Access Your Soul

Ways to Access Your Soul

By Tanis Helliwell

Under thy great sky in solitude and silence, with humble heart I shall stand before thee face to face. —Rabindranath Tagore 

The summer is a wonderful time to slow down and reflect on our lives to see if we are doing what gives us joy. In or busy lives we need to stop and listen deeply to hear what our soul wants to tell us. Our soul embraces the whole of what we are. It is interested in balancing us and to fulfill our life’s purpose it is important to be able to hear and feel what our soul wants us to do. There are many ways to attract the soul, and our preferences differ, but the following are some of the most effective paths. 

Awe and Mystery

Einstein said, “The man or woman who possesses no awe or sense of mystery is a candle without a wick.” Summer is a great time to increase awe. Lie out under the stars and imagine how you are connected to the universe, or go camping and smell the smells of the forest, or strip off your clothes and swim naked in the lake or ocean.

Acting for the Good of All

We serve our soul when our actions are for the good not only of ourselves, but of others. Only psychopaths lack the morality to know good, although we can choose to not act for the higher good. Dag Hammarskjold summarized these consequences:

You cannot play with the animal in you without becoming wholly animal, play with falsehood without forfeiting your          right to truth, play with cruelty without losing your sensitivity of mind. He who wants to keep his garden tidy doesn’t reserve          a plot for weeds.

Meditation and Retreats

Men and women in the western world are over-stimulated. We work too intensely and for too many hours, and return home at night to television where we are bombarded with more stimulation. On weekends—when we could rest—we race here and there shopping for things we don’t need. There is little time for peaceful contemplation and it is difficult, even impossible, to hear the soul during a frenzy of activity. Creating a space for contemplation  on a daily, weekly and yearly basis is, therefore, very important.

Meditation for half an hour to an hour every morning before breakfast helps many individuals to listen to their soul, and there are a variety of meditation techniques suitable to different personalities. Some people like sitting meditations such as Transcendental Meditation or Vipassana and others prefer more active forms of meditation, such as Tai Chi, that engage the body in ritualized patterns, thus allowing the mind time off. Also, some people need more meditation time than is found in daily routines and find annual retreats helpful. With the longer hours of daylight, which we enjoy in the summertime you might try getting up earlier and meditating before you begin your day.

Nature

Nature energizes us in the summer just as it gives life force to plants. By enjoying the outdoors we can re-vitalize ourselves and renew our energy. Preferred physical environments differ but often reflect the element; water, air, earth or fire, that we need most.

Some of us love the hypnotic calming effect of oceans whose rhythm resembles the ebb and flow of our blood pumping through our bodies. Streams and small rivers, on the other hand, twinkle and bubble, and ease depression and lift our spirits. Some people are drawn to mountains, whose raw power and clear air uplift them while others are healed by walking through forests and by surrounding themselves by trees, herbs and flowers.

Finally, there are those individuals who are drawn to the desert, and many older people feel this way when heat, and the fire element, decreases in their body. When we are in the physical environment which balances our elements we feel in harmony with our environment and a sense of living in the right place. 

Home and Work Environment

Our home and work environment are also important to our soul. Some of us need the peaceful setting of country life and conversely, some feel more in harmony with the bustle of a large city, while still others need a combination of both these settings.

To create the right atmosphere for our soul to flourish, even the kind of house or apartment we live in is important. Are we drawn to old houses or modern ones? Do we prefer small, cozy rooms or high ceilings and skylights? Do we want our bedroom to be in the attic or on the ground floor?

We need to make these choices consciously, not only at home, but also at work.

Colour

Summer is a time of beautiful colours. Multi-coloured flowers and fruits accompany the verdant greens of grass and trees. Become aware of what the colours you like wearing and do more of it. This is not cosmetic. This is to create balance and health for your soul to flourish.

We require the right colours in our home and work environment to evoke creativity but not over-stimulation. Too many work places are painted gray, beige or stark white and these colours can be depressing to our soul. Colours, like the four elements, create an atmosphere that is either conducive or harmful to us. Cooling blues evoke waters and sky, and violets and purples conjure up the darker night sky. Yellows and golds are colours of the sun and add an uplifting sunniness to a room. Reds and oranges are more fiery and stimulating. Green, the colour of healing, like fuschia and burgundy, is a balanced colour between the cool and warm colours.

Introverts and Extroverts

Introverts need silence and space in order to hear their soul. They require a lot of time alone, definitely more than extroverts. Their path often entails reading books in philosophy, religion, poetry as well as autobiographies of individuals with great souls. An evening cultivating soul for them would be a quiet one at home listening to classical or new age music and reading one of these books.

Extroverts are more experiential and have revelations about their soul and its purpose by discussing their ideas with others or by taking classes in spiritual topics. To be effective at our life and work we need to appreciate what style works best for us and to honour other people’s preferred style.

The Arts: Singing, Dancing, Drama, Painting, Writing

Artists, through singing, dancing, painting or writing, enter the universal flow of energy where their work is effortless and transcendent, but all of us can experience this to some extent. Most of us, if we do not judge ourselves by professional standards, can access our soul by experiencing these mediums. To do this, we might join a choir, take private singing lessons, go to art class or dance just for the fun of it. Also, if we attend concerts, plays and art galleries, our soul becomes more available to our personality. The summer is a good time to go to folk and jazz festivals and outdoor concerts.

Praying within a Religious Tradition

Religions such as Christianity and Buddhism have a community of people who create strong thoughtforms that help members to access their soul. As Jesus said, “Where ever there are two, they are not without God.” Religions employ rituals, communion, prayer beads, incense, icons and certain times to pray, which signal our body to enter a receptive time to communicate with our soul and the souls of other great beings.

Tanis Helliwell, a mystic in the modern world, has brought spiritual consciousness into the mainstream for over 30 years. Since childhood, she has seen and heard elementals, angels, and master teachers in higher dimensions. Tanis is the founder of the International Institute for Transformation (IIT), which offers programs to assist individuals to become conscious creators to work with the spiritual laws that govern our world.

Tanis is the author of The High Beings of Hawaii, Summer with the Leprechauns, Pilgrimage with the Leprechauns, Embraced by Love, Manifest Your Soul’s Purpose, Hybrids: So You Think You Are Human and Decoding Your Destiny.

For information on Tanis’ courses, click here.