How Do You Know What Your Soul Really Wants?

This is a very good question and this post will be an encore to the previous one "Explore your soul brand". (Inspired by the reader comment)

The soul and its journey is the driving force behind your life. At times its choices won't be according to ego or social expectations.

Here are some ways you can tune into your soul (beware, every soul is different, so this by no means represents a complete list):

1. Watch out for the dreams and desires that keep coming back, no matter how often you dismiss them. When you encounter a deep-seated longing/desire, don't go into excuse mode ("This won't work because…!). Instead, play with it. How does it feel if you give yourself permission to entertain the idea? Remember, it's safe to play.  You can always dismiss it later if it doesn't feel like a fit, or you might start looking for practical steps to turn that dream into a reality.

2. When we tap into the soul frequency, our heart opens and we feel excited about our life.  We experience a sense of purpose and fulfillment.

The ego or social direction you take might feel more like duty or responsibility driven and for many souls this will appear plain boring.

3. One of the exercises I like to use is to envision myself in different situations. I become an outside observer and look at self with certain people or at a particular location: I take note of the expression on my face, do I look happy/fulfilled/soulful, or does my demeanor reflect sadness/dissatisfaction/boredom? The answers are already within you; it is mostly a matter of allowing them to surface.

4. Jealousy can give you a good idea about your soul desires. You might respond negatively to someone else who lives the life or an aspect of life you desire for yourself.

When buttons get pushed, don't take it out on the person who pushed them. Instead, look closer to determine which aspects you want for yourself and than start to strategize how you can get there.

5. Allow yourself to be surprised. Sometimes we find ourselves in circumstances with people we didn't expect to enjoy, because they weren't on our ego trajectory. When you find that unexpected bliss, expand your view of self and explore further.

By the same token, you might end up miserable, in a place or situation that you thought was right up your ally. In that case, your ego might have steered you astray. It might be time to right your course.

6a.Take note, of the things that resonate with you! It could be something you read in a book, a comment a person makes, a line from a movie etc. These are clues that will reveal further details if you follow them.

b. Last but not least, look at life as a treasure hunt. The soul will always leave clues, as I said before, these clues won't necessarily satisfy ego expectations, but if you follow them you will align yourself with your soul compass.

Great Reminder

Hi! I apologize to all of you who have been letting me know that you missed my weekly postings.
Things have been a bit hectic around here, but I am planning to get back to my weekly schedule.
Got some new posts in the works.
In the meantime here is a great reminder (one of my favorite poems!).

ITHAKA

As you set out for Ithaka

hope your road is a long one,

full of adventure, full of discovery.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,

angry Poseidon - don't be afraid of them:

you'll never find things like that one on your way

as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,

as long as a rare excitement

stirs your spirit and your body.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,

wild Poseidon - you won't encounter them

unless you bring them along inside your soul,

unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.

May there be many summer mornings when,

with what pleasure, what joy,

you enter harbours you're seeing for the first time;

may you stop at Phoenician trading stations

to buy fine things,

mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,

sensual perfumes of every kind -

as many sensual perfumes as you can;

and may you visit many Egyptian cities

to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.

Arriving there is what you're destined for.

But don't hurry the journey at all.

Better if it lasts for years,

so you're old by the time you reach the island,

wealthy with all you've gained on the way,

not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvellous journey.

Without her you wouldn't have set out.

She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you.

Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,

you'll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean

Constantine P. Cavafy 

Explore Your Soul Brand!

A lot of clients I work with are stuck in the habit of attempting to fulfill their social script. What does that look like you may wonder? Well, every sentence that starts with:

"At my age I should…start a family, have figured out my career, have x amount of $ in my account, have invested in a house etc" These statements indicate a soul who is looking to fit into the social blue print of how a life should unfold. For some people that works well because their soul script matches their social script. Under these circumstances there is no problem, you can move right along in your planning. It becomes tricky when our soul desires do not match the external expectations. We might find ourselves caught between a rock and a hard place, especially when we are in the habit of people pleasing. This can lead to us getting married to the next best person and settle into a situation just because the biological clock is ticking. 

