Soul Naked

Over at Peaceful Legacies this morning, the lovely Joyceann speaks of putting her 'naked soul on the page' in her blog, Conversation with Yoda. It is only in that condition of vulnerability that she is of service to herself and the world she suggests after a fascinating and enlightening conversation with Yoda.

I don't have conversations with Yoda, but reading Joyceann's blog, I might have to start. He's a pretty wise and insightful guy!

Getting soul naked on the page is what I do here. It is my belief. My vision. My desire -- to dance soul naked through words stripped of past-present participles and conjugated verbs that shroud who I am behind the veil of fear I am too naked when I reveal who I am without the constructs of the language I employ to keep me safe from being seen.

And if that isn't a conjugated, convuluted, complicated sentence -- what is?!

Stripped of its fluff, it means -- I gotta be soul naked to connect on a soul level.

Naked souls don't need clothes to keep them warm. Heartspeak keeps souls warm.

Living from the heart of what matters to me, or 'wholehearted living', as Brene Brown calls it in The Gifts of Imperfection, keeps me living from the inside out, fearlessly engaging through my gifts and vulnerabilities with LIFE.

It's all about LIFE. How I engage it. How I embrace it. How I live it.

Soul naked, I engage life on the playing field of heart-matters.

Soul naked, I embrace life in the arms of vulnerability.

Soul naked, I live life through eyes of LOVE.

Yesterday, I wrote to a friend and shared how I am in awe of this journey -- this place where I feel my very essence filling up with the knowing of who I am is expressed in being of service to the world -- not somewhere else, but right here, where I'm at.

Being of service does not mean hopping on a jet and flying to Japan to offer relief. I do not have the skill set, nor training to do that. All I can provide for Japan and other troubled spots in the world are my prayers and what financial resources I can give to support those who have the training and tools to do it.

There was a time when I dreamt of jettisoning my life and taking off for far flung places to relieve suffering in the world. I imagined myself in war torn lands, pulling tangled bodies from shell-rocked buildings and healing spirits torn by rape and genocide and grief with simply the touch of my smile and warm and loving hands.

Because, seriously. I didn't have much else to offer. 'Cause I never did get around to going to medical school or getting a doctorate in PTSD. I never did get the prerequisite tools to be effective in such work -- like trauma training and medical knowledge and all sorts of things that would have qualified me to add value and not be a hindrance to the work of those who felt compelled to share their knowledge and training in ways that added value on the ground.

All of which speaks to how deep the ego drive was to 'be known' and how facile the ego's attempts to convince me of its possibilities without my having to do 'the hard'.

That was a time when my ego dictated my ways. That was a time when my ego needed me to plump it up with thoughts of 'all I could be doing' rather than facing the reality of doing 'the hard', of staying in the place I was at to find myself beneath the trauma and pain and sorrow and the daily grind of getting soul naked in my life.

I got an ego. Gotta love it. It's mine.

I just don't need to feed it the mind-driven placebo of doing 'great' things somewhere else in the world than where I'm at.

My naked soul isn't into doing. It's into being. Naked. Open. Vulnerable. Of service.

Being of service knows that being there I would be a hindrance. Being here, my service is in sharing my best, sharing my wisdom, my story, my journey in ways that celebrate the majesty of the human spirit, in ways that awaken others to their magnificence, in ways, as my purpose statement says, that, "ignite joy in an enlightened world".

Soul naked service asks me to step into the realm of being my self, of sharing my journey through light and love and words that come from my heart.

Soul naked service asks me to not dim my words. To not hide them behind walls of fear and self-doubt.

Soul naked my words stand. Out. Up. On. Under. Behind. Before. Me.

Thank you Joyceann. Your words this morning are cascading through my mind. You're one amazing incredible woman. Thanks for igniting my thinking, sparking my desire and setting my heart on fire.

Thanks for inspiring me to get 'soul naked'.