What Is Soul Work?
You’re a human being which means that you have much more to offer than just your physical body.
In fact, you are a spiritual being with your own reason, mind, feelings, thoughts, energy, ego, vibrations, attitudes, opinions, memories, wishes, desires, intuition and, most importantly, with a unique soul, which is eternal, which doesn’t disappear once your body does and which represents your only permanent home.
It doesn’t matter what your religious beliefs might be, how old you are, where you’re coming from or whether you’re male or female, the only truth is that your soul is actually your only true self.
It is the thing that defines you as a person and the only thing that really matters about each one of us.
Well, soulwork is the journey of reconnecting with this true self all of us have.
It is a path of understanding the importance of your spiritual self, of finding your soul’s purpose, of getting in touch with who you really are and most importantly—it is a way of finding your real life purpose.
It is realizing that your soul is what makes you a human being—your only timeless feature—and seeing its importance and weight.
It is about listening, understanding and embracing your individual self and transcending above everything you think you’ve known about life in general up until now.
I won’t lie to you—soulwork is anything but easy.
Instead, getting to the bottom of your core is one of the most difficult and sometimes even one of the most painful processes you’ll ever have to go through during your earthly life.
It requires a lot of patience, energy and effort. It takes more discipline, inner strength and power than you might think.
Also, it doesn’t happen overnight because it is not a final destination—it is a journey which takes time, devotion, desire, willingness and commitment.
However, soulwork is the most rewarding experience ever. It is a pursuit of truth and love, a pursuit of real happiness and a pursuit of deeper meaning.
Soulwork helps you with your physical, emotional and mental health.
It chases away your depression, anxiety and insecurities and each one of your self-doubts.
It helps you see your own value and it chases away all of your spiritual issues.
It wakes you up in a way you never knew was possible and it gives you a chance to experience true freedom.
It liberates you from all the chains society has put on you and from all the prejudices and wrong beliefs, it helps you get rid of your fears and expectations and it teaches you what life really is about.
Soulwork helps you mature and it helps you become the best possible version of yourself.
It pushes you forward to finally becoming the person you were predestined to be even before you were born.
It turns you into a self-aware individual who knows what they want from life, it clears away all of your doubts, it increases your self-confidence, it helps you discover everything you’re capable of, it helps you discover your inner strengths and it improves your judgment-making skills.
It gives you inner peace, it gives your life harmony and your existence purpose and at the end of the day, this is something we all strive for.
Soul work gives you a hand when it comes to your relationships with others as well but most importantly—it helps flourish your relationship with yourself, which is the most important thing in the world.
It helps you accept, appreciate, respect and, above all, love yourself the way you deserve.
Sounds almost perfect, right? Well, let me tell you that you can achieve all of these improvements if you just choose to follow these ancient Sufi and Greek life coaches‘ spiritual practices to find one’s soul purpose.
4 Steps To Finding Your Soul’s Purpose
1. Self-introspection
You can’t expect anyone to do your soul work on your behalf. Instead, you have to do the job alone and become your own soulworker if you want this entire process to succeed.
Before even trying to get in touch with your soul, firstly you have to get to the bottom of your inner life and personality hidden deep within yourself.
Before working on yourself, you need to get to know yourself the way you never did.
I know you think there is nothing you don’t know about yourself.
However, you have to be aware that the person you are today is nothing but who you think you are, who others expect you to be and who you were taught to become.
Your self-image is highly reflected by the way others see you and that has to be changed.
You have to acquire self-awareness which has nothing to do with anyone else’s perception of you.
You have to start listening to your inner voice, hidden deep within you, under the layers of the person you think you are and get to the very core of your authentic self.
It is time to think about all the things that define the real you.
To get to the bottom of your most distant memories, which will bring you to your deepest fears, aspirations, wishes, thoughts and feelings.
When you’re in the process of attaining self-realization, you’re actually distancing yourself from your surroundings.
You’re doing your best to recognize your individual self, completely separate from the environment you’re currently in, from your family and social background, the way you were raised, your sexuality, education and all the other external factors which shaped you as a person.
Instead, you focus on the perception of your personality and your own self-responsibility.
You work on developing the ability to be aware of everything happening inside of you at every given moment and to the ability to contemplate your internal values, standards and beliefs.
2. Get in touch with your soul’s longings
After you’re done with the first step, it is time to pay special attention to the thing we’re here for—your soul.
