Personal Issues

We become closer to our soul nature through rigorous psychological self-examination.

Analyzing our drives and motivations or listening to the language of our dreams is a form of soul-searching.

To ignore our personal self in our journey toward soul would be misguided; a form of self-erasure.

Grappling with our personal problems can be exasperating and frustrating, but it brings us closer to our inner being, and allows us greater intimacy with soul.

Freud showed us how the soul could become aware of itself. To become acquainted with the lowest depth of soul - to explore whatever personal hell we may suffer from - is not an easy undertaking... this demanding and potentially dangerous voyage of self-discovery will result in our becoming more fully human. Freud often spoke of the soul... Unfortunately, nobody who reads him in English could guess this, because nearly all his many references to the soul, and to matters pertaining to the soul, have been excised in translation. ~ Bruno Bettleheim

The Dark Night of the Soul

Sharing our deepest shame helps us break out of our sense of isolation and disconnection from others.

Secrets that we carry in the silence of our minds and hearts divide us from ourself and others.

When we break our own silence, we crack the hard shell surrounding us, and let in the light.

We take a chance and trust other people with the banished contents of our mind, being willing to trust another deepens our trust in ourselves.

We learn that we can survive knowing and allowing others to know.

Spirit cannot shine in darkness - it casts darkness away. A 'dark night of the soul' is part of letting in the light.

Refused darkness is not light; refusing darkness actually blocks light from coming through.

Honest pain and anguish are part of the process of soul growth, they are part of a willingness to grapple with, and face the angst that blocks the spirit.

Share with another what you hold in silent shame.

Confession is good for the soul. ~ Scottish proverb

Consistency

Be consistent today.

Soul cannot express itself and be explored through a chaotic, disorganized life.

When we allow ourselves to be regular, to attend to the dailiness of a life's work, we create a work space within ourselves for soul.

Pursuing any one goal can get tedious and monotonous.

Working through setbacks and frustrations can make us want to give up, to stop pushing, to abandon our 'mission'. But it is by staying with it that we develop strength.

It is in learning to tolerate small failures and frustrations that we build psychological and emotional muscle.

This strength translates itself into an ability to handle the intensity of soul.

Soul is a paradox, both exquisitely simple and maddeningly complex.

It is necessary for us to develop strength of character in order to meet the inner challenges of a life aware of soul and spirit.

Stay focused and committed to your life's work.

Don't change horses in midstream. ~ Abraham Lincoln

I Am Not My Roles

I have an identity behind the roles that I play in my life, a me that is constant, unchanging and connected to universal oneness or soul.

Today I will allow myself to breathe deeply, detach from whatever role I am playing and rest in an eternal sense of self.

I am more than my roles.

The relative reality of these various identities are "real" only in relation to the situation which calls them forth. But if all of our identities are only relatively real, coming and going as circumstance warrants, is there any part of us that remains steady and stable behind all our roles? If we observe our own minds at work, we see that behind all these identities is a state of awareness that incorporates them all and yet is still able to rest behind them. As we loosen the hold of each identity so that we don't get completely lost in it, we are able to remain light and loose - able to play among these various aspects of being without identifying exclusively with any. We don't have to be anybody in particular. We don't have to be "this" or "that." We are free simply to be.
~ Ram Dass and Paul Gorman

Honest Living

Soul cannot shine through a distorted lens; it cannot operate through a dishonest life, a life filled with pretense and subtle lies.

We must be honest and genuine in the way we live.

We must not pretend to be what we are not in order to look good.

Living well requires a constant vigilance, constant awareness.

When we don't pay attention to the way we live, it is all too easy to slip into bad habits and nonproductive ways of thinking, behaving and conducting ourselves.

Live mindfully today, live an honest life.

If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you but make allowance for their doubting, too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, or being lied about, don't deal in lies, or being hated, don't give way to hating, and yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not makes dreams your master,
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim,
If you can meet Triumph and Disaster and treat those two impostors just the same.
~ Rudyard Kipling

The Mystical Experience

When I transcend my day-to-day world and connect with a force and truth beyond what my eyes see, I sense that I live in a universe with a higher intelligence, that there is a reality that connects us all, beyond words, shape or form.

I have glimpsed eternity and it has changed my life.

It has allowed me to go through my life knowing that I am not alone, that life is not meaningless.

I have experienced the deeper meaning of life.

A mystical experience is... usually profound and almost always positive in nature, leading people to move in an ethical direction, leading them to be more confident, to feel that there is meaning in life; leading them to fear death less, making them take a more healthy approach to life in general. These are experiences that are sometimes related to nature, music, and feelings that there have been meaningful coincidences in the person's life, that how could these things have happened except for an anti-chance power. Sometimes they are conversion experiences and these can be of a gradual nature or a sudden nature. ~ George Gallup (from Gallup polls on 4 out of 10 who reported having a mystical experience).

Quiet Desperation

It may be a little difficult, but just for today try not to hide the pieces and corners of yourself from your inner view.

When we fail to live up to an image of what we think we should be, we hide who we fear we are.

Spirit cannot live a lie. We lie to ourselves when we pretend not to be who we are, and the person we lie to the most is "me".

When we don't tell the truth to ourselves, we undermine our connections with self.

We weaken our most important link - "me" with our own insides, our intellect with our hearts.

Soul comes to us through our own inner depths. When our inner depths are littered with unopened boxes or rejected pieces of self, it barricades the smooth entry of soul.

Today, get to know yourself.

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation... A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things. ~ Henry David Thoreau

The Comfort of Ritual

It is often the elders among us who understand the value of rituals and who help to anchor them.

Older people who understand how to be elders, who are able to pass on encouragement and strength rather than despair and judgment, are gifts to society.

Elders who have worked through their own failures and inadequacies and come to terms with their lives are able to mentor without controlling, give advice without criticizing, and help people who are younger to get in touch with their own strength, their own soul.

They provide encouragement to go on with life and to face our challenges with love and courage.

Generations are connected to one another seamlessly, each leading naturally into the next.

The old receive the vitality of youth, the youth the stability of the old... and those in the middle are supported and nurtured in their life's duties.

Be open enough to accept the teachings of the wise elders.

The hand of liberality is stronger than the arm of power. ~ Sadi