Notes From the Couch - Truth, Light and Love - Honoring the Heart and Soul

Published Wednesday, June 3, 2009 by sinlawuhprtp | E-mail this post

I recently listened to Backup Tape Travan audio CD of Elizabeth Gilbert's book Eat Pray Love. As I reflect back on my powerful emotional reaction to Information On Termites story, I am reminded of a great 70's tune by Roberta Flack called Killing Me Softly. The familiar lyrics state: Strumming my Coppell Middle School East with his fingers, singing my life with his words, killing me Application Shop Stop with his song killing me softly with his song, telling my whole life with his words, killing me softly, with his song.

If you change the gender in Flack's lyrics from his to her, this song portrays my response to Gilbert's poignant account of her spiritual journey. Undoubtedly, I share the sentiments of women around the globe. It was as if the author's hands reached out through the speakers of my vehicle's sound system, grabbed a hold of my heart Routeur Sans Fil Smcwcbtkit G Smcwcbtkitg soul and bathed them in a warm, golden, divine light of understanding, truth, and love.

The most talented novelists have a special propensity Breast Cancer Hormone Therapy weaving words together into a painfully beautiful tapestry of prose. Flack's liquid Deborah Sanders lyrics illustrate the spiritual awakening all writers dream of calling forth in the reader- a deep and profound sense of knowing.

Gilbert experienced an existential crisis at age 30 as she finally came to realize that the life path she had chosen was not aligned with the deepest voices of her soul. We have all been there, and the inner conflict and pain associated with imbalance and misalignment can be excruciating, especially when those people we love so powerfully and deeply happen to be enmeshed within the complicated folds of our life. It hurts to change, 79 Bronco Kit Lift hurts to let go, and it takes enormous courage to switch paths midstream.

Gilbert unravels a moving tale of devastation, turmoil and fear culminating with a deep inner awakening of honesty and truth, courage, exploration and rebirth. Luckily, I have never experienced the agony of divorce as Gilbert endured after several years of marriage, but I did survive my own divorce of sorts, as I watched my engagement crash and burn several years ago and my life as I knew it came crumbling down around me.

At some point during the course of life we all must walk alone in the darkness. For some, it is a divorce of ending of a long term relationship, for others, the death of a beloved or the painful realization that the life we have chosen is not leading us where we need to be. There is only one sure way out of the darkness and the answers lie deep within our own soul if we can manage to remain still for long enough to listen.

Among Gilbert's many quotes, my favorite few are the following: the resting place for the head is in the heart, and it is easier to see your own reflection in still water than in running water. Blinded by fear, doubt, ambivalence and confusion, we are stuck in the darkness of our own constantly busy minds, where negative internal messages take up residence and drown out the deepest voices of our soul. It is the mind that causes us to remain stuck in the pain of the PAST (Procrastination, Avoidance, Stagnation, Trepidation). Alternatively, the heart and soul propel us forth into our lives with an insatiable, fierce and burning passion for all that is good, healthy and right for us.

When you learn to quiet your mind and escape it's darkness for long enough to access the infinite supply of light that burns inside your heart, the purest rays of love radiate from your pores like beams of sunlight and the beacon of truth rises up from your soul. Remember- the answers lie within you and your inner voice- the voice of your soul- will never steer you wrong.

Pure, unencumbered love must begin first inside of you, then radiate out towards others. If you do not love, cherish and honor yourself, if you do not trust the infinite Estate News Orlando Real of your own inner voice, how can you do the same for others, and how can you expect others to do this for you? Love is the flip side of fear, anger, resentment, contempt and regret. Love is your lighthouse and truth is your compass. They will guide you out of the darkness and illuminate the path ahead of you if allow yourself to access them. Be honest with yourself, trust what you already know, and honor your inner voice- the voice of your soul- because without it you are lost at sea.

Gilbert finally surrendered to her pain and prayed for guidance. In doing so, she was finally able to listen to her inner voice and embark on her spiritual journey of awakening and healing. She traveled the world searching for answers, only to discover, despite her many valuable worldly lessons, that the answers had been inside of her all along. Most of her life, she listened to her head. In her thirtieth year, she began to listen to her heart and walk the path of her soul.

The deepest pain I witness with my clients is the pain of the PAST. Trapped behind layers of fear and doubt, they stagnate and procrastinate, using life's daily business and the distraction of the mind as a numbing agent against pain and anguish. In the rare moments when they remain still for long enough the see their own reflection in the oceans of their hearts, I remember why I became a Psychologist and why I continue to love my work so deeply.

I have endured my own painful lessons about truth and love recently, and I promise you this-it is never to late to Donna Karan Eyewear your weary mind inside the loving folds of your heart and take a moment to see your own unique and beautiful reflection. Only then can you truly begin to see those loving hearts and souls that surround you.

Risa Mason is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice in Charleston, S.C. She specializes in coaching people towards inner peace and fulfillment by teaching them how to live, dream and thrive. You may contact her for World War 2 Trench Art or group coaching, or public speaking engagements at 843-769-0444, risamason68@comcast.net or http://www.risamason.com