Living from Soul
“It’s
all about soul
It’s all about
faith and a deeper devotion
It’s all about
soul
‘Cause underneath
the love is a stronger emotion…”
Billy Joel (“All About Soul”)
How many of us live from our souls?
And what does that even mean? We seem to recognize it when we have an instantaneous
connection with another human being. Beyond lust, that is. When we meet someone
and something inside us registers a shock wave—an understanding that this is
not a one-time meeting. This is someone who will be important in my life.
Sometimes it’s only a chance encounter—I ran into Ellen, for instance, in the
Golden Temple Market at lunchtime. She was grabbing something from a cooler and I
recognized her from a prior social occasion. We chatted. I told her that I was
setting up a new practice, and she told me about a new project of hers and
within a month, we were working together. That was in 1993, and we are still close
friends. The same connection was made with my first husband, who I knew
instantly I would marry, and with my friend, Isie. Something in the meeting of
our eyes and intuition announced, “Pay attention! This is important.” That is
soul connection.
But living from the soul is more than
that. It is connecting with the soul of living things beyond individual people—whether
it be pets, or trees, or landscapes, or music, or poetry. For example,
when you walk into a new place and feel as though you have just returned from a
foreign land and arrived home. There are landscapes that affect us that way—mountains
for me, seashore for so many. There is a voice deep inside that says, “This is
home; this is where I belong.”
Living from the soul means listening
to our inner guidance before we act—when it tells you, “this is a bad idea,” or
“don’t listen to your fear,” or “go ahead, take a chance,” listen to it. Too
often we discount our intuition. Too often, we miss opportunities because we let
fear have the last word so that our ego can feel safe and in control. Too often
we just grab what is shiny in front of us without asking ourselves why. Or we
get involved in situations and circumstances that suck up our energy and redirect
our focus because we didn’t listen to the warning signals the soul was sending
out. At the very least, ask within. Ask is this a good thing? Is this something
I should get involved in? If there is no immediate answer, wait. Hold the container
and wait for the answer.
Living from soul also means paying
attention to the world’s soul—to beauty and ugliness, to truth and untruth, to
kindness and hatefulness—and knowing the difference between them. It is not
easy to live from your soul. It’s often lonely and painful. But it makes for a deeply
meaningful life. We have the option of skimming along the surface, grabbing the
shiny baubles, and never going deeper than small talk. That is easier by far.
But living from the soul is, as Billy Joel said, “all about faith and a deeper
devotion.” Soul is like the universe—deep and wide and rich and expansive and
mysterious—and it is our true home.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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