Recently, I conducted an informal survey about what people seek the most right in their lives: Soul Growth, Spiritual Guidance or Life Advice. I actually see all three as different sides to the same coin. As 'souls', we seek spiritual guidance to understand that which is hard to understand, which, after discovering our soulful truths, ultimately delivers our best life path.
As for the survey results: it was pretty equally divided among the three categories. However, many who selected Soul Growth also selected Spiritual Guidance. That works well since we really can't experience our soul without a very strong spiritually practiced life.
This is where it can get confusing...a spiritual existence isn't the same as "I'm spiritual'...just like we can be 'watching our weight' but not really be 'fit'. We cannot be committed to our bull shit and our growth...it's one or the other as the quote says. It is only in being brutally honest with ourselves and prioritizing our spiritual life that we gain its benefits. If we want our lives to make sense we need to transcend the hand delivered doctrine and be willing to expand our awareness. Being truly spiritual means that we regard everything in life as...well...spiritual. It's a bit more complicated than that, but once we grasp the concept to its depth, everything for us gets easier, more magnified and expanded.
When we live a spiritually practiced life, alignment with who we really are (a divine soul with a body) falls easily into place. When we are aligned with our true divine nature...we are naturally guided into place in terms of career, relationships and abundance.
Soul growth is a mental concept that says we need to do something, experience something, or even overcome something for 'my soul to grow'. As if, without great struggle, or specific parameters, a soul would remain undeveloped. Truth is...our souls are perfect as they are and always will be. A more accurate step toward personal expansion in life is 'KNOWING our soul' or knowing the self as 'a' soul.
A shift in consciousness toward understanding ourselves as souls is the way we arrive at alignment with our own existence. As a soul, we seek to experience ourselves using our physical body, mental capabilities and emotional intelligence. Alignment comes when we recognize ourselves as we are (soul based) and shift our perspective about each of our experiences. So why do our souls undertake this seemingly difficult journey? Because, my dears, this challenging focus, undoubtedly, revives our soul memories, marches us toward divine alignment and ultimately leads to the peaceful, abundant, joy filled life most of us began as children. We intuitively knew it then...we can remember it now.
Often, most of us begin the search for 'soul' after life deals us an unexpected blow. We wonder about the existence of a transitioned love one...we self-doubt after a job loss...we live in a fear state over financial matters...we struggle with parenting insight when our children are suffering and on and on goes. What we are really doing is shifting into place; the soul (your higher self), that guides your physical existence, is gently guiding you toward the truth of things. When we resist, we get stuck wherever we are...when we embrace, we begin to grease the wheel.
Like any worthwhile journey, the Soul Path is not an easy one to find...until you discover the universal tools or 'laws' that deliver. We can't become divinely aligned by reading or talking about it (that just starts the awareness), nor can we become divinely aligned by wishing it (that's daydreaming), and we certainly don't become divinely aligned by taking someone's word for it (that's just foolish). No...we find our true soul path by actively following spiritual laws, learning to unconditionally love, and committing to a life we were meant to live.
So where do we start? Here...right here; just by allowing the thought that we are already more than we've been presenting to ourselves, and others, is where it all begins.
Our next step is a willingness to look past everything we think we know (or have been taught) and dig deeper...coupled with a willingness to change the perspectives that need changing and we are on our way. Soul work isn't meant to be easy, it's meant to be worth it.
As we get closer to fully walking our soul path, we develop the tools to cope with the unexpected, accept joy as a natural state, deal with fear head on, respond to negativity in any form calmly and rationally, receive guidance from our spiritual teams, and learn to trust our hearts above all else.
Is there anyone among us that doesn't, even deep down, wish to walk this path? Even those who scoff at spirituality, cry out for something to change. Living your soul path is courageous (on many levels), authentic and freeing, and is the only way that 'creates' the life you desire.
Something tells me...if you've read this to the end...you are divinely ready.