I want to share an image with you

A lot of what I teach, maybe most of it, I learn during readings. Of course, not everything in every reading is applicable to every person. But now and then an image in a reading has a special luminosity, and I know it is a universally useful image. Such is the image I’m going to share with you.

This image requires an assumption, the assumption that we are more than our physical selves. You, in your physical form, are an aspect of you in your non-physical form. Some call that non-physical/physical relationship big self and little self, some call it soul and body, some call it universal energy and physical energy. Some say god, spirit, source, the great mystery. I’ll say soul today.

So, you, in your physical body, are an aspect of you as soul. You could say that you as soul decided to have the experience of being embodied on Earth. The result of that decision is you now, you in your physical body. But you are also still you as soul. Okay, that’s the assumption. Here’s the image.

Your soul beckons you

Your soul beckons you closer, beckons you by breathing a soft, warm, wonder-filled breath toward you. Your soul is always beckoning you to move closer and closer to the essence of you, and the essence of you — the essence of your soul — is love, is joy, is wonder. That essence is in your soul’s breath, a breath that is always present. Your soul is always beckoning you to experience embodied life with the perspective of soul. The very best thing you can do in your life is to turn toward your soul’s breath.

How do you know what direction you’re facing?

The essence of your soul is always and only pleasant — love, joy, wonder. When you are turned toward the soft, warm breath of soul, you feel better. When you turn your back on soul, and step into the cold, empty wind of resistance and isolation, you feel worse.

It’s like the question I asked in issue #47, back in May 2008: does this (thought, feeling, etc.) lead me to fulfillment, or is it resistance? Moving toward fulfillment means you are facing your soul, and you can feel the wonder-filled breath. You feel better. Resistance means you have turned your back on your beckoning soul, and you can feel the sharp, empty wind. You feel worse.

Better and worse are relative

If the energy of your soul is love, joy, and wonder, then will that be what you feel when you turn toward it? It depends. If you are feeling miserable, you probably won’t experience joy the minute you turn toward your soul. But you will feel better — maybe just a little better, but better. As you keep turning toward your soul, as you keep choosing to experience life from the perspective of your soul, as you keep seeking fulfillment, you feel better and better.

The breath of your soul is always the breath of love and joy. If you ever feel worse, bet on it, you have turned away from your beckoning soul. You have had some thought or feeling that is resistance. You are walking into the cold, empty wind of isolation.

Notice I said you have had some thought or feeling. I didn’t say you had some experience. Some of us love to put the responsibility for our condition squarely on something outside of us — I am miserable because so-and-so did such-and-such, I am miserable because this-or-that happened. But no one can cause you to feel or think anything — that is always yours to choose. I am encouraging you to choose to feel better, to choose to think a thought that lets you feel better, to choose to turn toward the warm, soft breath of your beckoning soul.

How to turn around

Sometimes I am very committed to my stance on a particular topic, even if it keeps me out in the cold, empty wind of resistance. As I’ve told you before, I have a default position, a fallback feeling, for those times when I need to crank myself around toward the warm, soft breath of my soul. Appreciation. Even in my deepest pits of self-righteousness, in my darkest funks of fear, I can find something to appreciate.

No matter how seemingly insignificant, any feeling of appreciation is a release from resistance, and brings relief from the cold, empty wind. Appreciation feels better than resistance, and feeling better is proof that I have turned toward the warm, soft breath of my beckoning soul. What is your fallback feeling?

It is always there

You can count on it, your soul is always sending its beckoning breath your way. It is always there. Your soul never withdraws, never punishes. The soft, warm breath of your soul, the breath of love and joy and wonder, is always there. Always, always there. Always. If that doesn’t seem true to you, it means that you have turned your back, that you are facing into the cold, empty wind of resistance. Find a way to turn around, and you’ll know that your soul was there all the time, beckoning you with its breath.

Another story

I want to tell you the story of a client of mine who died. She had suffered from disease and illness all her life, and she was ashamed. She struggled with eating disorders, and she was ashamed. She was a minister, and she felt unworthy because of her problems. Before she died, she was beginning to know the warm, soft, beckoning breath of her soul, and she was beginning to practice turning toward it. She was feeling a little better.

I went to her funeral. The big church was full of people. Suddenly I became aware of my client’s presence. She was flying around above our heads, exuberant, joyful, even gleeful. “There is no shame,” she exclaimed, “tell everyone! There is no shame!”

Upon her death, she had connected fully with her essence, with her soul, and she knew joy and love, and she was the warm soft breath. And she came to her funeral to share her wonder and joy. There is no shame. There is love, there is joy, there is wonder. All we have to do is turn toward it.