Looking back, I did not know what it meant to be in possession of my own soul, for the longest time. So, we can start with a definition. What is a soul? There are so many answers clamoring to be seen, repeated, known and heard. The one I have landed on that seems to resonate is this: a soul is the light energy that enlivens and awakens our bodies and minds, connects us to imagination, memory, creativity and many more experiences. A soul is a part of you that travels to other dimensions of existence, has been with you generally through more than one lifetime as a human and can exist in forms outside of just human ones.
When was it you first realized your material existence was limited, not bad, just limited? Have you realized this yet? If so, you may have begun your own way of searching. We have the phrase "soul searching" for a good reason. We are, so many of us, seekers of some kind. We seek out answers to mysteries that lead to more questions and lead us to construct theories, ideas, hopes, fears, desires, all related to the journey of our souls. But where and when, does our soul find a place to rest? Do we have to wait until death for that? Does it even happen then? Or, can we find ways of resting our souls while we are alive?
Many of us are familiar with methods that lots of humans use to ensure their bodies are taken care of, and experiencing pleasure. That does not equate with soul rest.
We are mostly all aware of massage, saunas, steam rooms, even hot showers and baths, as tools for relaxation and rejuvenation. These are examples of places where our bodies rest, but they might not be the answers if you are looking for a more transcendent experience for your soul.
The other question that comes up a whole lot is how do we differentiate between the human soul and the human spirit? I am not an expert but I do have a way of seeing these two parts of us. The spirit is the life force energy that connects us directly to the Creator, or the Universe, if you wish to call it that. The human spirit is the breath we have in our midst, the intake of breath in and out is a hallmark of our spirit. We have a mystical connotation with our Spirit. Some might say our individual spirits are holy and they communicate information to the rest of our consciousness through intuition and other mystical gifts. If any of this rings true for you, it is time to look into ways of restoring, healing, nurturing and resting our spirits as well as our souls.
Some people use the words "spirit" and "soul" interchangeably. I do not see a problem with that. I tend to see the soul as an entity within us that can travel through space and time and carries a specific imprint of who we are at the deepest level, transcending lifetimes, but the spirit is an entity within us that lives as we live and dies only in the sense of leaving the body, but is always going to go back to the source of all life force energy. Spirit and Soul are connected and in some ways similar but as I understand them, they can be seen as separate entities we all use while participating in life.
One simple experience that could bring a sense of rest to the soul is the simple act of building a small, contained fire and watching the flames. Earth, Air, Fire and Water are four elements that nourish and transform and illuminate our Souls. We learn from them in modern times and have over the span of human history. Spending time in natural spaces, whether it is a forest, a beach, a desert or a garden, can be restful to our souls.
Finding a relationship where you feel at home, whether it is a friendship or romantic or even within your family, can be restful. This can be more challenging for some because we are not guaranteed to find people who feel like a place to rest. Anytime we do find this, it is an enormous blessing.
Looking more deeply into what feels like rest for your soul, it appears that within your own being are keys to finding what you seek. Carving out time for yourself and dedicating time to that which interests and uplifts and awakens you is highly recommended. Get to know yourself on every level. This helps prepare you for partnership, for friendship and for your own unique journey.
Forgive yourself relentlessly. Build empathy for others. Awaken to the suffering and the joy. Get comfortable with sitting with suffering, sitting with the hard questions and still, remember to play. Remember to infuse humor into as many situations as you can. Some situations will be decidedly heavy, so sink into that heaviness. If you are dealing with addiction/s, be very gentle with yourself but get into recovery. Dive into recovery and remember this is all so very temporary. Nobody is promised another day. Tomorrow is never guaranteed. Forgive others, but hold boundaries and respect yourself.
All of these suggestions point toward a place to rest, and a way for your soul to settle in to your body and make a good home there for the time you live on earth. How we treat others and how we treat ourselves directly relates to the wellness or imbalance of our souls' journey in this plane of existence. The earth plane is full of lessons for those who are paying attention. Create intentions for healing, good health and happiness, and follow through with those intentions.
The next insight I have to share is that the soul is a self healing mechanism. What I mean by this is to say the soul has the power to effectively facilitate your healing journey. No matter what traumas your body or mind have experienced, your soul is a multidimensional mechanism that can deeply help to heal any and everything within you needing healing. Before I go further in this explanation, I wish to address the issue of some folks not ever seeming able to heal themselves, some folks seem to be stuck in cycles of trauma, pain, discomfort, and seemingly endless problems. That is naturally going to occur. What it generally means is they have not been able to, for whatever reason, tap into the souls' natural healing capacity or they can only tap in superficially but are unable to go all the way with what the soul is really able to do for the overall well being of the human that is involved.
When a person is able to tap into the soul's healing abilities, which can happen in many different ways, waves of healing will wash over them. It does not feel the same for each individual. What feels like waves of healing for some, may feel like jolts of energy, bursts of energy. There was one experience I had with soul healing wherein I felt and saw all this sparkly energy coming back to my body. My eyes were closed so I saw this with my minds eye.
There are a number of ways you can call up this self healing ability. Sometimes, it truly happens without being beckoned, it simply arrives within you. I have experienced that as well. The best action to take to call this energy and power into your life is to take deeply excellent care of yourself. I am not talking about superficial methods of self care, I mean to truly give yourself what you need on the deepest level. That can look all kinds of ways. Consistently though, it looks like self love, self affirmation and cultivation of self compassion.
You may need to send versions of your past self lots of compassion! You may need to let go of certain relationships. You may need to learn body acceptance before you can learn to love yourself fully and entirely. Take baby steps if you need to. Take your time and continue to affirm at each point that this journey is a homecoming. If you create the conditions for your soul to be welcomed home to rest inside you and fill you with compassionate energy, all of this is more likely to happen. But, as I have said, sometimes soul healing is spontaneous and comes to you whether you have summoned it or not. That is the nature of the power of your soul. I speak from experience. I know that if my soul has done these things that other folks can have similar experiences.
