Quote “Are any of us perfect? I don’t think so. I would rather like to see the spirit. It’s the sparkle in the eye – the slight opening of the soul.”
Author Gwen Weaver (July 22, 1950 – September 19, 2013) was a much loved American calligrapher and teacher who taught with gentleness, humour, patience and professionalism. Gwen’s “Weaver Writing” calligraphy hand has become a favourite of innumerable calligraphers such as artist Marilyn Lundstrom who calligraphed this Soul-Question quote using Gwen’s unique “Weaver Writing.”
Soul-Questions
1. In your journal, describe a moment in your life when you set perfection as your goal rather than allowing the spirit to flow through you.
2. How might you allow your next project / assignment / performance / presentation be less intentional about ‘skill and understanding’ and more intentional about enjoying the moment?
3. How might you be more open to discovering and uncovering the “sparkle in the eye” of the soul of your
* artistic / creative endeavours
* daily chores
* relationships
* spirituality
4. How can you “see the spirit” in another?
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How to use “Soulistry Soul-Questions” You may want to begin a Journal so your responses are all in one place.
From time to time, a quotation will appear along with accompanying Soul-Questions. Write the quotation. Add the first question and write your response.
Take your time in writing your replies. This is your time – these are your answers.
Then at your leisure, add the second Soul-Question and respond and continue on. Btw, it helps to put the date after each Soul-Question response.
Quote “So many gods, so many creeds, so many paths that wind and wind, while just the art of being kind is all the sad world needs.”
Author Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1851 – 1919) was a prolific American writer of prose and poetry. Her strength was her belief in the triumph of hope over despair, of victory over failure, of good over evil, and of kindness over selfishness.
Soul-Questions
How would you define the “art of being kind”?
What does religion (“so many gods, so many creeds, so many paths that wind and wind”) bring to the world?
What has religion brought to you?
Reflect and journal about specific ways you can express kindness – with family members … immediate and extended – with work colleagues – in your community – with strangers – in the world
********************************************************************** How to use “Soulistry Soul-Questions” You may want to begin a Journal so your responses are all in one place.
From time to time, a quotation will appear along with accompanying Soul-Questions. Write the quotation. Add the first question and write your response. At your leisure, add the second Soul-Question and respond and continue on. Btw, it helps to put the date after each Soul-Question response.
Take your time in writing your replies. This is your time – these are your answers.
The “Soul-Questions” website can be found www.soulistry.com/soul-questions-blog-posts Scroll through the various images/titles (click ‘earlier posts’ when you get to the bottom of a page), make your choice and begin. Periodically, it may help to check in with the “Welcome” post www.soulistry.com/soulquestions/welcome that explains what Soul-Questions is about.
“My courage does not roar. It whispers to my heart. It makes me dig deep and find it in my soul to fight on.” <Kim Fitzsimmons>
It takes courage to go to work these days as an ‘essential services’ provider. You valiantly and selflessly serve long hours at potentially great cost to you and your families. We continue to hold you close in our hearts and pray for your protection. We are grateful … grateful beyond measure. Thank you for letting the courage that whispers to your heart help you dig deep and find it in your soul to fight on.
In spite of any personal situation we may be dealing with … in spite of any seas we may need to confront … in spite of where we are on the aging scale … in spite of what is happening in this world at this time … in spite of COVID19, may we face each moment with that indefinable spirit that enables us to deal with what-must-be-faced day-by-day, moment-by-moment.
Courage, my friends. Courage. And when we no longer have any courage, may we remember that somewhere in the world, people are praying for courage for those who are needing it. We are stronger than we may think we are.
Quote “The whole secret of the spiritual life is just this painful struggle to come awake, to become really conscious.”
Author Gerald Heard (1889-1971) was a historian, science writer, educator and philosopher as well as mentor to Bill Wilson, (co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous), and Clare Booth Luce (author and politician).
Soul-Questions
1. What does “to come awake, to become really conscious” mean for you?
2. Have you experienced your life, your spiritual journey at any time as “struggle” – as “painful”?
3. If so, how?
4. How would you describe your “spiritual life” today?
5. If you could have described your spiritual life a year ago, how might you have described it?
6. Where would you like to see your spiritual life in a year from now?
7. What and / or who might help you achieve those goals?
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How to use “Soulistry Soul-Questions” You may want to begin a Journal so your responses are all in one place.
