'The desire to know your own soul will end all other desires.'
Jalal al-Din Rumi
All of us need to create space for soul in our everyday lives. It might be a particular room or space in our home that we set aside specifically for the purpose of connecting with our soul. If we cannot find or create such a space, it may be one to which we take ourselves in our imagination or it may be a place not too far from home that we visit regularly. Writer, Maria Harris called them 'dwelling places' for the soul. This is a space where we can retreat from the world and from the demands of everyday life; where we can lay down our preoccupations, our burdens and our concerns for a time; where we can turn our attention to our inner world and find sanctuary in the inner landscape of our being. It is a quiet, simple space that is welcoming and hospitable to the soul, a place of solitude where there are no distractions, no intrusions and no expectations, where we can breathe in the stillness and wait patiently for whatever is emerging within us. It is a space, as mythologist, Joseph Campbell put it, 'where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be... a space of creative incubation.'
If you are able to create a space for your soul at home, you may find yourself wanting to decorate it. It is in soft candlelight that the soul often feels most at ease so lighting your space with candles may enable you to enter your inner world more easily. You may want to surround yourself with things that represent or speak to you of the soul - objects, symbols, paintings, photographs, sculptures, poems or quotations. You may want to fill the space with particular sounds or smells that take you into sacred space - a particular song or piece of music, the sounds of nature, the vibrations of a singing bowl, the smell of incense or fragrant oils. You may want to create a simple ritual for entering your soul space such as taking a few minutes to rearrange the space and clear it of any clutter or distractions, lighting a candle and then sitting in silence for a few minutes or reading a poem that moves your soul. In this way, your space will become 'rich with things of the soul' as psychologist, David Elkins puts it.
Choose and arrange your soul space intuitively. If you feel strongly drawn to do something that does not make sense to you, try not to dismiss it. Trust your soul to know what it needs and let it be your only guide. Choose carefully too how you use the time you spend in your soul space. When you have settled into it, take a few moments to ask yourself what you feel drawn to do with the time you have there. You may want to write your soul journal there, to spend time reflecting on your soul journey, to read from a book or poem that touches your soul, to engage in a particular soul practice or simply to sit and be with your deeper self for a time. There are no right or wrongs. There is only what is right for you in the moment and that may be different each time you enter the space.
Some important points to recognise...
Firstly, recognise that what speaks to another's soul may not speak to yours and that what spoke to your soul in the past may no longer do so in the present. In shaping your soul space, don't restrict yourself to the familiar, the conventional or the traditional. Allow yourself to be open-minded and adventurous.
Secondly, recognise that life will often try to pull us away from our soul space - the tug of the past, the future, the demands of others around us can make it hard for us to enter fully into the experience of being there in the moment. Try to be as fully present in your soul space as you can. Notice whatever tugs at you and then give yourself permission to let it go.
Thirdly, recognise that you are not being selfish or self-centred when you take time to enter your soul space. The truth is that spending time in this space enables us to become more attentive to and more loving with others when we emerge. Moreover, the peace and serenity we experience through spending time in our interior place of dwelling may spill out into our exterior surroundings, changing them as it is changing us.
Fourthly, recognise that it may take some time for you to notice the benefits of spending time in your soul space. It may seem at first that nothing is happening there and that nothing is changing. But the process of connecting with and growing the soul has it's own gentle rhythm and cannot be hastened. Be prepared to wait patiently for what will emerge in its own time.
And lastly, recognise that creating a soul space is one of the greatest gifts you can give to yourself. For spending time in this sacred place will offer you safe shelter in which to explore the inner landscape of your being, to become more familiar with things of the soul, to rejoice in your own slow but certain unfolding. And it will help you find your way to whatever it is that you are meant to be doing with your 'one wild and precious life' to draw on the words of the poet, Mary Oliver.
©Copyright Kaitlyn Steele 2024
Kaitlyn Steele
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