What is Soulwork?

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What is Soulwork?

Dear Friends,

Do you feel like you’re the pinball in the pinball machine, batted around all day with “have to do’s” and “ought to do’s”, never having the time or energy to get to the “want to do’s”? Our jobs and family responsibilities are never ending, and the pressure to do more, faster, seems ever present.

This way of living, which is considered normal in our times, reminds me of running on a treadmill: lots of huff and puff, lots of effort, and yes, it certainly counts as exercise — but did you go anywhere, get anywhere?

For me, the term “Soulwork” applies to that which is the opposite of being the pinball, the opposite of running on a treadmill. It’s the search for and the commitment to live a deep and a real life, right in the midst of whatever life hands me, right now, here, today, with these people and with these responsibilities.

That’s easier said than done, of course. But the attempt to do so creates a sense of meaning in life. You find your why, and make your way, where the day to day pulls out of you your best self. You begin to see all the little events as the context for choice even when you can’t control very much, for the sense that you have done the best you can, and the satisfaction that comes from living your days to the full. You open the way for love, and put yourself in the path of deep joy.

Some people find guidance for living in this way through their church, synagogue, mosque, or temple. . . And then there are the rest of us: those of us who have had faith crises, or despairing doubts, or who have experienced abuse, inappropriate control, or hypocrisy from their “spiritual” leaders.

There is now a demographic called the “spiritual but not religious”, but that’s not what I’m talking about when I use the word “Soulwork”. In Soulwork, I’m including that which is not necessarily called spiritual, like the feeling you get watching a magnificent sunset, or the insight that settles in you when you suddenly understand a problem or situation that had perplexed you. Or when you see your baby for the first time out of the womb. For some people, the term “spiritual” is too limiting for their experience of “soul”. At least, that’s been my own experience.

Soulwork is stepping aside from “God-talk”. There are no claims for or against God, or faith, or belief systems. All are welcome; I hope to speak to all. Soulwork is an attempt to talk about the deep and real things that make life meaningful without using religious language nor claiming that knowing the “deep and real” demands a certain religious faith.

Many of you know that in my young adult life my religious heritage, Roman Catholic Christian, was very important to me. My degree is in theology, and I came to Canada in the first place to continue studying theology on the graduate level, with the eventual hope of becoming a professor.

Well, that didn’t work out — to make a long story short, my increased knowledge about the history of the church plus current events across the world had me wondering how a good God could just let all this unmerited suffering go on. After all, if I were God I wouldn’t let innocent people suffer so much! Anyway, that all led to a crisis of faith, and I left my studies and I left my religious upbringing. In integrity, I could not stay and pretend that everything was all right.

Yet, even though I abandoned most of my beliefs about “God”, I never left the search for something that was more than myself, I always searched for beauty, meaning, love, goodness. And I realized that however people around the world and throughout time put words to their understanding of this something “Greater”, however I felt like the words and teachings I had known about this “God” didn’t seem to make any sense, that this search for meaning, for goodness, for depth in life, was not a waste of time.

And that’s what I mean by “Soulwork” — I don’t spend my time searching for or defining beliefs, but I do talk about how we can live in certain ways in which depth, meaning, goodness, love, and community are the center of our lives.

My new book, Wildflower Seeds: The Beauties of a Reflective Life, available on amazon, is about all the ways that we can consciously live this way and how we develop the habits of finding and making meaning in our lives. It’s how we remember to choose love, and joy, and commit to creating a world where we all belong, where we all have home.

I look forward in this blog to telling you more about why I call myself a contemplative educator, writer, and artist, and how you can develop your own ways of deeply living your soul life, your Soulwork.

With much love,

Cat

P.S. You may recognize this post as similar to one that is already on my blog. I have been having problems with my blogs being sent out by mailerlite, and I don’t think that most of my subscribers have received that blogpost. Until that problem is resolved, I’m trying a different way to send out posts. Thank you for your patience while we work through the glitches.