acting on soul desires

Feelings offer a connection to soul: it’s how we feel alive and engaged. The soul learns, evolves, and moves through lifetimes. A commitment to soulful living can be radical because what the soul yearns for is often at odds with how our ego personalities have been raised and conditioned to exist in the world.

The ego personality is the part of us that knows how to navigate this world, that pays the bills, keeps us safe from threats — real or perceived. In this way, the ego isn’t ‘bad’ — it’s really just trying to keep us safe. But when we believe that the ego is all we are — when paying the bills, going through our routines become all there is to life — we can lose touch with the spark that makes life worth living.

Whenever a client comes in with this complaint, I look for pivotal moments where choices have been made fully in service of the ego, without any concern for the soul. Statements like, “It’s just not practical…” or “I did it because I felt it was just the thing to do” are clues that we have severed the soulful parts of us. Of course, life isn’t that simple — we do need to take care of basic necessities. But how do we go about this while navigating the tension between earthly needs and soulful desires?

We find satisfaction when we bridge the gap between the two, or when our ego lives in service of the soul. When we take action to grow, to step out of the boxes we’ve been placed in from birth, to see that those walls weren’t so solid and concrete after all — we discover something deeper than just existing day-to-day. We discover individuality, uniqueness, and our power as creative beings to effect change within ourselves and by extension, the world around us. We gain wisdom when we live soulfully; no experience is ever a waste.

And of course, getting closer to the soul requires us to grapple with what’s in the way — and this is when we come face to face with conditioning — and oftentimes, trauma — that arises from just the simple act of living. Life can be brutal. Whether karmic, societal, familial or cultural, moving through layers of programming, and leaving behind what doesn’t truly belong to you provides more freedom for the soul to express itself.

In particular, Asian women and daughters have the task of shrugging off millennia of oppression and misogyny. Living soulfully as a woman is radical.

For a blueprint and clues to the energy your soul carries in this lifetime, I use metaphysical tools like evolutionary astrology and human design as a compass. They don’t necessarily provide easy answers; but they are often clues to help you wrestle mindfully with your existence. It’s for those who wish to exist with intention, who have taken on the brave task of living wide awake within the questions of life.

Acting on soul desires doesn’t always make the personality happy — in fact, a lot of the times, the personality is very uncomfortable and not very happy at all. But perhaps there are greater prizes, like soul satisfaction and a hard-won sense of self that goes deeper than the ego personality.

It’s always beautiful to see a soul shining bright — this world needs every bit of your light.

Happy lunar new year!