Listening
to Soul
“You
have to grow from the inside out. None can teach you, none can make
you spiritual. There is no other teacher but your own soul.”
Swami
Vivekananda
Learning
to listen to the soul is not as easy as you might think. You may be
saying to yourself, all I have to do is be 'good' and I will be true to soul.
If only it were that uncomplicated! We have, in addition to soul,
this personality that is so very human, and this personality wants
what it wants when it wants it. The personality/ego part of us is a
clever spin-doctor; it can tell us something is good, pure and honest
when it is anything but. It can twist, and wheedle, and demand,
especially when there's a taboo associated with whatever it wants.
The personality/ego loves the sparkle and glitter of everything it's
not supposed to have.
On
the other hand, soul, too, can lead us into situations that are taboo
in order to teach us why the taboo stands. We humans can get
ourselves involved in a multitude of things, sometimes intentionally,
sometimes innocently, that come back to bite us hard. Some of us go
with our personality and keep making the same mistakes over and over,
and some of us learn soul's lesson the first time around.
One
sign of soul is yearning. In order to understand soul, we must go
deeply into that yearning. At the superficial/personality level, it may seem that
a new partner, or a new job, or a new location might be the 'fix'. But
if we're willing to stay with the longing long enough, we may find
that what the soul truly wants is a new outlet for creativity. We
can invest our creative, libidinal energy into getting ourselves in trouble, or we can express it by finding satisfying outlets for
imaginative, innovative, original ideas. One response is from the
personality, the other from the soul. To see the difference requires
focused attention, insight and intuition, all properties of soul.
Today
is a great day to begin a dialog with your soul. Learn its wants and
needs; allow it to teach you, to take you to new depths of
understanding. It is your richest and best teacher.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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