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Soulful Living:
Living as a Soul & Doing the Soul's Work
by Rita Milios, MSW |
What is "soulful living"? It should be pretty
obvious, one would think. Just define the words
themselves. Soulful living. Living as a soul. But, then
we’d have to further question...what, really, does
that mean? How many of us, if we’re honest, would have
even a clue as to how to "live as a soul"?
It sounds pretty spiritual, lofty even. It sounds
like a good idea. So why is it such a mystery? Why aren’t
more of us doing it? Or, could it be that we are, and
just don’t know it? Could it be that we know what to
do to live as a soul, and sometimes succeed at it, yet
we do it unconsciously, unaware of the important impact
we are having on ourselves and the world?
I’m convinced that this is the case. Since we all
are at our core, in our essence really souls, we
already know how to live that way... when we put our
personalities aside and allow our souls to take control.
This, then is the key. Soulful living is conscious
living. It is living with a conscious intent and a
conscious purpose to put our personality needs and
desires aside and defer to our soul’s intentions, our
soul’s will. In my work as a psychotherapist and
spiritual coach, I help people identify their soul’s
intent and I help them align with it if that is what
they truly desire. But first, they must commit to a
desire for soulful living, after having come to a full,
conscious awareness of what it really means.
A s we grow spiritually and travel further along the
Path, we begin to see the spiritual Path not as a
personal "achievement" but as a divine
responsibility a responsibility to use our emerging
energies more consciously and compassionately, with the
proper intent. And that intent is a soul intent, not a
personality intent. It is an intent that is focused on
group needs, not personal needs, on group achievement,
not personal achievement. Yet, it is an intent that
always brings greater good, greater joy to the person
who willingly undertakes it.
To find and align ourselves with our true soul’s
intent, it is useful to consider what kind of spiritual
focus we already have, what kind of spiritual energy we
already possess.
There are two main kinds of energy that we can, as
personalities, wield in the world. Each of these
energies carries a different spiritual intent, and our
actions often reflect these hidden intentions.
The energy of Love/Compassion is an energy that
resonates to a love vibration. It is a heart-focused
energy, and is magnetic in nature. It draws people in.
It calls them toward the one who possesses it, because
to be in their vibrations is to feel warm, safe and
loved. The love vibration moves us toward compassion,
caring and loving ways of expressing our spiritual
intent.
A person who wields love-focused energy as a soul,
deferring to the soul’s intent, acts in ways that are
based on genuine love, caring, and a sense of service.
In contrast, a person with heart-focused energy, but who
maintains a personality intent, based on personal needs,
might act in loving ways. But they would have a personal
agenda attached for instance, to be liked, or to be
viewed as "special."
The other type of energy is Will energy. Will energy
is the force of Spirit within us. It is radiant and
stimulates creation and activity. True spiritual will
initiates action toward a higher, spiritual purpose,
rather than toward our own personal purposes. The will
vibration is a mind or mental vibration. It works
through the energy of intuition, of inner guidance. It
provides us with a way to first discover our soul’s
intent and then to bring it forth into the world.
A will-focused person with a soul intent uses their
spiritual will with detachment. They do not try to
impress their ideas or purpose on others. On the other
hand, a will-focused person using their personal will
may try to impose their will on others. They may press
for their agenda, for getting their way, regardless of
whether their agenda serves others, or only themselves.
Now, it is not to say that we cannot, and should not,
have our own desires, wishes, and agendas. Being a
soul-focused person, living soulfully, simply means that
our desires, our agenda, are placed lower in our
priorities than our soul’s agenda. We consciously seek
to know our soul’s purpose and to defer our personal
will to the greater will of our soul, if and when we
find a discrepancy between the two. However, the more we
become soul-focused, the more likely our personal
desires and intents will be one and the same with our
soul’s intent.
As we move toward soulful living, we begin to
resonate more with the other energy vibration (that of
will or love) and our energies become "rounded
out." Then we begin to embody and express a
balanced complement of both love energy and will energy.
When our will is tempered with love, and we therefore
begin to think and act with true spiritual wisdom, we
finally become fully aligned with our soul’s purpose.
We begin to fulfill our destiny of soulful living.
© Copyright Rita Milios 2002. All Rights Reserved.
Rita Milios, MSW, LISW is a licensed
psychotherapist and spiritual teacher with more than
twenty years experience providing spirituality
education, intuitive training and guidance for people
seeking to develop their inner wisdom. Author of Tools
for Transformation, Dream Journal and other books and
audiotapes, Rita has led seminars and workshops on the
topics of dreams, meditation, intuition, visualization,
creativity, emotional literacy and self-development. She
has worked with lay people, businesses, educational
audiences and associations. Rita's intuitive training
and pathwork can be experienced through individual
sessions or as part of a group training and development
package. Rita is available for spiritual coaching and
transformational dreamwork. For details and information about individual dream
interpretations, write to: rita@ritamilios.com
Rita is also available as a speaker for workshops,
trainings and keynotes. For workshops, write the author at this address or email
rita@ritamilios.com.
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