Grow Your Soul is a phrase that’s been used by many people over the past decade or so.
A book by Mike Acker was even written using the same title, “Grow Your Soul.”And Mike’s views in this book are much like mine.
Mike is a best -selling author, speaker, leadership coach, and more. You can learn more about him on his website.
But I wanted to share with you how I’ve lived my life according to my own belief in what it means to Grow Your Soul.
I grew up in a family that was all about learning and experiencing different things in our lives. I didn’t know it at the time, but this is actually what set me up for my own life path . . . or paths, as it turned out.
You can read about that in my other blog “Create Your Path, and Walk It.”
Because of all the learning and experiences I had when I was growing up, it all became engrained in me and I have spent the bulk of my life continuing to live this way.
Always working full-time, but spending time learning about and doing other things on the side . . . like writing books, breeding Samoyeds, gardening, making a myriad of crafts, working as the Animal Control Officer in my town and so much more . . . including studying Reiki and becoming a minister.
And all these things added to my development as a human being. It made me able to share so much with others and teach them, thereby adding to their soul’s growth.
Are you starting to see the trend?
To me, Grow Your Soul is all about learning as much as we can as humans that will make us stronger emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually . . . so when it comes to our time to be rejoined with our Creator, we’ll have much more to “bring to the table”.
This is important, in my eyes, because I also believe that we’re all here to better ourselves because what we have to offer those around us is doubled . . . or more . . . when we finally give it to our Creator at the end of our tour on this earth.
I posted a much shorter version of this a few months time ago, though, and the only reactions I received were negative.
Some said, “It’s not that easy to do, you know.”
Or
“It takes money to do those things. Not everyone has the money.”
At that point . . . I dropped it because those responses seemed a bit hostile to me . . . and there’s nothing I can do about other people’s ideas about what it takes to actually Grow Your Soul. I can’t solve their financial issues and so I just felt bad and left it alone.
But over the months . . . as I thought about it more . . . I realized that people are learning and experiencing new things every day whether or not they know it.
This biggest issue is how they’re interpreting those things and how they’re using it in their own lives. Are they using their newfound knowledge to help themselves and others, or are they doing just the opposite?
As a Christian minister, I found it makes me feel good to make others feel good about themselves. I’ve done so much counseling and coaching over the years and I’ve noticed a huge difference in the way I feel about myself and the way I experience life . . . especially when I see the tangible proof in those I’ve helped. That’s my confirmation that what I did for them provided value in their lives.
And isn’t that what this existence it all about?
People helping people?
And praying those people we help go out and pass on to others what we gave to them . . . the advice, support, and love.
Most of all . . . love!
Life’s Daily Lessons
I never want to see anyone take what I’ve shared with them, decide it’s too hard, and then just give up. The truth is that our lives are filled with daily lessons . . . moment-by-moment lessons. It’s all about what we do with those things we learn and experience that makes use who we are.
And yes . . . experiences provide lessons, too!
My parents were also big on teaching us to dream . . . then working toward making those dreams come true. This is something that’s also hard for so many because they’ve given up for different reasons . . . money . . . time . . .
But the truth is that money can be earned. Time can be carved out of a schedule to make room for your goal to happen. It’s all really a matter of setting priorities according to how badly you want it.
These beliefs have been so important in mine and my husband’s lives, that we passed them down to our daughter, who has provided us with a grandson, soon to be 6 years old. (He’s becoming quite a nice young man!)
Giving our daughter the experiences she would need was worth it . . . though it broke the bank at times . . . and caused us to ask for help at others . . . it was still worth it to see the way her life is still developing. And we’ve come out of it all more relaxed and able to be happy with what we’ve done.
None of this starts or stops with just family members. My husband and I have helped friends and neighbors, too . . . and people we worked with.
But this has all been about growing our own souls and helping others grow theirs. We’ll continue to do this as long as we’re on this earth so we can go back to our Creator, share ourselves with him/her, rest up for a while, then get ready to do it all again.
I do believe in reincarnation, too!
Do you?
PS. Please feel free to share your own ideas about this blog. I welcome all responses for discussion, if you desire one.