Today, research scientists in psychology, physics, biochemistry, and neurology are providing peeks into what consciousness is and how it works. Their findings give us intriguing clues as to what is actually happening in and through our bodies, minds, and spirits as we roll pen across paper.
Writing Down Your Soul explores some of this research and instructs readers how to access the power and beauty of their own deepest selves.
How I discovered the voice ~or rather, How the voice discovered me
In the big scheme of things there are no accidents, only divine appointments. My divorce was the worst experience in my life. I was also a divine appointment–an appointment with destiny, with the Voice, and with my self. Without the divorce, I might never have discovered the Voice.
We humans are an odd bunch. We are not very likely to turn to the divine in times of love and plenty, but let those winds of destruction come, and we can’t fall to our knees fast enough. If you are the kind of soul that needs a setback to force you to turn inward, well, the universe, I’m sure, will be happy to comply. But here’s a little fact that might warm your heart: you don’t have to experience a trauma to receive that invitation. It’s a standing invitation, open to all. Accept it, whether you will hear and see the Voice. Accept it, and you will receive the wisdom and miracles your heart is longing for.
How do you accept it?
That’s easy. Set your intention to connect with the extraordinary Voice within, pick a pen, and begin.
What do I need?
Writing down your soul can be an occasional relief valve or an ongoing conversation. If you just want a taste of the Voice, all you need is paper, pen, and the impetus to sit down and write. But if you want to open that door and keep it propped open for constant and immediate access to the extraordinary Voice within, do a bit more. Here’s everything you need to do to set up a spiritual practice of writing that gets richer and deeper over time:
- Create a schedule.
- Stop.
- Get a journal, notebook, or other paper.
- Pick a pen.
- Make yourself available.
- Create a sacred writing space.
- Secure your journals.
How do I write down my soul?
Once we’ve heart about something special, we all clamor for one thing: how. How can we–the ordinary, flabby, and not-so-rich–get in on the scoop.
So here it is–the scoop. And it applies to you. Because everyone has direct and immediate access to the Voice. Everyone. You just need to know how.
There are four steps to writing down your soul and luckily they’re easy to remember:
- Show up.
- Open up.
- Listen up.
- Follow up.
Step One: Show Up
Show up sounds like a self-evident step–more of a duh than an instruction. But it isn’t a duh at all. For many, it is the hardest and the bravest step, because it is the first step into the unknown.
Step one may seem self-evident, but the truth is, if you don’t show up to have the conversation, the conversation can’t take place. The Voice is always ready, always available. The question is, are you ready and willing to have the conversation?
How exactly do you show up?
Set a time and place. Setting a time and place sounds so simple, so straightforward, so matter of fact. But it’s not simple at all. Our crazy lives are already overfilled with work and family and relationships and children and money and school and cars and shopping and cooking and cleaning and sleeping. There’s already not enough time for all those obligations, so how do you squeeze another fifteen minutes into your day?
Here’s the answer: you decide what is important and what can wait for fifteen minutes. You decide if you want to speak with the Voice or not. You decide if you need or want the guidance.
Step Two: Open Up
The second step in the seven-step process of soul writing is opening up. After you’ve sat down on the page, don’t force the conversation. Ask you journal, “What will we talk about today?”
When we open up, we are writing from a place of deep inner knowing. We also have the opportunity to be listened to in an incredible, rich way. The paper can listen to us in a way a human being never can, without any judgment whatsoever. Studies show that when a person is listened to in this way, they heal.
Your one obligation as you open up is to be truthful, real, naked. Tell the entire story. The All Accepting Listener will hear you when you talk about being a victim. But She will also encourage you to talk about your strengths. Bring the whole you to the page.
When you first begin writing, you do all talking, and the Voice listens. But at some point your roles begin to shift. The question is, of course, how do you, the soul writer, activate the Voice? And then, when the Voice speaks, how do you listen while you’re writing?
These are profound questions. Begin by learning to listen as the Voice listens.
Spiritual listening, like all spiritual disciplines, gets deeper and richer with practice, so don’t be upset if, at first, nothing momentous seems to be happening. Just begin at the beginning and trust that you are on the road you are meant to be and are learning exactly what you need as you need it.
The purpose of writing down your soul is to receive guidance–focused, personal, specific guidance. You’ve done three things so far to attract that guidance. You’ve shown up to connect with the Voice, opened up and spoken from your heart, and listened up as your questions activated the voice and the wisdom of the universe tumbled onto the page. Now what?
What do you do with the guidance you’ve received? You can’t exactly ignore it. The Voice can dish out all the guidance in the world, but your life doesn’t start changing until you take action. But that brings up a few rather important questions.
How do you know that guidance is real? How do you know that it’s the wisdom of the Voice on the page and not you or your inner critic blathering away? And even when you recognize the truth of the words, how do you know what to do? And what proof is there that this whole process of writing down your soul is actually making a difference?
Following up is all about answering those questions.
Re
lated Reading:
Complement Writing Down Your Soul with A spiritual path to higher creativity.