It is getting in touch and forming a stronger connection with your root longings, beliefs and wounds.
First and foremost, go back in time. Search through your psyche and do your best to find your core wound—the thing that makes you think you’re unworthy or not meant to be loved by anyone, including yourself, at your deepest level.
What were the experiences that shaped you into becoming the person you are today?
What were the things you were taught in your earlier childhood which you have carried within until this day and which caused most of your emotional traumas and issues?
Do you have the capacity and the ability to successfully recognize and identify your deepest pain?
What causes you to feel guilt, self-rejection, self-hatred, insecurities and other negative emotions?
Have you done something that you keep on punishing yourself for? Or did a certain event happen which made you believe that you’re not worthy?
Whose validation or praise did you need but didn’t get? When was the original hole in your soul made and what are the things which made it bigger and wider?
What or who triggered this habitual mindset that is still weighing you down?
What was the emotional pain that caused your initial misery and consequently shaped you into the person you are today?
These are all the questions you have to ask yourself if you’re planning on forming a deeper connection with your inner self.
However, finding this stronger connection would be a piece of cake if you had all the answers right away.
The truth is that in most cases, people fail to respond to these questions at first.
That is why you have to do some spiritual practices and exercises which will help you get in touch with your authentic self.
For example, try meditation, passion yoga and some breathwork.
Breathwork helps you improve your emotional and mental health through different breathing techniques and has a therapeutic effect, so it can, without a doubt, come in handy when you’re in a search of your inner light.
When it comes to passion yoga, this is also something you can learn to do on your own, without yogis, life coaches, yoga teachers or anyone else guiding you.
3. Self-love
Most of us spend our entire life searching for love and approval from others, convinced that this is the only key to real happiness.
Well, if you think this way as well, you have one thing figured out wrong: yes, love is the core of all happiness but it is not the love you expect to receive from someone else, it is the love you give yourself.
However, what are self-love and self-care really and how can they help your spiritual growth?
First of all, self-care equals self-acceptance. It means being fully aware of your strengths and weaknesses, of your qualities and flaws.
It means not suppressing your emotions but embracing them, even if you don’t consciously like them and even if you would rather avoid them and pretend they don’t exist.
It is fully understanding each one of your feelings, without allowing them to weigh you down.
Self-love means loving your flaws, while being aware that they’re a part of you which you cannot erase.
It means loving your imperfections, while being aware that they too shaped you into becoming the person you are today.
Loving yourself means respecting your individuality, without ever allowing someone else to change it.
It is being loyal to your truest self, not putting yourself in a box or trying to meet society’s standards if they don’t suit you as a person.
It is respecting your own personal space, time and boundaries without allowing anyone to violate them.
It is appreciating all of your accomplishments and being proud of yourself, believing in yourself and pushing yourself forward at all times.
Self-love also means self-responsibility. It means owning up to your mistakes instead of justifying each one of your bad moves.
When you love yourself, you have no problem with standing behind your attitudes and actions and taking responsibility for them because you are sure of yourself and everything you do.
It means working on your self-esteem without allowing anyone to ruin it.
It means engaging in self-care, in spoiling and praising yourself when needed. It means putting yourself first, without ever being selfish.
Loving yourself is requiring respect and appreciation from everyone in your surroundings.
It is knowing how much you deserve and never settling for less.
Self-love means truly loving yourself and your soul the same at your best and at your worst.
4. Embracing your shadow self
Before you engage in the process of accepting your shadow self, you have to understand what it means. Shadow self consists of all the fragments of your truest self you’re not even aware of possessing.
It is a part of your unconscious being—the things you hide from the rest of the world and from yourself.
It consists of all your flaws and weaknesses and your characteristics you refuse to admit and embrace.
These shadows don’t have to necessarily be negative, even though the word itself has dark connotations.
They are simply pieces of your personality which you’re not proud of and you’d like to change.
Well, even though all of us want to kill those parts of our personality we don’t like, magically transform our shadows into inner light or at least fix them in some way, the truth is that this is impossible.
The fact is that we all have some negative emotions.
So, instead of wasting your precious energy on trying to suppress those parts of your inner life, focus on embracing them.
Once you learn to understand and fully accept your shadows and make a deeper connection with them, your own personal spiritual growth will get to a completely new level and you’ll become a more balanced person.
