What Does Soul Searching Mean?


What Does Soul Searching Mean

Soul searching means you remove yourself from your mundane everyday routines and turn your attention inwards to reconnect with your soul and its life purpose.

We hear this term thrown around a lot in everyday conversations but what does soul searching mean? Most people use that term when they feel like they have to discover some truth within themselves.

While this is a great way to look at soul searching there is actually a much deeper understanding and truth to it. The great philosopher Socrates said the unexamined life is not worth living.

For most people soul searching implies an examination of their own lives. It’s a cause to pause and look in the mirror to see if your life is congruent with your highest ideals.

The biggest challenge is that we are all under a very strong spell which is cast by society and the culture that compels us to comply and to simply fall in line.

Most of what you have and most of what you want are not really things that you want. They are things that you believe you should have.

The very idea of happiness emanates from these imposed beliefs of what you should be, do, and have to be happy and successful.

Those who forge their own path and who truly listen to their soul are often outcasts; misfits and those who are seen as rebels. Yet, we see this almost every day that these are the very people who seem to have the most success.

While outward success is by no means a measure of happiness and fulfillment, one lesson to learn from those who do not blindly comply with the unwritten rules of society is that they seem to attract and create success effortlessly.

It seems like truly being your Self has become one of the hardest things there is.

So, how does this relate to soul searching you may ask?

Soul searching is all about your Soul or your higher self (your true self) trying to connect with you and express itself through your life and who you are in this life.

What Does It Mean When You Are Soul Searching?

What it really means when you are soul searching is that your soul is trying to reconnect you with its purpose.

It is not so much something that you do as it is something that is being done to you. Your soul is doing the searching and it is trying to jolt you out of the hypnosis of everyday awareness.

You are not here to work a 9 to 5, to be stressed out of your mind about your mortgage, worry about the imminent economic collapse and take a load of pills just to keep you from losing it.

That is not why you are here.

That is not why anyone is here. You have a greater and a higher purpose in this life. This purpose is not so much about what you do as it is about what you are and the reason why you do what you do.

The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard said that we all come here with sealed orders. Part of your purpose in life is to uncover what these orders are.

What I really need is to get clear about what I must do, not what I must know, except insofar as knowledge must precede every act. What matters is to find a purpose, to see what it really is that God wills that I shall do; the crucial thing is to find a truth which is truth for me, to find the idea for which I am willing to live and die.

– Søren Kierkegaard

Your soul knows why you are here. It has only one goal for you in this life and that is to fulfill its purpose – that is your soul purpose.

All your goals and ambitions in life have no meaning to your soul because most of it was just programmed into you.

Soul searching then is a very literal term that implies your conscious awareness of your soul trying to reconnect you with your purpose; with its reason for taking on your body in this lifetime.

Everybody’s soul is always searching. The difference really only comes in whether you are consciously aware of it or not.

Your soul will move heaven and earth to get your attention. Most people go through life blinded by their soul’s incessant callings.

When you are truly soul searching you become in-tune with your highest self and what your higher purpose is in life.

The 5 Realizations When You Are Soul Searching

So, how do you know that you are consciously soul searching? Here are 5 important realisations that you will come to that will signal that you are indeed conscious and aware of your soul’s searching for itself and its presence and expression in your life.

1. I Am a Soul

Most of us grew up (religiously) believing that we are a body with a soul. The truth is that you are a soul with a body.

Who you really are is not this bag of bones. Your body has changed dramatically since you were born yet you are still the same person, are you not?

You are not your mind either. Almost everything that you know and believe has changed dramatically since you were born. In fact, your mind is evolving all the time as it is learning and experiencing new things.

Yet, “you” are still the same.

It is this “you” which is unchanged that is your soul or your highest self. The part of you that never ages, that never changes, and that is eternal is who you really are.

That is your soul and it is always trying to connect with you – it is always searching for your conscious awareness of its presence in your life.