Or we might stay in a career that pays more, because at our age it is not OK to start over. Fast forward a few years and we'll probably have to face a divorce, health issues, a lay-off or some other disruption? Why? Well, it's because the soul always finds a way to enforce its plan eventually.

In order to avoid a train wreck, I'd like to introduce the idea of soul branding.

Imagine that each individual life has a form of purpose/lesson plan/ business blue print that is chosen by your soul. The same way you would brand a company because you can't be all things at once, so you need definition, the soul creates a brand identity that supports the lessons/objectives of each lifetime.

I.e. the choice of having children or not, will have a major impact on your brand. If you choose to have them due to social conventions, you might have to forfeit a soul project, because the time investment is so high. So let's say, you don't get to go on your ten years global travel adventure, if you are unaware, you might feel depressed and extremely resentful towards your family, because you'd experience them as a major blockage in your life's fulfillment.

Look at your life in all of its aspects (health, career, hobbies, relationship, finances, etc) like a pie chart and meditate on how much importance your soul puts on each slice.

 Play a game and imagine that nobody will be upset with you, when you acknowledge your truth and there will be all necessary financial support to create a successful soul brand manifestation. Once you have come up with a picture of your soul's vision for this life, compare it with your current reality. When and where do you give power away to outside/social circumstances? In which areas are you ready to take steps in order to get into better alignment with your soul? What do these concrete steps look like?

Remember, we are here to practice for enlightenment. It's OK if you are not there yet.

But do yourself a favor and learn from your choices and circumstances. There is always room for improvement and the more clarity you gain to where you are going the easier it is to come up with a game plan to manifest more of your soul brand.

Avoid creating negative karma by punishing the people around you for choices you have made. Stay dignified and gracious in your actions and don't forget: it's all good!  Even the most annoying mistakes and detours lead to growth, wisdom and compassion.

Got Your Fire Drill Ready?

Some of the hazards of soul evolution and healing processes are emotional meltdowns, explosive eruptions of karmic, unresolved layers, states of utter confusion and repetitive identity crises. Every time we are confronted by the activation of one of these hazards, Some of the hazards of soul evolution and healing processes are emotional meltdowns, we have the choice to either be prepared, or have it spill into our current lives and possibly do some damage to our primary relationships and life circumstances.

One thing is for sure, if you have embarked on the spiritual journey and you haven't reached a state of enlightenment yet, I can guarantee you, the next meltdown is just around the corner. Therefore it does make sense to be prepared and have your fire drill ready, because once you are caught in an emotional tsunami, you probably won't think of anything clever to do.

Here are some suggestions for a fire drill (consider them and then be creative and tailor make your own as you see fitting):

1. Take some Rescue Remedy Bach Flower Essences (read section on flower essences, if you are not familiar with them).

2. Remind yourself and your loved ones that you are processing some old/ancient stuff which has nothing to do with now. Avoid projections! (Read section on light and shadow projections)

3. Go for a walk, or engage in some other physical exercise, to disperse some of the energies that are flooding the emotional body.

4. Sit quietly and pray. Remind yourself that you are not your thoughts, nor your emotions. Find the observer self and breathe through the pain. The good news is that if you are dealing with an old trauma resurfacing is:

a) It's past, so the worst is over.

b) You are ready to deal with it and you have the necessary tools.

5. Remind yourself that you are here as a student of life, not a victim! So no more than limited pity-parties allowed.

6. Eliminate numbing choices, which will only lead to spiritual Groundhog Day! Might as well get it over with!

7. Visualize your Angel wrapping you in his/her wings and cocooning you in divine love.

8. Writing can be a good outlet to gain clarity in. One exercise I like works as follows. Write down the question with your right hand (i.e. "what is going on right now?" "What is the nature of this latest upset?" "What are my current lessons involved in this situation?"). Then switch the pen to your left hand and write down the answers. This is a very helpful way to connect to the right side of your brain, which has more direct access to your intuition and sub-conscience.

As I said, these are just some possible suggestions of tools that can be helpful for your fire drill.

Test them, try different combos and see what works for you.

The most important thing is to have one and to face the process a bit more prepared.

And don't forget to have some fun!