The Soul Has Different Concerns

"It's important to be heroic, ambitious, productive, efficient, creative, and progressive, but these qualities don't necessarily nurture soul. The soul has different concerns, of equal value: downtime for reflection, conversation, and reverie; beauty that is captivating and pleasuring; relatedness to the environs and to people; and any animal’s rhythm of rest and activity." ~ Thomas A. Moore, Psychologist

Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us

"Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can't strike them all by ourselves; we need oxygen and a candle to help. In this case, the oxygen for example, would come from the breath of the person you love; the candle would be any kind of food, music, caress, word, or sound that engenders the explosion that lights one of the matches. For a moment we are dazzled by an intense emotion. A pleasant warmth grows within us, fading slowly as time goes by, until a new explosion comes along to revive it. Each person has to discover what will set off those explosions in order to live, since the combustion that occurs when one of them is ignited is what nourishes the soul. That fire, in short, is its food. If one doesn't find out in time what will set off these explosions, the box of matches dampens, and not a single match will ever be lighted. — From the novel, Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel

The Soul Has Different Concerns

"It's important to be heroic, ambitious, productive, efficient, creative, and progressive, but these qualities don't necessarily nurture soul. The soul has different concerns, of equal value: downtime for reflection, conversation, and reverie; beauty that is captivating and pleasuring; relatedness to the environs and to people; and any animal’s rhythm of rest and activity." ~ Thomas A. Moore, Psychologist

Gather up the joys and sorrows...

You are to gather up the joys and sorrows, the struggles, the beauty, love, dreams and hopes of every hour that they may be consecrated at the altar of daily life. ~ MacRina Wiederkehr, Benedictine Sister and Author

What weaves the stories of our lives?

"Love, soul, and freedom: these three weave the stories of our lives.  The who, what, when, and where fill in the details and give variation to the plots, but the themes don't get more basic.
     Love is what we all want in life and what we look for first.  It's our passion for living, forming the sea in which our souls swim.  Like the sea, love nurtures and sustains us, but it also offers us somewhere to go with our lives.  Love creates the worlds that our souls explore.  Who and what we love channel our energies, drawing us to this person or that, down one path or another.  Led by our loves, we connect with the worlds around us.  We create places where we belong, where our souls are nourished with meaning and purpose, as well as where we relax, play, and have fun.  Through the intimacy of relationships, we come to know both others and ourselves in love's mirror.  Love brings our souls into focus.
     Soul is our guiding center, our touchstone for what feels right in life and what's ours to do.  Soul is our reason for coming here as well as our reason for staying.  Soul tells us about us--not as others want, expect, or imagine us to be, but as we are in our innermost being.  When we go to the depths of sorrow, confusion, or despair, it's our souls that take us there and see us through.  Or if we experience exhilarating joy, it's our souls that lift us up with a bigger-than-life knowing: 'So that's what it all means!'  Soul is our core, our essence, the ground of who we are, even if we're not at all sure who this soul of ours is or what he or she has in mind for us.
     Freedom gives our souls and loves air to breathe.  Like the air, freedom is a given, at least as far as our souls are concerned.  It's not granted by people, institutions, or governments, or else it'd be theirs to withhold.  Freedom is air to us, because it gives us the space we need to follow our souls and pursue our loves.  Without freedom, our souls suffocate.  With it, they take off; we create, experiment, fumble, and learn.  Freedom says that anything is possible and that it's our birthright to explore possibilities wherever our souls and loves take us.  Sometimes our souls take us down the path of losing everything--a terminal disease, divorce, bankruptcy, or scandal--to show us how free we are beyond externals.  With 'nothing to lose,' we abandon shoulds and oughts and go for our dreams.
     Love, soul, and freedom are natural companions, together creating the fire in the mind, heart, chest, belly, or wherever that makes us happy to get up in the morning.  United--love, soul, and freedom are the Force incarnate, guiding us and permeating our lives with meaning and purpose, even if their presence isn't evident until hindsight.  Love, soul, and freedom are inseparable, and on the deepest levels of our being, that's how we experience them.  When we're on vacation, for instance, we get a taste of these three living happily together: we surround ourselves with who and what we love, let down our hair, and do as we choose."

~ Denise Breton and Christopher Largent, Love, Soul, & Freedom: Dancing with Rumi on the Mystic Path

It is better to conquer yourself

It is better to conquer yourself
Than to win a thousand battles.
Then the victory is yours.
It cannot be taken from you,
Not by angels or by demons,
Heaven or hell.
~ Buddha

Dive down into your self...

Dive down into your self,

And there you will find the steps

By which you might ascend.

-     Saint Isaac the Syrian

Woe is Me

Oftentimes, we are our own worst enemies. We commit acts of sabotage by doubting our own competence. Because of self-loathing, we close off avenues that could lead to personal growth. Due to feelings of inferiority, we put ourselves down, and because of grandiosity, others. Aiming for perfection, we are not satisfied with anything we do. None of these approaches are part of the spiritual practice which banishes "Woe is me" and "I am the master of the universe" mood swings.

The ideal is to live with both our strengths and our weaknesses. – Frederick and Mary Ann Brussat, www.spiritualityhealth.com

Assignments from Your Soul

Every problem is an assignment from your soul.  —Robin Norwood, Author/Therapist