Tag Archives: Finding your path

22

Managing Your Soul

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Feelings and emotions are a huge part of the human experience. How well we learn to manage our souls will determine how well we live and what we can create in our lives, yet, we have created a system of education that teaches all people who participate in the basics of math, science, reading, and writing, etc.

We are not teaching how to deal with our emotions and what they mean in our lives as our thoughts run through our minds and bring with them connected emotions. Anger, love, sadness, joy, happiness, disappointment, or any other emotion you experience will be a part of life at some point. As a society, we ignore our feelings and assume they will pass on their own. Emotions are the messages we have from our soul, telling us what it needs. Listen.

Call To Action

It has been my experience; trying to live your life with as little emotion as possible is easier. I would try to keep myself in situations where I could control the emotional needs I might have and never allow my feelings to become too much for me. Doing this kept people at a distance and never let anyone into my life in a way where they could harm me. Unfortunately, I found this sort of life was not very satisfying in the long run, and denying the opportunity to develop emotions causes harm to you as well.

Each of us is made of three parts, 1. body, 2. mind, and 3. spirit. It is number 3 we are concerned with here because just as your body loves to exercise and your brain likes to learn and develop thought, your soul also yearns for new experiences and growth. If you deny it through a perceived pattern of control, your soul will see things change and give you a chance to grow. That has meant I have been thrust into situations I feel inadequate to handle emotionally. This call to action has been a painful way to learn, and it has been effective.

How to Listen

It is easy to let your thoughts carry you away. They roll through your mind, this way and that. Feelings are deceiving, though. They are confusing and contradictory. We get confused, overthink things, and listen to many of the same ideas repeatedly. It is like a recording playing on a continuous loop. Our soul and emotional language are much more subtle and difficult to hear and understand. I hope as I practice thinking, I can master the process. The trick is to see past your mind and realize it is a powerful tool you can use, but it isn’t you, and it isn’t who you are.

Look into yourself, and you will see something deeper existing there. Something on the inside you have known is there but has ignored. This entity is your soul, and it is the force inside you uniquely you and allows your song to enter the world. Astonishingly, we don’t work harder to enable and help more people find this part of themselves. We live in a society trying to provide cookie-cutter lives to wildly creative souls. No wonder many people feel they don’t fit in and have to turn to any vice they can find to feel good. We use drugs, food, sex, shopping, alcohol, or anything else to bring a little feeling of “good” into our lives. The joke is there is a well of powerful emotions lying just below the surface of our lives, and with the direction, I think it can come out helpfully and creatively.

Fear is the Thing

The villain in life is always going to be fear. It is fear that stops us from trying to be celebrated in anything we attempt. Fear of failure. Fear of what someone else may think. Fear of success. Fear of being alone. Fear of death. Fear of being hurt. Fear of looking weak. There are a lot of ways to experience anxiety. Everyone must deal with stress continually throughout life, no matter what they do. If you conquer your old fears, new ones will come into your life and bring a new direction to your life. So it would make sense to understand where fear comes from and how you can manage it because it is the positive management of fear that will determine how successful you will be.

Fear will not harm you. It never does. Danger can harm you; being aware of that danger is a proper survival technique. But fear is just a thought in your mind, which has as much power as you give it with your thoughts and behaviors. Recognize and be honest about the fear in your life and how it is limiting you. The cure for all anxiety is action. Even though things will not always happen as you plan or would like them to be, they do work out. Once you know the answer, there is nothing left to fear in that situation. Take action and overcome the feelings of fear. Life will continually provide you with opportunities to do just that.

Embrace Your Emotions

This advice is complex for me to follow because I have had such a rocky relationship with my own emotions. But repressing them because of perceived weakness is a stop-gap and, at worst, a detriment to allowing the best version of yourself to come forward. I am trying not to look at my emotions as anything negative. They are not a sign of weakness or a detriment to accomplishment. They are a part of the human experience, which are valuable communications from your soul telling you what you need in life and how close your current actions and decisions are moving you toward the place you should be.

Take some time today to understand what your emotions are guiding you to do. This path can appear through finding a way to still the mind and let your inner voice rise through the veil of emotions you feel. One great way to do this is to immerse yourself in an activity of creativity. Drawing, painting, carving, writing, or whatever creative outlet consumes you will allow you to occupy your conscious mind and bring your subliminal messages to rise to the surface. It is in these messages your guidance will come to you. Meditation is another practice that our society has a well-established fear of experiencing. It is merely a way to calm your mind and allow you to hear the messages of your heart. That is all it is. Anyone against it is operating from a platform of ignorance or fear. Don’t be ignorant or fearful, and give meditation of some sort a try.

Start to practice ways to listen to your emotions and follow the guidance they are giving you. Move away from the messages of your mind and see the path that was always there in your soul.

“The living soul of man, once conscious of its power, cannot be quelled.” –Horace Mann

“A beautiful woman delights the eye; a wise woman, the understanding; a pure one, the soul.” —Minna Antrim

“The free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it – basically because you feel good, very good when you are near or with them.” —Charles Bukowski

“Go to the people and the places that set a spark in your soul.” —Anonymous

“If only our eyes saw souls instead of bodies, how different our ideals of beauty would be.”

