So last week I introduced the idea that we are a made up of four parts – our heart, soul, mind and body – and that to operate as our best, most authentic self, we need to be able to function equally between these different elements of ourself.
So today we’re going to move onto ‘Soul’, and honestly, I think this one might be the one that we are most disconnected from as a society.
Whether you consider yourself religious, spiritual or uninterested – whether you come from a faith background or have never dipped a toe in the water – everybody has a soul, and your soul is that part of you that helps to ground you through the hard times of life and refresh you when the load starts to lighten.
Many people connect with their soul by going and hanging out near water or in the woods or up in the mountains or during a sunset or under the northern lights.
Others connect with their soul by doing meditation or yoga or tai chi.
Some connect with their soul through a cultural or religious setting (like a sweatlodge or a beautiful old church).
Some connect with their soul quietly through prayer or journalling, gardening or the reading of sacred texts.
But sadly many people go around with little awareness of the existence of their soul, or the valuable things it might have to tell them.
You see, the soul is that part of us that is most intimately in tune with our values – with what makes us come alive. It’s the part of us that, if we value solitude, starts to object when we’ve spent too many hours with people. Or the part of us that, if we value creativity, starts to object if we’ve spent too long filling in forms or being stuck in a monotonous loop.
The soul craves for us to live fully into the people that we were made to be, and so it tends to be the source of our healthy discontentment – the part of us that tells us when we’ve gone off the path we were intended for. The soul has the power (if we stop and listen to it) to help us to realign ourselves with our values and move forward in life in ways that are more in keeping with who we actually are, instead of simply what people want from us.
But that’s a pretty scary door to open, isn’t it?
So, many of us spend a lot of time squishing and squashing what the soul has to say.
“Now’s not the right time for a change.”
“Don’t you know I have to pay the bills?”
“Stop day-dreaming and get back to work!”
“I can barely get done what I have to do now as it is, without adding in anything new on top of it!”
Actually stopping and actually choosing to make time to listen to our souls can lead us into some uncomfortable and potentially unchartered territory.
But it may also be the door that opens up a new way of living – of letting go of the person we thought we had to be and becoming the person we were uniquely made to be instead. Of becoming grounded, not bounded. Of developing a deep knowledge of ourself and how we work and operate, so that we can bring our best version of ourselves to the people and activities in life that matter most to us.
Want to learn more? Feel free to connect!
Heather R. Morgan 