By Angela Dunning
To feel truly alive,
regularly bathe in the light of your Soul and lift
yourself up from the mundane, practical matters of daily life.
In this Age of the mind, science, technological advancement and instant information and communication, we have lost contact with our soul and the spiritual side of life, in the same intimate way as our ancestors once had.
A whole world turns each day without the holy light of the sacred to penetrate and illuminate it.
Daily life can be and often is a grind, filled with a multiplicity of practical, financial, material matters to tend to: Chores, tasks, errands, purchases, to-do lists, deadlines and agendas fill each waking minute. On top of which, the world bombards us day-in, day-out with a never-ending supply of things to buy and try while also telling us what ”the right way” to live is. The media and our business and political leaders all operate solely in the material and mundane world, greatly influencing our beliefs that these are the things that matter; not ethereal matters of the spirit and the soul.
Is it any wonder that so many people suffer from a lack of well-being? From stress? From depression and anxiety?
Addictions and other mental health disorders? From relationship problems? As well as just a vague interminable sense of disillusionment, lack of fulfillment and meaning in their lives. No. It is no wonder at all. It is an inevitable result of living without a deep connection to one’s own soul; the soul of the world and something greater than us: Spirit. Such a barren way of living inevitably also leads to a loss of gratitude for life. Without gratitude we are well and truly lost, as we unplug ourselves from the life-force energy that creates and drives all life on Earth.
On my own personal journey it has been the reconnection to my soul, more than anything else that has transformed my life from one which fits the above picture perfectly, to one which is devoted to including soul in my everyday life. Yes, at times of ill-health, stress or big physical changes the mundane takes over again and I lose this close connection and then I start to suffer further with physical symptoms, unhappiness and negativity. However, because the last few years in particular have involved developing a much stronger relationship with my soul, I am now more secure in myself and know that I can resurrect this closeness once again. And in fact, I now know that I MUST do so if I am not to spiral back down into ill-health and depression in particular. So being in relationship to my soul becomes my way out and back-up; it becomes my life-line back to me and back to a life filled with meaning, not ease, but meaning.
I connect to my soul via my dreams, my intuitive insights, the sudden thoughts or images that come out of nowhere, when I have the urge to write, when looking at beautiful art, being in nature, meditating, praying, watching a moving film and reading inspiring words of others. These are the daily tasks of the soul that keep me well, present and balanced.
This morning as I was pondering these two vastly different ways of going through life, the beautiful phrase ‘soul bathing’ came to me, and then I received a vision of a cascade of soul-light showering down from above and all over me. At the same time, I could feel my soul from deep within begin to stir back into life and fill me up with the same kind of light. THIS, I thought. This is what is important. Yes, there are practical matters to sort out each day for all of us, but they are just that: tasks. To be given attention and energy to for a short time and then released again, so that I can return to the vastly more important and rewarding work of being connected to my soul.
I’ve found that it takes a while to master the art of balancing these two ways of being. It also takes discipline, as well as courage to devote yourself to the journey of your own soul, and especially to bring the fruits of this journey into the harsh light of the modern world, where it can so easily be trampled on and shut-down. Therefore, it is an act of the greatest self-care to listen and respond to your soul’s urgings. Such deep self-care naturally soothes any anxieties, loosens the grip of depression and lifts one’s spirits up out of the mundane and into the sacred.
Finally, it provides us with much needed revitalized soul-energy to heal ourselves and the world; to bring forth our creations and to genuinely appreciate every single day.
