Everyday Spiritual Practice: Connecting with Your Soul
I was interviewed for an article for Vanity Fair about Reiki, crystals and flower essences, and one of the things the writer asked me was why I felt there was a growing number of people turning to spirituality.
I felt it was because what worked for us 10-15 years ago - going to the doctor, going to the therapist, taking the pills, going to the gym - wasn’t enough anymore. There’s a lot more stress, and a lot more fear. Jobs aren’t certain, political leaders aren’t trusted, holy people have been found guilty of abuse and violation, threats of terrorism and natural disasters abound. They say there’s no atheists in foxholes, and with systems failing us, we need something to turn to.
The beautiful thing about spirituality is that it doesn’t require form or definition, rules or rituals, bells or baubles, it merely asks that you be PRESENT. To stop, sense, and listen. Just be.
My writing mentor said to me recently that ‘God is in the present’, and whether you believe in God, or the Goddess, or any other form of Grace, it doesn’t really matter. Most people are willing to believe they have a soul, and when you stop, be quiet, and listen, you can be present to your soul, and find the calm and the guidance that you seek.
You can be present to your soul when you’re washing the dishes, driving your car, rocking a baby to sleep, praying, or waiting in line. I’ve been asked many times: ‘But how do you listen, what are you supposed to be doing in order to feel that connection? How do you know when you are connected?”
A Simple Practice to Help You Connect to Your Soul:
Close your eyes, or focus on a plain, immobile object.
Take 3 deep breaths for the purpose of relaxation.
Pay attention to how you’re feeling – are you hot, cold, comfortable? How do your clothes feel on your body? Are you in a comfortable position? Is there pain or tension in your body that you’ve been ignoring?
Next pay attention to your emotional feelings – this is where your mind is likely to try and interfere, so take a deep breath if this happens and then continue. What are you feeling? ‘Ok’ and ‘fine’ are not valid answers, get more descriptive: anxious, happy, sad, sanguine, uneasy, hopeful?
Now take another deep breath, and ask yourself: ‘what’s underneath this feeling?’ Believe it or not, if you get the answer ‘nothing’, or if you feel a calm, steady place, what I like to call ‘center’, then you’ve connected with your Soul. You’re in a place of presence, and you can just be in this place, or
You can begin to access your Soul’s guidance. and ask questions. Allow the truth to float up to you from this place. This is your divine inner seat, this is your access point to that source of consciousness I like to call God or Grace, or the ‘zero point field’ as they call it in physics. Your Soul is both your gateway to and embodiment of this source.
Whenever you feel ready, take a deep breath and imagine taking root or dropping anchor in this place, and then float back up to your present moment. Whenever you feel the need to reconnect throughout the day, take a moment to stop, breath, and follow your anchor line or roots back down into your soul center. Then continue on with your day.
Remember that this is a practice, not a perfect! If this is a new practice to you it may feel challenging in the beginning.
Keep at it and the reward will be greater calm, greater sense of empowerment, and a fundamental shift in your way of being.
Why is this valuable? Because when you come back to Source, you have something to turn to that can’t fall, fail, or fade away. It is eternal, it has always been there, it is there, will always be there, and it’s as much a part of us as we are a part of it.
In a world of uncertainty, you can always be certain of your soul.
