the Zenfulnote app 3 Months FREE on us!
IOS: https://apps.apple.com/redeem?ctx=offercodes&id=6464039288&code=SUBSTACK3MONTHS
Android code in onboarding: Substack3Months
📖 Read Dr. Connie’s Meeting the Shadow on the Spiritual Path HERE
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