The Lost Soul
Have you ever found yourself feeling lost and having no clue how to find your way? This is the classic lost soul. We are not lost in the world around us. Rather, we are lost in our inner world, the realm of our deepest lives. We may be able to find our way to work and home, but may we no longer feel any joy or purpose in making the journey. We may continue to enjoy relationships with family and friends, but we may hear a voice within calling us a fraud or unworthy of such relationships. Such lostness becomes a barrier to moving forward. It prevents us from investing ourselves in ourselves or our daily living. We find ourselves stranded on the deep shoals of pain. We simply try and ride out the storms.
We may feel “Lost in a Fog.” The clouds of uncertainty or doubt surround our will.
We may feel “Lost at Sea.” The crashing waves of emotion lead to losing hope of charting a new course.
We may feel “Lost in Space.” We are overwhelmed by the stars that are supposed to guide us. We give up trying to read the charts.
The path ahead has disappeared. We are dis-oriented. We cannot make up our mind about which way to go or if we should “go” at all.
Regardless of how and where we experience our inner lostness, it turns us away from taking care of the precious inner experiences of ourselves. We may become abusive to the child within. We may give up on the inner voice that has always talked us through such moments. We may even hold a funeral for the life we have lost.
I don’t know about you but I am a little depressed. All this talk of being lost and funeral-holding is not very uplifting. But then, that is precisely the point. This soul lostness only becomes a barrier when we give it that power.
Each of us carries a pouch full of charts. Some are old and dusty while others are crisp and new. They offer us guidance and waypoints that tell us we are on the “right” path.
These charts go by the name of expectations. They are the expected paths. They are the paths we have charted and those charted for us by others. The problem is that these maps grow out-of-date very quickly, especially when our lives become more and more complicated. These expectations grow cold as we move away from the circumstances that created them.
Allow yourself to wander. As an old friend of mine used to say, “We ain’t lost, we got a half tank of gas!” As long as there is gas in the tank, we are not lost. We are on an unexpected adventure.
Throwing away the chart allows us to let go of the energy we have invested in a particular path and use it to see the opportunities that surround us.
We may feel “Lost in a Fog.” The clouds of uncertainty or doubt surround our will.
We may feel “Lost at Sea.” The crashing waves of emotion lead to losing hope of charting a new course.
We may feel “Lost in Space.” We are overwhelmed by the stars that are supposed to guide us. We give up trying to read the charts.
The path ahead has disappeared. We are dis-oriented. We cannot make up our mind about which way to go or if we should “go” at all.
Regardless of how and where we experience our inner lostness, it turns us away from taking care of the precious inner experiences of ourselves. We may become abusive to the child within. We may give up on the inner voice that has always talked us through such moments. We may even hold a funeral for the life we have lost.
I don’t know about you but I am a little depressed. All this talk of being lost and funeral-holding is not very uplifting. But then, that is precisely the point. This soul lostness only becomes a barrier when we give it that power.
Each of us carries a pouch full of charts. Some are old and dusty while others are crisp and new. They offer us guidance and waypoints that tell us we are on the “right” path.
These charts go by the name of expectations. They are the expected paths. They are the paths we have charted and those charted for us by others. The problem is that these maps grow out-of-date very quickly, especially when our lives become more and more complicated. These expectations grow cold as we move away from the circumstances that created them.
Allow yourself to wander. As an old friend of mine used to say, “We ain’t lost, we got a half tank of gas!” As long as there is gas in the tank, we are not lost. We are on an unexpected adventure.
Throwing away the chart allows us to let go of the energy we have invested in a particular path and use it to see the opportunities that surround us.
Tip -- Hopes and Dreams!
This week’s tip offers you a way to set aside the expectations for a few days.
Take a few moments each day and list your hopes and dreams for tomorrow on a 4X6 card.
At the end of the next day, look back at your cards. Note any opportunities that arose that you used to meet that hope or dream. Then note the opportunities that you let slip through your fingers.
After a few days, spend time with your cards and affirm the intuition that allowed you to claim and use the opportunities that led you to your hopes and dreams. Repeat this tip until you learn to trust your inner sense of direction more than the dusty old charts (expectations) in your memory.
By staying open to the many paths and opportunities that lead to where you want to end up, you will feel the adventure and find the joy.
The adventure awaits!
Take a few moments each day and list your hopes and dreams for tomorrow on a 4X6 card.
At the end of the next day, look back at your cards. Note any opportunities that arose that you used to meet that hope or dream. Then note the opportunities that you let slip through your fingers.
After a few days, spend time with your cards and affirm the intuition that allowed you to claim and use the opportunities that led you to your hopes and dreams. Repeat this tip until you learn to trust your inner sense of direction more than the dusty old charts (expectations) in your memory.
By staying open to the many paths and opportunities that lead to where you want to end up, you will feel the adventure and find the joy.
The adventure awaits!
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