From time to time, a quotation will appear along with accompanying Soul-Questions. Write the quotation. Add the first question and write your response. At your leisure, add the second Soul-Question and respond and continue on. Btw, it helps to put the date after each Soul-Question response.
Take your time in writing your replies. This is your time – these are your answers.
The “Soul-Questions” website can be found www.soulistry.com/soul-questions-blog-posts Scroll through the various images/titles (click ‘earlier posts’ when you get to the bottom of a page), make your choice and begin. Periodically, it may help to check in with the “Welcome” post www.soulistry.com/soulquestions/welcome that explains what Soul-Questions is about.
Quote “A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand. Is not the mountain far more awe-inspiring and more clearly visible to one passing through the valley than to those who inhabit the mountain?”
Author
Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) was born in modern-day Lebaban. With his family, he emigrated to the United States where he began his literary career, studied art and wrote his inspirational book “The Prophet” which became so popular that he is reputed to be the third best-selling poet of all time.
Soul-Questions
1. As you consider people you have considered over the years, what common qualities/characteristics do they share?
2. How do you distinguish between a friend and an acquaintance?
3. Have you ever been betrayed by a friend?
In your Journal, reflect about the circumstances and consequences of that friend’s betrayal.
4. In your world of friends over the years, what distinguishes those you would call a ‘close’ friend and those you would call ‘best’ friend?
5. Social media connects people as ‘friends’. Is social mediat another category of friendship for you and if so, what qualities/characteristics do such friends have which distinguish them from other friends?
6. Picture your best friend in your mind. What is it about this person that draws you to him/her?
7. In your circle of friendship over the years, have some friends changed categories – i.e. acquaintance, close friend, best friend, cyberfriend?
If so, reflect on your role in the changing friendship in your journal.
8. Reflect on a relationship with a “friend who is far away.”
Is that person “nearer than the one who is a hand”?
If so, how?
******************** How to use “Soulistry Soul-Questions” You may want to begin a Journal so your responses are all in one place.
From time to time, a quotation will appear along with accompanying Soul-Questions. Write the quotation. Add the first question and write your response.
Take your time in writing your replies. This is your time – these are your answers.
Then at your leisure, add the second Soul-Question and respond and continue on. Btw, it helps to put the date after each Soul-Question response.
The “Soul-Questions” group on Facebook can be found www.facebook.com/groups/soulquestions
The “Soul-Questions” website and individual quotes/soul-questions can be found www.soulistry.com/soul-questions-blog-posts
Quote “Those who ask questions may be fools for five minutes, but those who do not ask, remain fools forever.” Author: Chinese proverb
Soul-Questions
1. What questions do you have about
* life
* yourself
* the world
* love
* forgiveness
* eternity
* death
2. What questions have been more important to you than the answers?
3. What questions have spoken to you on your spiritual journey?
4. In your journal, reflect on one of those questions. Why was this particular question more important than the answer?
5. Have there been questions about individuals / situations / finances / values / background that you did not ask and wish you had?
In your journal, reflect on those questions and how you might move beyond whatever blocked you in those circumstances?
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How to use “Soulistry Soul-Questions” You may want to begin a Journal so your responses are all in one place.
From time to time, a quotation will appear along with accompanying Soul-Questions. Write the quotation. Add the first question and write your response.
Take your time in writing your replies. This is your time – these are your answers.
Then at your leisure, add the second Soul-Question and respond and continue on. Btw, it helps to put the date after each Soul-Question response.
The “Soul-Questions” group on Facebook can be found www.facebook.com/groups/soulquestions
The “Soul-Questions” website and individual quotes/soul-questions can be found www.soulistry.com/soul-questions-blog-posts
Quote “The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” Author: Francis Bacon <1909-1992 was a self-taught Irish artist whose life as an artist was a bleak chronicler of the human condition and after the death of his partner, his art became preoccupied with death in a unique style that was bold, austere, graphic and emotionally raw. He claimed to be descended from the Elizabethan philospher with the same name.
Soul-Questions
1. What does “the mystery” mean to you?
2. What gift of creativity have you been given?
3. What defines / makes someone an “artist“?
4. When you express yourself in some creative way, do you think of yourself as an “artist”?
If not, what would it take for you to see yourself as an artist (be that someone who bakes, sews, sculpts, paints, gardens, draws; does carpentry, flower-arranging, calligraphy; makes cards etc.)?
