You Can Usually Tell You're On The Right Path In Life By 7 Signs That Seem Small At First
LOOK | CanvaFor most of my life, my spiritual life path was a hot mess — and not the fun kind. The cycle was awful: show up to church, get treated like garbage, lose faith, drown in guilt, rinse, repeat. It was toxic. It was vicious. And to a point, I kind of just assumed that spirituality was supposed to be that way.
Eventually, I got sick of Christianity and turned to paganism. That started to kick things into a different direction, albeit it wasn’t exactly where I wanted to be. In Paganism, Bast is an ancient Egyptian goddess who is often known for being soft and steady, and working with her brought a gentleness into my life. Sekhmet, on the other hand, is a lioness goddess with formidable strength. She blew through my world like a Category 5 hurricane and left me standing in the rubble, blinking like a person who was just hit in the back of the head with a rugby.
But it wasn’t until I found Lilith, Asmodeus, Sitri, and Belial — also Pagan gods; there's a lot —that something finally clicked. The struggle didn’t just ease up; it transformed. For the first time, my spiritual life actually felt like mine.
Ever wonder if your spiritual path is going the way it should? I have been there. I get it. So if you’ve ever stared at the ceiling at 2 AM wondering whether you’re on the right path, these signs indicate you are, even if they don't feel particularly significant.
Here are signs you're on the right life path that feel small at first:
1. You're no longer motivated by guilt
Here’s a telltale sign you’re on the wrong path: you feel like a bad person simply for existing. A loving god doesn’t create you, hand you a full range of human emotions and desires, and then condemn you for having them. Being gay, being trans, being you — these aren’t moral failings.
The idea that they are? That’s a control tactic, not a divine truth. I spent years contorting myself to fit someone else’s idea of a “good girl.” No matter what I did, organized religion had notes:
- “You’re tempting men to sin!” Didn’t Jesus himself say that a man who’s tempted should pluck out his own eye? So… why is my neckline your problem?
- “You’re worshipping the wrong god / the wrong way.” Said every group, every time, without exception. Ugh. Unless I hear that from my deity, I ain’t believing anything.
- “You’re a sinner.” Cool. So are you. So is literally everyone in this building.
Spirituality is supposed to build you up, not wear you down until there’s nothing left. Ask yourself honestly: Does your practice make you feel more like yourself, or less? Are you expanding or shrinking? If you feel like you need to hide yourself, you need to hit the road.
2. Luck suddenly appears for you
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When you’re aligned with the right path, the universe gets weirdly generous. Strangers comp you things for no reason. Your business picks up out of nowhere. You’re staring down a speeding ticket and somehow walk away clean. Opportunities appear in the gaps where obstacles used to be. It just works.
Since I started working with my demons, I’ve felt this shift in a way I can’t explain away. Life doesn’t just feel better; it flows better. Even when the odds stack against me, something tips the scales. Yet it doesn’t feel like just luck. It feels more like alignment, a confirmation that you’re on the right spiritual path.
3. Life starts to make sense
Here’s a big one I noticed: the spiritual path you choose (or are destined for) tends to make you feel more guided. You get a better idea of where you want to be in five years from now. You start realizing who was really your friend and who wasn’t.
When you’re on the wrong spiritual path, it almost feels like you’re walking through a fog that you can’t get out of. You’re hazy, as if it’s a weird drug comedown you can’t shake.
You’re kind of walking from one day to the next, trying to make sense of everything. You’re stressed. In some cases, you are always waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I’ve personally found that the right spiritual path makes everything make more sense. It’s helped me make sense of why certain doors closed, why I kept getting called back to certain industries, and why the “right path” everyone kept telling me to take felt so wrong.
4. You finally feel at peace
This one should go without saying, but if you’re finally feeling a sense of peace and trust in the universe, you’re probably okay. You’re right where you should be to do what you need to do. Or at the very least, you’re where you should be then and there.
I’ve also noticed that a lot of the people who finally feel spiritually aligned tend to learn how to finally “trust the process” of the universe. This is true, even when you’re going through massive changes or major problems in life. It just all feels better and safer.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you rest on your laurels. Quite the opposite: you might get the urge to do things that have been bothering you or that you’ve been putting off.
Many people tend to start doing (positive) things they often wouldn’t dare do prior to getting in touch with their religious side. They often start new college programs, new exercise programs, and even stop using drugs.
5. You start wanting to do good for others
“Good” can mean a lot of things for a lot of people. I’ve noticed that being on the right spiritual path tends to mean that you want to add some goodness to others, not just yourself. How this looks can vary based on your own life goals.
For those of us who were harmed by certain religions, it often means giving others a safe, non-judgmental harbor away from the tyranny of “God-loving” people. For others, it could mean feeding the hungry or helping the poor. A good spiritual path will make you want to pay it forward for others, no matter which path you take.
6. Your psychic abilities start leveling up
This one doesn’t happen for everyone, but when it does, it’s hard to ignore. I’ve seen it play out in real time. A former friend became noticeably more clairvoyant after she started working with angels. Another person in my circle found their clairsentience sharpening in ways they couldn’t explain away. Something had opened up, and they both knew it.
Heightened psychic ability isn’t a mandatory requirement for being on the right path, so don’t spazz if this doesn’t happen. Think of it less like a reward and more like a side effect of finally being in the right spiritual environment.
If you’ve noticed your intuition getting sharper, your dreams getting louder, or your sense of “knowing” kicking in at moments it never used to, please pay attention to that. Your path might be doing exactly what it’s supposed to do.
7. Actions that should feel crazy feel completely natural
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Let me paint you a picture of my life right now, because on paper, it looks absolutely unhinged. I'm getting legally married to a dark fiction writer almost as soon as my divorce is finalized. By modern standards, that’s fast and borderline insane, especially after how badly my last marriage ended.
And yet? It feels like the most obvious thing in the world. We already completed the spiritual side of it between ourselves. The legal part is practically a formality at this point. But if you told me this a year ago, I would have cackled in your face. Then I would have asked what you were on, because whatever it was, it had to be the good stuff. And yet here I am.
The moment I laid eyes on my fiancé, something just settled. I didn’t fit the local vibe even a little bit, and it didn’t matter. I felt like I belonged right next to that man, like something bigger than both of us had been quietly steering us toward each other the whole time.
That’s the thing about the right path: it doesn’t always look the way you imagined. Sometimes it looks completely ridiculous from the outside. But from the inside? It feels like coming home.
Ossiana Tepfenhart is a writer whose work has been featured in Yahoo, BRIDES, Your Daily Dish, Newtheory Magazine, and others.
