The mindfulness movement is definitely here to stay, and for good reason… if done properly, it works. But the real question is this: is it enough?
When I first started my mindful journey almost a decade ago, I went all in. I read every book I could get my hands on and worked every day to put these techniques into practice in my life. I was a dedicated and tenacious student because to be honest, my inner world was a mess. It didn’t feel good to be me and through many hard and long lessons, I learned that most of those thoughts and feelings were in my control.
I could quiet the chatter in my head. I learned to heal the wounds and the past. I could change my beliefs about myself and my world. And I could move forward independently from my past.
Merriam Webster defines Mindfulness as, “the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one’s thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis.”
Learning to be mindful allowed me to take control of my life and my inner world. I was aware of how I was feeling and aware of how my thoughts were often making those feelings stronger. I then learned to change my thinking patterns and learned how to be still. For the first time in my life, I created peace in my inner world.
But what I found is that while stillness and peace were wonderful, they weren’t enough. I was still longing for something more and not longing in an egotistical kind of way, but rather longing for more purpose in my life. Longing to complete what I call my life’s work.
There was this inner pull inside me that only gets stronger when you learn to quiet all the other inner noise.
This is where soulfulness stepped up in my life. That pull had always been there, but it was so much harder to distinguish and identify before I embarked on the mindful journey. This journey really is a combination of mind, body AND spirit. I started my journey focusing on my health (body), moved onto my mind and then finally onto the soul.
So what is soulfulness? Merriam Webster doesn’t have a definition for soulfulness (yet) but it defines soulful as, “full of or expressing feeling or emotion.” No offense Merriam Webster, but this definition is pretty sad.
If mindful is being aware of the mind, than soulful is being aware of the soul. You might be thinking that this all intellectually sounds great Jenn, but seriously, how does one become aware of the soul? Well, You listen.
What the mindful journey allows us to do is to quiet the mind and be still. Once you are still, you can listen. I can’t tell you how your soul speaks to you, only you and your soul can answer that question. But what I can tell you is how I listen to mine.
When I learned to be still, I then had to listen and discern. You see, this is a delicate balance because on the one hand we are trying to quiet our thoughts and on the other we are learning to listen. How can you be quiet and listen at the same time? It takes practice. It takes dedication.
You have to listen for what is the ego, hurt, pain, monkey mind, etc. and discern it from what is the natural, inherent wisdom within you that comes directly from your soul. You learn to listen with your heart and your whole body. It transcends the mind.
When a message comes from my soul, I feel it in every cell of my being. Something inside just knows. It doesn’t need an explanation but rather, we need lessons on how to trust it without the explanation. We need to learn that the mind, especially the left brain, isn’t our God. Yes, it is important but it isn’t the highest authority in our lives. Most of our suffering comes from believing that the intellect is king
The mindfulness journey helps us move into the right brain state of ‘being’. Being allows us to hear that which cannot be heard by our chatty left brain. It takes practice but the more we listen, the easier it is to hear.
I at first heard whispers. Most of the time, I rationalized them away with my intellect. It was when I started acting on the whispers that life started to change. When we connect to our soul, we feel it in every cell in our body. I don’t always have a plan (plans are after all, a left brain activity), but I followed the inner pull and it has never led me astray.
You listen for the things that light you up inside. When you find those things, do more of them. Find ways to bring them into your life. Before Covid, I was invited to teach a class on some of these ideas to middle schoolers. When I walked out of the class, I felt like I was flying. I didn’t decide with my left brain to teach a class but rather my soul spoke to me and said Jenn, this is your gift. Do more of this!
The mindfulness journey helps us clear up the need to please everybody and instead follow our own, unique, and true paths. Sure, there will always be Debbie Downers, but they don’t know anything about your inner world, your soul, your gifts or how it feels to be YOU.
When any one of us allows our inner lights to shine, we give permission for everyone around us to shine. They know that we are a safe space for them to just be authentically themselves, which is what we are all longing for. We just want to be us.
When you find those things that light you up from the inside, everybody around you can feel it. Your inner light really is shining out through you!
A simple exercise to do during a meditation is to put your hand on your heart and find your inner light. Move your meditation from your head down into your heart (maybe I need to write another post on ‘heartfulness’ too). Place your awareness on that light and allow it to fill your whole body till it’s shining out from within. You become luminous. When you do this, trust your inner wisdom and enjoy the ride!
There’s no quick fix for this journey… but this is the journey we are all longing for. The journey to being real, authentic and 100% true to us. The journey to finding our inner light and letting it shine brightly out into the world. There’s no pressure on the speed at which to find this soulful connection, all that matters is that you keep taking the next right step over and over again.
If Merriam Webster doesn’t have a definition for Soulfulness yet, then today seems like the perfect day to write one:
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