2. Crises and Disaster

When we go through personal traumas, disasters or crises we are often jerked out of the hypnosis of life. A sickness, a death, an accident, losing your job or even a breakup often jerks us out of the brainwashed reality we live in.

Most people have soul searching experiences when these things happen to them. It causes you to examine your life and it often opens your eye to see that none of the fears, worries and obsessions in your life are really important.

For some people, these experiences sink them because they fail to see what it really is.

These experiences are gifts and I believe they are orchestrated by your soul to snap you out of the hypnosis of living a mediocre life that is not on purpose.

When you are soul searching; when your soul is searching to reconnect with you and your life then you need to pay attention and recognize what is really going on.

Sling your job may be devastating but you hated it. You’ve been daydreaming for years about quitting and becoming an artist but you’ve been afraid to.

When a crisis, disaster or trauma’s come into your life do not despair. Do not let the emotion of these events distract you from its real purpose.

Hidden in all these events lie the greatest gift of life’ the gift of connecting to your soul purpose.

3. Life Is Happening For Me

When you are soul searching you realize that life is happening FOR you and not to you. Most people go through life believing that life is happening to them.

They feel victimised. They feel out of control and have to constantly reach for outward fixes to hold their lives together.

When you understand and see that life is happening for you, you see the gift in every situation. You start seeing the breadcrumbs that the universe is leaving to guide you to your higher purpose and a life of true fulfillment.

4. Needs of The Ego

What does soul searching mean in a more practical way? It is when you start moving away from the needs of your ego and start moving towards the needs of your soul and your higher self.

Your ego is that part of you that fully bought into the hypnosis of the culture.

Work hard. Get a degree. Buy a big house and a fancy car. Be important. Win. Have more.

The result of living under this hypnosis is that you will never have enough. You will always be living under the illusion that you are not enough and that you need to constantly polish your self worth with better and bigger goals and achievements.

The needs of your soul are very different. It only wants to be at peace and experience love.

While this may sound like woo-woo ideas, they are not. It is not about becoming a hippy or living a secluded life.

Often times you will still live like many others but it is the WAY YOU ARE that is different.

You may still have a lot of success. You may still have a lot of adoration. You may still be “the best” but these are not the things that drive you.

It is the result of you living your life on purpose.

It is a byproduct and not a pursuit.

When you are soul searching you become more sensitive to the needs of your ego and you realize their folly.

5. Unplug From The Tribe

One of the key characteristics, when you are soul searching, is that you start becoming very sensitive to your thoughts, to your surroundings and to your tribe.

We all belong to tribes. These are types of people we associate with and whom we like to hang out with.

There’s a saying that “your tribe determines your vibe” and that is very true. If you are/where part of a tribe where negativity, hate, or any other low energy vibe dominate then you will start noticing it.

Not only will you notice it, but you will also become very sensitive to it – and you will start feeling uncomfortable around it.

You start paying attention to your innermost beliefs, ideals and your soul’s truth and soon realize that your tribe is not in harmony with the highest ideals of love, peace and joy.

What Does Soul Searching Mean – Conculsion

what does soul searching mean? It is your soul trying to reconnect you and your life with its reason for taking on form in this life.

Soul searching really is like being born again. In many ways, we are not really growing into this world as we are growing out of it.

When you are born you are pure love as you grow up you are taught what you should be, do and have. The challenge is that what you are taught to be, do and have are rarely in harmony with your soul’s needs and its mission in this lifetime.

When you are soul searching it really is like finding yourself. It is like finding your true self; recognizing your soul or your spirit and its calling.

It allows you to snap out of the hypnosis of daily living and the imposed beliefs and desires that society has thrust upon you unwillingly and unknowingly.

There is a freedom and a joy that comes from soul searching. It is a liberation and is the doorway to experiencing life for what it truly is meant to be.

Neod

With a passion for spirituality, self discovery, and understanding this life, Neod spends his time musing about what is, what could be and what might come about. After writing for 20 years he's still growing, learning, exploring and sharing with love, joy and compassion.

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