The secret longing of my soul

“When you do things from your soul you feel a river of joy within you.” – Rumi

The secret longing of my soul has been to paint for the longest time. As a child I loved to escape into a secret world where creating magic with watercolours and paper was my happy place. It never crossed my mind that creating beautiful art would not be my life’s work.

At eighteen my parents were horrified when I told them that all I wanted to do was paint. After many tears and discussions I compromised my dream of creating art with paint and studied interior design where I used textiles to create beautiful spaces in my client’s homes.

I do believe that we each have a destiny and a soul path and a life purpose. When we innocently listen to others we come out of alignment with soul plan. We are taught as children to obey our elders and this way of thinking becomes outdated when we grow up. As adults as we need to learn to be independent and make decisions from our heart and soul rather than what our family, friends and what society expects.

I spent close to thirty years creating interiors that made my clients happy.  When I finally took the steps to connect to my soul I realised that I needed to create the spaces where I feel joy. Painting in watercolours is a happy space of meditation for me and part of what my soul needs as support to live authentically.  If you have a deep need to connect to your soul here are seven pieces of advice that guided me.

1) Take responsibility for finding your inner joy. Ask yourself what gives you joy or what makes you feel good. Do you expect others to make you happy? By doing this you are not true to yourself and it can only lead to disappointment. Identify what it is that gives joy and take the steps to make it happen.

2) Remove unkindness from your life. Everyone is going through their own story. Showing compassion to judgemental or negative people is fine, but you do not need to keep them around. Experiment with distancing yourself from them. If you feel lighter you can remove them from your life (with kindness). Be thankful for what you learnt from them and the role they played, then move on.

3) Learn to say “no”. When your self-worth is based on what others think of you it is hard to set boundaries. When you say “yes” in situations where you want to say “no” it depletes your energy and power, and it causes bitterness and anger. A respectful “I am so sorry it doesn’t suit me” with no explanation is often sufficient, and you will feel empowered.

4) Connect to your needs. Discover who you are by exploring your thoughts or feelings in a journal. If writing does not inspire you do it through meditating, yoga, dance or art. Creativity allows us to express our feelings and assists us in identifying what it is we need. Allow time to do this every day.

5) Forgive yourself. Do you feel as if you don’t deserve a happy life? Forgive yourself for anything that you are holding on to. Every bad or good decision you made in the past was the best you could make at that moment with the knowledge you had. Mistakes are what help us learn and grow.

6) Be honest with yourself. Allow yourself to look into your mirror of your soul. Be totally honest and as yourself. Am I happy? What makes me happy?

7) Take time to dream. Forget the opinion of others and ask yourself … What do I really want to do with my life? What do I feel passionate about? What touches my heart when I think of it? What dream have I had since childhood? What secret wish would I like to make happen?

Even if these are hard to answer take a bit of time to play. Experiment with your ideas. Google and find if there are skills you need to acquire to change your life path. Be brave and just do it. Only you can obey the call of your soul.