Awakening spiritually is just realising how to love. It's not that complicated (although of course there are many lessons along the way!). You don't need crystals, to read hundreds of spiritual books or to join a 'moon circle' (not that you can't channel your spirituality into those things, but they are not the essence of what you are here for).
Here is the nature of the spiritual journey broken down simply into 5 'steps' or facets:
Awakening spiritually is learning how to love others
Awakening spiritually is learning how to love yourself
Awakening spiritually is learning how to connect to your intuition
Awakening spiritually is learning how to accept the nature of suffering and death
Awakening spiritually is learning how to take action from a place of inner power (love rather than fear)
Awakening spiritually is learning how to love others
As you awaken, you recognise more deeply the ways that acting from fear can cause harm to others. You strive to be honest with yourself and to work through any coping mechanisms that are destructive towards others. You look not only at your present self but also make repairs for people who were hurt by any unconscious actions you made in the past where possible.
A question that can help you review your progress in this area: If I was on my deathbed would I be okay with the way I treated everyone? Is there anyone I would like to make amends with?
Awakening spiritually is learning how to love yourself
Awakening spiritually is healing patterns of self abandonment, low self worth and self neglect. Your true nature as a soul is loving awareness. Your kindness 'should' also include yourself! You realise that only other's egos (their spiritual confusion) or your own ego would tell you negative things about who you truly are. You recognise that no matter what mistakes or 'failures' are in your past and no matter what insecurities you have had about yourself, you are an expression of the Universe's loving energy and you came here to learn how to treat yourself with kindness. You also realise that treating yourself with kindness creates the best outcome for others too - loving yourself is the most selfless thing you will ever do! E.g. boundaries are healthy and neccessary, your energy is precious and you deserve people who treat you as sacred - because you are.
A question that can help you review your progress in this area: Do I treat myself as well as I treat my closest loved ones?
Awakening spiritually is learning how to connect to your intuition
We all have the ability (if we nurture it) to hear our intuition to guide us as to which choices to make in life (and eventually this gift can expand to the third eye fully awakening and being able to access incredible amounts of accurate extra-sensory information). The only reason people don't experience this access to universal intelligence is due to their own fears. This is usually when you don't believe in your own power and if you are feeling unsafe to receive the truth. But truth is a helpful and loving thing to access! It can be a very helpful friend through the journey of life.
Nearly everyone will have had one of those life experiences where you feel something intuitively but someone tries to persuade you that your feelings are 'irrational' (and perhaps gaslight you) - but then the situation unfolds and you are proven right! If you think back you can probably recall a few times your intuition has gotten you out of a sticky situation or led you to a positive opportunity. The more open you are to listening, the more consistent this source of help can be!
Sometimes you may feel afraid to trust your gut instinct becasuse you are afraid of losing an important relationship - this is a big life lesson everyone has to work through. Being devoted to truth is the only way to make healthy choices for your life. You may have to have some uncomfortable conversations or let some people go during your journey but in order to love yourself, you have to hold healthy standards for how you are treated. Energy spent on draining connections could be spent on healthy, positive people who help you to love yourself and you in turn learn how to love others better by making the best choices of whose company to keep.
A question that can help you review your progress in this area: Do I ever shut down the voice of my intuition?
Awakening spiritually is learning how to accept the nature of suffering and death
Immature spirituality (spiritual bypassing) can create a fantasy of a 'fairyland' where we can avoid dealing with suffering - a habit to be in denial of your own or others' suffering. Mature spirituality is recognising that there is no way to totally avoid 'negative' outcomes in life. Other people's egos (or your own ego) create negative outcomes because the ego by its nature is very confused and does not know what is best for it! The nature of reality is temporary and part of life is that things sometimes end - situations change, people change and everyone physically dies. When you are in denial about this and try to run away from suffering and death, you suffer more in the long run. The only way to make peace with this nature of affairs is to uncover your true nature as an eternal expression of consciousness that can never truly die. Practices like meditation, mindfulness, and channelling intuitive information (when your third eye has opened) can help you to remember your true essence and embrace life as a temporary set of happenings that doesn't define who you are.
A question that can help you review your progress in this area: Am I in touch with my true nature?
Awakening spiritually is learning how to take action from a place of inner power (love rather than fear)
Following all of these steps or facets lead to the same place - living a life of integrity where all choices are made from an inner state of love rather than fear. When blocks to treating others and yourself with kindness are removed, when your intuitive abilities have been nurtured and when you can be in an inner state of acceptance to work with whatever is in this moment, then choosing love becomes the only sane and natural option in all present moments. But of course, if you are still processing any fears that arise you can ask your intuition to guide you and help you see what is the most loving choice for the highest good in any situation. The only motivation of the soul is to do whatever is for the highest good! The previous steps help you to see what that is more clearly!