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Living Your Truth
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Valerie Rickel |
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While I was growing up, my father often said, “The Truth cannot be told.” This was one of his favorite expressions, and it brought me to one of my own: “Your Truth cannot be told.” Why not? you ask, and I reply, Because our Truth is our Highest Good,
our Heart, our authentic inner knowing. It is unique to each of us. It is our special gift, our Light, the reason we are here. Our Truth is not a Truth that “can be told” to us by another. It is a Truth that we each must find for ourselves.
Several months after my
father’s death, I heard my own Truth—the wisdom in my Heart—calling me. I found myself spending every free moment, day and night, dreaming of and creating a web site community focused on spirituality and personal growth. It was to be called SoulfulLiving.com. My soul had been
“called.” It was one of those things that I knew I could not not do.
Two years later, my mother suffered a very serious stroke and died eight months later. It was at this time that it became clear to me that life is too short to do anything less in life than what you are most passionate about. I found the courage to leave my full-time job,
an eight-year career in marketing and public relations in the shopping center industry, and devote myself full-time to SoulfulLiving.com.
It hasn’t always been a smooth journey. There were times when people close to me were critical of the work I’ve chosen to do. They said I was crazy for leaving my comfortable, stable career, and I have to admit it: sometimes I allowed their suggestions to get under my skin
and invade my psyche. I am still growing and gaining wisdom, however, and now I understand that it has been those very criticisms that helped me to gain the firm conviction that I am doing exactly the work I was put here on earth to do. I know deeply in my Heart that I am
living my Truth. SoulfulLiving.com is my special purpose—my gift, my Light.
Remember that your Heart—your Truth—will never lead you astray. Let the Light of your Heart guide your way.
© Copyright 2004 Valerie Rickel. This essay was originally published in Pat Sampson's book, "The Power of Positive People."
Valerie Rickel is the founder of SoulfulLiving.com, a highly publicized and popular internet community and award-winning web magazine. Born into a family of artists, Valerie was educated at UCLA and combines her background
in psychology, her keen eye for exquisite design and detail, and over a decade of marketing and public relations experience into all her ventures. An artist, writer, web developer, marketing consultant, and visionary entrepreneur, Valerie is known by the business moniker,
The Creative Soul®. Valerie was deeply touched and inspired by her father, an artist and philosopher, and in his wisdom, creativity, and
spirituality, she found the seed for her web site. The passing of her father and mother and the traumatic events of 9/11 all proved to be catalyzing events from which were born Valerie's passionate interest in soulful living and her
intense search for life's meaning. Deeply committed to the opportunities her web site have opened to her, Valerie's mission is to share her passion for soulful living and inspire and enhance the lives of others.
Entering its tenth year on the
World Wide Web, SoulfulLiving.com has won accolades from the
media and has been featured in numerous print publications,
including Health and Fitness Magazine, Health
magazine, The Los Angeles Business Journal, and
Gospel Today magazine. As Meg Sanders, author of the
book, The Good Web Guide to Mind, Body & Spirit,
writes, "As soon as the homepage appears, you know
you're in the hands of professionals…. Elegant, erudite,
ambitious and sincere, this site sets the standard, but
we've seen few others that even come close."
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