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