Shortly after I consciously stepped out onto my spiritual path, I was told in a shamanic journey that my purpose in this lifetime was fourfold – healing, writing, teaching, and speaking. This resonated with me.
For much of my life, I’ve enjoyed writing. As a teen, I kept a diary. For a while after I left the corporate world, I did freelance writing. When I opened my shamanic healing and teaching practice, I wrote handouts and for several years blog posts about spiritual matters.
Along the way, I recognized that my writing seemed intellectual and devoid of emotion. I was holding something back. I wanted to allow more of me – my heart, my emotion, and my soul – to come through in my writing. I didn’t know how to do this, so I took a break from writing to give the rest of me a chance to catch up. The intention “I allow myself to be vulnerable” helped both in my life and in my writing.
A couple of months ago, the urge to write came back. I found that the personal work I had done over the pandemic opened my heart and my writing. On my morning walks in my neighborhood, I write rough drafts of posts on my cell phone. The first half of my walk is communing with nature, then when the creative urge bubbles up, I begin writing. My strongest intuitive sense is clairsentience, so the movement helps me access the place within my being that writing flows from. I have reconnected with the sense of joy that comes in sharing my self through my writing.
It’s like that. Connecting with an aspect of our purpose brings joy.
In my shamanic healing practice, clients frequently come to a session wanting to find their purpose. I don’t tell anyone their purpose; it’s up to each individual to discover that for themselves. If I did so, it would take away their power to listen directly to inner wisdom and to create from their soul. Instead, I counsel them to look at where the joy is. What do they do which brings them joy?
(Another way to think of purpose is to substitute the word “meaning.” Examining what is most meaningful in your life might also yield clues about purpose.)
We often think our purpose has to be grand or difficult to achieve. Purpose can be very simple – enjoying time with grandchildren, cooking delicious meals, creating beautiful quilts, or feeding family and friends with produce from the garden.
In other words, you may already be living all or a part of your purpose. By bringing awareness to what we do that elicits joy, we honor our soul and allow our purpose to manifest more fully.
Feeling disconnected from purpose is a form of soul loss. It is our birthright to live a life of purpose and meaning. It’s something that all souls desire. If life has started to feel beige or gray, like you’re just going through the motions, you may have soul loss. Life without giving attention to our soul can be drab and empty.
No one has to remain stuck in a place of soul loss. You can begin to call those parts of your self back home by intentionally doing the things that bring joy and meaning to your life. A shamanic healer can also support you by doing a shamanic healing technique called soul retrieval. Soul retrieval reunites us with lost and missing pieces of our soul, leading to a greater sense of wholeness, joy, and well-being.
Life after a soul retrieval often brings greater clarity. Colors might seem brighter. We might feel the urge to create beauty through personal expression such as artwork, woodworking, or writing poetry. Having pieces of our soul back home can also give us momentum in shedding old programming as we listen to the newfound inner wisdom and guidance.
When we feel our soul nudging us, we need only to step into that grace and say yes to our joy and purpose in that moment.
This work is real, and it matters.
August 10, 2021