Soulful Musings

Connections

"What we're all striving for is authenticity,
a spirit-to-spirit connection."
–Oprah Winfrey,O Magazine, March 2002

This summer, my online magazine, SoulfulLiving.com, is exploring the topic of "Connection," with notable authors Judith Orloff, MD, Dan Millman, Debra Lynn Dadd, Father Paul Keenan, Robin L. Silverman, Patricia Rose Upczak, Sunny Schlenger, and Donna Henes, to name just a few...

These contributing authors have provided us with a wonderful and varied collection of insight on this subject, sharing personal stories of connection, as well as thoughtful guidance and advice to help us become more present and engaged in everyday life, available to make powerful, soul-to-soul connections.

May peace and joy by yours this summer as you make a soulful conneciton!

Click here to read our "Connection" Issue.

Life's Deeper Meaning

"There is not one big cosmic meaning for all,
there is only the meaning we each give to our life,
an individual meaning, an individual plot,
like an individual novel, a book for each person."
–Anaïs Nin

In honor of winter, as the days draw shorter and the nights grow longer, my online magazine, SoulfulLiving.com, offers you the opportunity to reflect and ponder the deep and meaningful subject of this season's Feature Articles, "Life's Deeper Meaning," with notable authors Dave Richo, Barbara Biziou, Suzanne Zoglio, Debra Lynn Dadd, Donna Henes, and Hubert Pryor, to name just a few...

These contributing authors have provided us with a wonderful and varied collection of thought and insight on this topic, sharing stories and anecdotes of what life's deeper meaning means, personally, to each of them. It is my hope that their essays will inspire and stimulate an interest and curiosity in your own personal search for life's deeper meaning.

Finding one's deeper meaning is as personal as each individual. What one person finds meaningful in life is likely to be very different from what another might find meaningful. We can begin to search for our deeper meaning in our personal truths, values, beliefs, and in that which we hold most precious in our hearts. We may find life's meaning in life's lessons learned, our mistakes and triumphs, our blessings and miracles, as well as in our struggles and hardships. We discover our deeper meaning by living in the moment and just "being," and by enjoying and truly relishing in the beauty, joy and gloriousness of every blessed moment of our lives.

I believe that our lives can be as meaningful as we wish to make them. Every single day of our lives can be a wondrous, sacred, and deeply meaningful experience. We each have the power to make it so.

Click here to read our "Life's Deeper Meaning" Issue.

I'd also love to share a personal story of my own that I wrote several years ago during the holiday season, on the subject of Life Meaning, entititled, Messages Delivered on Feathered Wings. I hope you enjoy it!

May peace and joy be yours this winter as you search for life's deeper meaning!

The Courage to Change

This autumn, my online magazine, SoulfulLiving.com, is exploring the topic of "Courage," with notable authors Barbara Biziou, Patricia Rose Upczak, Suzanne Zoglio, Judith Orloff, M.D., Donna Henes, and Hubert Pryor, to name just a few... These contributing authors have provided us with a wonderful and varied collection of articles and insight on this subject, sharing personal stories of courage and bravery and offering thoughtful guidance and advice to help empower us to create a fuller, richer life, through our own everyday acts of personal bravery. Click here to read our "Courage" Issue.

I'd like to share the following essay with you that I contributed to this issue...

The Courage to Change
by Valerie Rickel

This spring, I made a very courageous change in my life. I moved from the city of Los Angeles, where I had lived my entire life, to a lovely little soulful town in Southern Oregon. I simply packed up my car, drove and didn’t look back. Well, that may be oversimplifying the move just a bit, but it was definitely, by far, the most liberating and courageous thing I have done in my forty years of life.

What gave me the courage to make this move? It was the deep, unfaltering faith and knowing in my heart that something wonderful was waiting for me in Oregon – beauty, nature, peace – all things that my soul had craved for many, many years. Albeit, I was scared to death to make this change – to step into the unknown. I trusted my heart, my Higher Self, with all fortitude, and let it lead my way, bravely, into my new life.

Today, I am seated at my desk, writing this essay, in a small cottage, nestled in the lush forested hills of Oregon. I’m gazing out a picturesque window, at a gorgeous purple sunset settling over the mountains to the north, while a woodpecker is pecking away on a tree outside, serenading me and my cats, who are gathered, to glimpse a group of five antlered deer stroll by. For me, life does not get better than this.

It is hard to believe that only six months ago, I was living my life in the same, familiar, “status quo” fashion that I had known for the last 39 years. Admittedly, with the knowledge that the “big city” lifestyle of Los Angeles was no longer aligned with my soul, for perhaps the last five to ten of those 39 years.

Sitting here beside me at my desk is a small glass affirmation stone, and painted on its surface with silver ink is the word, “Courage.” It is a small, but meaningful, reminder of the courageous changes I have made this year. I purchased this precious stone for myself this past December, while shopping for the perfect Christmas gift for a dear friend in an inspirational 12-step store. I knew the instant I laid my eyes on the little piece of green glass that it was going to be an important “stepping stone” in my life.