5. How can you, as artist, “deepen the mystery”?
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How to use “Soulistry Soul-Questions” You may want to begin a Journal so your responses are all in one place.
From time to time, a quotation will appear along with accompanying Soul-Questions. Write the quotation. Add the first question and write your response.
Take your time in writing your replies. This is your time – these are your answers.
Then at your leisure, add the second Soul-Question and respond and continue on. Btw, it helps to put the date after each Soul-Question response.
The “Soul-Questions” group on Facebook can be found www.facebook.com/groups/soulquestions
The “Soul-Questions” website and individual quotes/soul-questions can be found www.soulistry.com/soul-questions-blog-posts
The initial shock of COVID19 has hit. Grief is emerging as people deal with the loss COVID19 is bringing: … issues of death and dying because of a diagnosis of COVID19 … loss of income because their place of employment has been shut down … loss of freedom because schools, parks, businesses, swimming pools, recreation centres, pubs, theatres, conferences, etc. are closed … loss of control over lives … and more.
How to deal with the stress of it all? How to maintain some sense of emotional stability? How to find peace in the panic?
Perhaps the words of a woman who lived centuries ago, will help. Dame Julian of Norwich wrote something very simple at a difficult time in her life. She wrote this: “All shall be well. All shall be well. And all manner of thing shall be well.”
As a grief counsellor, I’ve found it helpful to encourage people, when they find themselves in a difficult situation, to use Dame Julian’s words with a conscious pattern of breathing gently, deeply, slowly and properly.
We breathe, but not always properly. And at times of stress, our breathing becomes more and more shallow which can lead to further stress. One way to test how you breathe is to place your hands in front of you on your belly/tummy with the longest fingers gently touching. As you breathe in, check to see if your shoulders are moving up or if your fingers are gently moving apart. Hopefully, it’s the latter. Keep practicing until you’re able to do this.
Then, using Dame Julian’s words, consciously doing some gentle, deep, slow breathing, try following this:
1. Gently inhaling … say/whisper/think/pray “All shall be well.” 2. Gently exhaling … say/whisper/think/pray “All shall be well.” 3. Gently inhaling … say/whisper/think/pray “And all manner of thing 4. Gently exhaling … say/whisper/think/pray “Shall be well.”
Then just sit for a few moments. Sit in the calm. Sit in the peace.
By doing the above, you have slowed down your breathing, brought oxygen into your body and welcomed a gentle reduction in your anxiety. Peace. Maybe just for a moment – or a few moments – but peace.
And, there is more. While Dame Julian’s words don’t say that “All IS well,” the words offer a hopeful message to our brain that “all SHALL BE well.”
When we combine Dame Julian’s words with a pattern of conscious breathing, we are sending positive messages to our body and our mind. “All shall be well.”
It will take time, but “all shall be well” and we will get through COVID19 – together.
Breathe, my Soulistry friends. Breathe in ruach, peace, hope. “All shall be well. All shall be well. And all manner of thing shall be well.”
“Stocks surged after the worst day since 1987 crash!” “Countries are closed off.” “Sports games, concerts, worship services are cancelled.” “It’s going to get worse, not better.” “COVID-19 is the end of the world.”
We’ve heard them all – and more. So what do we do?
Perhaps we do an attitude-adjustment.
Perhaps we intentionally focus on the goodness around us the examples of compassion the incidents of kindness the expressions of love the gifts of colour in flowers, children at play, puppies and kittens instead of the yuck.
Perhaps we look to the Creator of the present moment who stills the storm and soothes the frantic heart, who brings hope, courage, strength as we wait in uncertainty and who brings peace that passes understanding so that we may rest at night, heal and awaken in the morning to the gift of a new day where we focus on making time to breathe, deep and gently and inhale peace … and calm … and hope.
If you’ve been experiencing difficult days lately … news from the political scene leaves you feeling hopeless … fires and floods threaten your home … COVID-19 (coronavirus) is resulting in sleepless nights … climate control has you worried for future generations … personal health, relationship, financial issues result in
if you are feeling frightened, unsafe, worried about the future let others carry you in their prayers.
But what if you don’t believe in prayer? Then how about think of ‘prayer’ as ‘love.’
No matter what we are going through, “we will be each other’s strength.”
