[Tension & Renewal - XXV]
I could spend 20,000 words dissecting the difference between the heart and the soul. Instead of trying to do that, I’d rather point to a few ways in which they interact. (You can deduce the difference between them if ya want.)
The soul is our core, our center, our deeper us, our truest self. We build lives disconnected and sometimes contemptuous toward it. Behind the facade, the masks, the personality, the typologies, and the identities, we have an inner self that is deeply buried and often distant. Our soul doesn’t slink away or grow distant; we simply move further and further from it the more we create the person(a) we want to be.
When we allow our heart to break open, as opposed to remain entrenched in a fortified bunker of our own building, we receive an invaluable gift: an invitation back to our soul. Said differently, when we allow ourselves to feel deeply, we enter the deeper core of who we are. This is why even in the depths of grief, we can feel alive, like something is stirring awake in us. Or in the midst of great sorrow we sense something is about to emerge. Like a stirring giant, we awaken to our soul.
When we deeply feel—fully embracing the vulnerability of joy or holding the treacherous darkness of grief—our soul breathes and we feel alive. Connection with our soul is a sign of renewal!
(Have you ever felt refreshed after a hard, snotty cry? Then you have visceral proof of what I’m talking about.)
