What Does It Mean to Live with Soul?
25th Anniversary Issue As we celebrate this 25th anniversary, I find myself returning to a question: what does it actually mean to live with soul? Over the years, the answer has shifted. The twenty-year-old me approached soul as magical and full of possibility. Years later, I have a sack full of life experience that has deepened me with both scars and wisdom. At its core, it comes down to three things: intention, presence, and reverence. Slowing Down My gait has changed. I am slower, forced to observe each step. Slow enough to listen. It is the unexpected gift of aging, forcing us all to pay attention to ourselves, to others, to the world around us. In a culture obsessed with productivity and speed, a gentle rebellion is required. It becomes a conscious choice to value depth over breadth, meaning over mere activity. It isn’t easy. The phone holds enticements I couldn’t imagine at twenty when distractions were fewer, but I wasn’t as attentive. Living with attention is an everyday practice. Being intentional is required if we want to avoid the constant lure of attention-grabbers around us. We can find it in early morning quiet, in conversations with friends, in the simple act of tending our creative spirits. These moments invite us to be present, to experience life as it unfolds, and to nurture what matters. The Heart’s Compass Living with soul means honoring your inner compass—calling you toward authenticity and purpose. Over time, I’ve learned to trust that compass more, even when the path feels uncertain or unconventional. It means aligning actions with values. Daring to ask “what...
The Eclipse
On the eighth of April, a celestial dance ignites! The sun, a fiery titan, waltzes with the moon, a celestial enchantress. Twilight emerges as the moon eclipses the sun, and a blazing crown takes its place, a heavenly counterpoint. We hold our breath. Then, a triumphant roar—the sun breaks free, banishing the inky veil. Light floods back, a testament to the cosmos’ dance. This epic spectacle, forever etched in memory, becomes a tale whispered through generations—the day the sun danced with the moon! Who doesn’t like a good eclipse? They are the stuff of legends. This solar eclipse promises a longer, darker experience with an active sun, and it’s accessible to a large population. Why is this one special? Duration and Darkness: • This year’s eclipse will be longer, with a duration of nearly 4½ minutes. • During the path of totality, where the moon completely blocks out the sun’s disk, the sky will fall darker than before. Active Sun: • The sun will be close to solar maximum in 2024, which is the peak of its roughly 11-year activity cycle. • Bright, petal-like streamers of plasma will extend from the sun’s outer atmosphere (the solar corona). • There’s an increased chance of a coronal mass ejection, a large puff of hot gas blasted away from the sun’s surface. Accessible Path: • Approximately 32 million people will be inside the path of totality, which is about 2½ times as many as during the 2017 eclipse. • Major East Coast cities like Baltimore to Boston are only about 200 miles from the path of totality. • This accessibility means millions more people will witness this astronomical...
Everything is Aw-ful
20th Anniversary Issue It is delightful to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Soulfulliving.com. I was thrilled when Valerie asked me to be part of it. It is good to see anything thrive beyond five years. The dedication, the hard work, the time, the heartache, the jubilation, the satisfaction of making something is a thing to applaud. Producing a body of work is a glorious thing. I could revisit the essays I had written for Soulfulliving. From 2003 to 2009, there were 10 pieces I can point to with pride. There is melancholy in visiting the past. You can see where you were and what your dreams may have been for the future. In the 10 years since I wrote my last essay, life has been a challenge. You know that adage, “when life gives you lemons make lemonade.” It felt buried under a pile of lemons and I wasn’t feeling positive about anything. Years of workshops, visualizations, manifestation rituals, and vision boards and I was no further toward attaining my goals. And I was in a quandary. I didn’t know what to write for this anniversary celebration. After all, everything was awful. Wasn’t it? Politics across the globe seem to be more divisive than ever. We are facing a climate crisis of epic proportions. Refugees have truly become people without homes. Social media, which once brought people together, is creating fault lines in relationships. Shootings are happening at an alarming rate. Terrorist attacks are increasing. We are no longer safe in our places of worship, homes, at the movies or out shopping. Yikes. When I was young, my...Our Sponsor
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