May Daily Practice: Listen to Your Soul

Happy May everyone! As I write this, I am sitting in the glorious May sunshine, the cold and April showers forgotten (for today at least!) – a Happy May 1st for me indeed! I chose this month’s Daily Practice last week, when I was reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (for about the 8th time). In it, for those of you who haven’t read it, an Andalusian Shepherd Boy goes in search of his treasure – follows his Big Dream – and learns to hear the voice of the Soul of the World. The Soul of the World is the source of intuition, coincidence, signs, synchronicity, Divine Guidance.

And it got me thinking – how much do you listen to the Soul of the World? Or, to make it even simpler, the Voice of Your Soul? In the noise and hustle and bustle and busy of life, it is easy to ignore the whispers of your soul, easy to leave those Big Dreams and secret desires alone…not forever, just until a tomorrow that never comes. In The Alchemist, the shepherd boy meets several people who have stopped listening to the Soul of the World, to their Soul Calling.

Like so many of us, they no longer heard the voice of their soul…at least consciously. Unconsciously, there is always the nagging feeling that there is something we are missing, something lost, something lacking. You see, your soul is always whispering, but we can only hear it if we listen. If we take the time to stop and be quiet and hear the whispers…or sometimes if we are in the depths of despair, there it is, the whisper that promises salvation.

When I was in a job I hated, there was always that whisper, that urging to do something else. At the time, I felt it was a hindrance, keeping me from finding peace, from finding my place in the world, from settling down. Of course, it was, but that was no bad thing, since had I settled then, I’d have been miserable for even longer. My soul knew that there was something different for me to do with my life than work in the corporate world – my soul knew that there was a whole world out there waiting for me, and encouraged me to go backpacking in Australia, despite me never having had any desire to backpack in my life before.

My soul encouraged me to start a business, to write, to create, to coach, to teach, to do things that give me joy and stop doing things that don’t. My soul has been the catalyst for every big decision I’ve ever made, and by following that voice rather than the voice of reason, I’ve found more joy than I ever would have by staying in a place where I was safe, valued, had a ‘good job’ (and where I felt like my soul was dying). But listening to the voice of your soul does not have to mean you make momentous life changes at every turn – that was just my way of doing it – jump, parachute or no parachute!

Your soul wants the best for you – she wants you to be free, energised, to fall in love with life and to follow your Big Dreams. She wants you to dance with joy every day. She wants you to be ALL you are capable of being – to use the much overused phrase – to live up to your potential. She wants you to see the endless possibilities in front of you. She wants you to hear her (or him). She wants you to fully live your life. To experience the wonder, the awe, the joy of simply being alive.

You don’t have to do anything scary to do this (although she will encourage you to do scary things, that’s her way of spurring you on!), you can take gentle, baby steps into a life you love. And I promise, you will never be led astray by the Voice of Your Soul. Unlike the Voice of Reason, which can lead you into all sorts of trouble in the name of ‘that makes sense’! I’m sure you’ve experienced that already – making the ‘right’ decision…but feeling in the pit of your stomach that it was ‘wrong’ for you.

So, will you be joining me in this Daily Practice? Even if you already hear the voice of your soul, join anyway – commit to 31 days of checking in with your soul. This is something I already do every day, check in with what my soul has to say as part of my morning pages practice. But usually the voice of my soul is that last thing I check in with when doing my morning pages (which I usually do in the afternoon or evening), for the month of May, it’s going to be something I do separately, deliberately…and earlier in the day! Let me know by leaving a comment below if you will be joining in this month. And don’t forget there are Daily Reminders on Facebook and Twitter.

Much love, and soul songs to you

Donna.x

PS Journalling is a GREAT way to hear the voice of your soul – the Dreams To Reality Journal is now available to help you make your Big Dreams a reality – find out more.