“Don’t Forget To L.I.V.E.”

I’ve realized something about my brain: it’s often harder on me than my heart would be.

I can be very hard on myself, very condemning—and I bet I’m not the only one!

But I also realize there is a deeper part of me that might feel differently about my life than I do.

Of course, we all have this deeper part and it goes by many names: higher self, inner music, psyche, the better angels of our nature. The mystic poets often called it “soul”.

In a poem entitled, “Dig here,” The Angel Said, John of the cross imagines a conversation with his soul. He starts with these lines:

She caught me off guard when my soul said to me, “Have we met?”

So surprised I was to hear her speak like that, I chuckled.

Yeah, that sounds about right, I thought. I too have neglected my deep inner self. And that raises the question: is it possible to talk with your own soul?

I have a writer friend who thought about that question and wrote some dialogues he calls: Dear Soul, Dear Life. I’ll share a couple:

Dear Soul: I’m trying to find out everything that’s wrong with me.

 

Dear Life: Don’t worry, you’ll find out, and it’ll kill you! They don’t call it “Die-agnosis” for nothing. Instead, why not just learn the art of unmotivated celebration? Celebrating is so important to your life that you don’t even need a reason. In fact, it’s treason to need a reason. So go ahead, celebrate your life—early and late.

 

Dear Soul: I’m still not sure I have a plan for my life.

 

Dear Life: What I hope to be able to say about you is that you didn’t hesitate, that you didn’t wait, that you went ahead and you really lived. You lived even though you didn’t have a plan, until one day, in a quiet, intense moment, you realized: this is the plan. To LIVE, L.I.V.E.: Love Intensely, Value Everything.

Does that sound like something your higher self might say? I think it does.

And it also suggests our marching orders for the week:

 This week, I’ll celebrate my life, early and late. I won’t wait. Celebration is so important to my life that I don’t even need a reason. And I won’t forget to LIVE, L.I.V.E.—Love Intensely, Value Everything.