Where do you feel most connected to your soul?

 

Whale whispering with a baby whale

 

This picture captures what was a true soul connecting experience for me.  It felt like a oneness of spirits – we are not separate beings — we are all connected in this web of life.

“The recognition of love in the other – the oneness. Only spirit recognizes spirit.” Eckhart Tolle

Spending time with whales in Baja was the recognition of love and the oneness.
Whale watching is one of my favorite things to do.  For the second year in a row, we rented a home in Loreto Bay near Loreto Baja hotel, community outside the town of Loreto, Baja, Mexico to escape the rain and gray skies of Oregon. I have worked part-time coaching clients on Skype, writing and walking with our dogs either on the beach or a golf course each day, in addition to reading, hiking, whale watching, hanging out with friends and my husband.

Nature is where I feel most at home, most connected to my true nature and essential self (soul) and where I feel most alive.  These days I am following my passions, noticing where I feel most alive and connected to my essential self.

Joseph Campbell is one of my all-time favorite writers and his quote below is how I live my life now.  I am all about collecting experiences where I feel alive and present.

“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.”        Joseph Campbell

Our soul is our true essence – our inner most spiritual being.  We humans have an ego, which is our left-brain aka the interpreter, narrator or the storyteller.  This is what I call our “little self.”   Most of us are completely unaware that we are in the grips of our ego in our day-to-day life.  We walk around listening to the voice in our head as if it is us.

Our task here on this planet is to wake up and learn to listen to the only voice that matters – your intuition, your gut or your higher Self (soul).

We have lost touch with the stillness inside and our connection to nature. We have forgotten what animals and plants still know, which is how to be – in pure presence.

It’s from this place of presence and stillness that we can find what we need to save the planet.  This is why it’s imperative we “wake up” and become conscious and stop listening to our ego.  When we live from our authentic selves – our higher Self – we know that we have everything within us to be happy.

When I am in the presence of these giant creatures, there is no thought — only presence.  When you are in the present moment, you are at home inside yourself and you are in touch with your true nature. When you’re in touch with Presence, you feel at home wherever you are.

Animals do not have an ego, a left-brain that makes up stories.  We never see a dog feeling shame for barking at another dog.  Humans are lost in our minds – in our stories, thoughts and beliefs that drive our behaviors.  Animals haven’t lost themselves in thought.

When we are present and not lost in thought – we meet animals where they are in the presence. This gives us a deep feeling of connection.

Eckhart Tolle calls animals “guardians of our being.”  He collaborated with Patrick McDonnell, the illustrator and cartoonist of Mutts comic strip, to write Guardians of Being: Spiritual Teachings From Our Dogs and Cats.  It’s a wonderful book!  I call animals our soul companions because they are with us during short segments of our lives, and when they pass, we remember all that we went through with them at our side.

Our dogs and cats don’t get caught up in worrying about what’s going to happen next, or fearing the future or living in regret of the past.  So why should we?  Animals play, they eat, the defend their turf or protect their owners.  They love us unconditionally.  They are in the present moment.  They bring us into the present moment when we are talking to them, playing with them and taking our walks with them outside.  That’s one reason we love their company so much.

“The consciousness of the animal also begins to change when it interacts with a human who’s gone beyond thinking. It’s not only the animals assisting us; we are also assisting the animals. The animals certainly like to be close to humans, especially as humans go through the shift in consciousness.”  Eckhart Tolle

“All that is to be required to be free of the ego is to be aware of it since awareness and ego are incompatible. Awareness is the power that is concealed within the present moment. This is why we may also call it Presence. The ultimate purpose of human existence, which is to say your purpose, is to bring that power into this world.”  Eckhart Tolle

My soul questions for you today are these:

Where do you feel most connected to your soul in nature?

In the mountains?

At the ocean?

In the desert?

In a garden?

With animals?

What do you do to get quiet inside (stop the monkey mind of chatter)?  Yoga, meditation, creating art, and being in nature are a few things that are helpful.

Where do you feel most alive in your life?

What are your most memorable experiences you have had and do they have to do with this sense of aliveness?

As always, I’d love to hear your comments.  If you know someone who would enjoy this article, please share it.