Soulfood

 

We are compelled by a strong desire and the promise of intense pleasure to know our world, our life, our bodies, and ourselves.

Thomas Moore, Dark Nights of the Soul

What is in you that wants to come alive, to live more fully, to be awake? Despite strong longing and desire, there can be a voice inside that stops us from taking risks, moving beyond the comfortable and known, learning something new. For years and years, the voice of fear, shame, exclusion, and oppression cries, "You can't do that!", "This will be a waste of your time and money!", "You will fail!" And we are stopped in our tracks by it and after a while can't remember why we wanted to take that risk in the first place.

You might start but then stop, loose the "stick-with-it-ness" when you get down to the hard job of trying something new and seeing how imperfect you are, how far away your efforts are from the fantasy of what you hoped for.  It is often the insatiable and unstable ego that drags us down, wanting easy success that never completely satisfies.  

What does satisfy and  keeps us on the path of what is hard but transformative and creative is the soul that longs for experiences and qualities that are not tied to the outcomes of failure and success.  The soul is animated and drawn to the enlivening qualities of curiosity, exploration, awe, inspiration, play, freedom, and love.  These are same qualities that moved us through the world when we were young children, when we played and found the world magical and awesome.