“Beauty attracts heart, but character attracts the soul.” –Sindhu Vishnu

“Always trust your instincts; they are messages from your soul; they are that inner part of you That strives to make you whole.” — Anonymous

“Love is the beauty of the soul.” —Saint Augustine

“Follow your soul. It knows the way.” —- Anonymous

“Whatever’s good for your soul, do that.” —-Anonymous

 

21

Your Path

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Finding your path is not always this easy.
Finding your path is not always this easy.

Life is a beautiful thing. It is destined to surprise you and lead you to places that you anticipated.  I believe much of the enjoyment of life comes directly from inside of you and how you perceive the people you meet and the experiences you have.

Sometimes early in the journey of life, you may find life a confusing jumble of mixed messages and emotions. Even the greatest adventurer or psychic would struggle to smooth out the details and work through the challenges faced.  Nobody ever said that life would be easy, but in the end, it has the potential to be the most rewarding journey imaginable.

Living in the Madness Without Going Mad

madnessOften the world seems like a crazy place.  There are bad things all around us that are mad. There is a crime, injustice, hunger, disease in the world that seems overwhelming to the humanity of anyone. Combine that with the everyday callousness of people, and it can be easy for those with a tender heart or spirit to feel discouraged and even crushed trying to figure out where they fit in. How can they make a difference?

With all types of people and personalities in this world, nobody should feel all alone. If you feel like you don’t fit in with the people you encounter, it is time to start meeting other people.  If you continually feel out of place with the ones you see, the problem may not be you. It may be them.

Life will steer you in the direction that you should be moving in. Sometimes you will resist because you think you know best, but life is always proper in the end.  Find your group where you do fit in. You may have to look a bit further away than the people you meet, but nobody is alone in the world. Some intellectuals are contemplating the very questions you are and merely need to be reached out to find the comfort you seek to be happy.

The Danger of Reaching Out

If you don't reach out, you will never know what is out there.
If you don’t reach out, you will never know what is out there.

It is scary to reach out, especially at first.  This is where you have to be brave and realize that only by reaching out can you connect with like-minded people like you. In today’s world, it has never been easier. There are all sorts of social networks available for all adventurers.  WordPress is best for writers and deep thinkers, I believe.  It is the most supportive and kind community I have ever encountered. There is Facebook, Instagram, and even Twitter communities to search for as well.

When I started to reach out to like-minded people, I was petrified that nobody would understand me. Some might not have, but most people got it.  Developing relationships is sharing ideas and thoughts about how this ride of life should work out.  One thing I know without a doubt, if you don’t reach out, you may never find those who are on a similar journey, and isolation is the result of that choice.

Embrace the Enigma of Yourself

enigmaWe all feel like we are a mystery to the world. If people could only see inside us, we would magically be embraced by the masses and be held up as an example of the caring, loving kindness we naturally are.  However, in most social situations, that’s not going to be the case.

Why should the world see into the inner workings of your mind? Why would you want them to? You would be setting yourself up for unneeded and unwarranted criticism of your ideas and what you stand for.  Embrace the enigma that you present to the world. Like a great book, life saves its most exciting and stomach whirling experiences for the later chapters.  They are fun to read because they keep you guessing, making you an exciting and unique individual.

Early in life, this can seem not very clear and make you question yourself.  You are immersed in the game of life, so it isn’t easy to see the moves coming five or ten or fifteen years down the road.  Perhaps it is not others that view you as an enigma; maybe it is you. Embrace your mystery, and there is no more exciting journey to go on than to find out who exactly you are.

You are not Invisible.

Everyone feels invisible sometimes.  Does the world ever see us? The real us?  I am not sure, but I know that often this feeling can be disturbing.  I have a mind with great thoughts. Why doesn’t anyone notice?  The answer is they do see.   How often do you notice the minds and opinions of others?

All relationships, from long-time friendships to people you meet each day, are two-way streets.  The give and a take make relationships work.   Some relationships last a lifetime, and some only for a season.  All come into your life for a reason, usually to teach you something. Be open to the lessons.

Isolation is not The End Game.

isolationWhen you have tried to connect and fit in, at some point, you might want to throw up your hands and give it all up, move to an island and live by yourself.  This is not a good option, not because you need the world (you do), but because the world needs you. There is no way that you can know or begin to understand the impact you will have in the future.

Living in isolation will feel safe, but the problem is that you have no others to help balance your thoughts.  You only see the world through your window and interpret it with your own bias and judgment.  Intellectually, creatively it isn’t easy to grow and move forward when you close yourself off from the world.

Find your Path

When you feel this way, like giving up on others, you are fighting against life. It is time to start moving with it.  This can seem impossible, but it isn’t. People do it every day. I have done it.  This is what has helped me.

  1. meditate. If you can learn to quiet the mind, you will find that the ego supplies you with all sorts of criticism you do not deserve. It is challenging to be positive if your ego is destroying your self-confidence daily.

  2. Be creative. Whatever you do, write, paint, draw, sing, play the xylophone, whatever you do, do it for a bit, and you often will find your answer.

  3. Read information about your problem. This may seem simplistic, but it works.  There is no problem of humanity that you are experiencing for the first time. Someone somewhere has experienced what you are and deal with it effectively.  Learn from the mistakes and triumphs of others.

  4. Be positive. There is no way to achieve or grow if you enter into a negative mind and stay there.  If you do that, the odds of finding a positive solution are impossible.  If you are positive then anything is possible. ANYTHING!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R74shUIiSIY&feature=youtu.be