Soul Voice

The night I'm writing this, I finished reading the book "Reveal" by Meggan Watterson. I was introduced to her through her Divine Feminine Oracle deck that I was lucky enough to receive.

Pic by me

There is so much I've learned from this book but one thing Meggan mentions is our soul voice. Our soul is the truest part of us and our soul voice is that voice. Our soul is not affected by ego, past hurts or traumas, or anything of the sort. Our soul is purely Divine, purely Love. If we can tune in to our soul voice, our soul will show us the way.

In the last 2 years or so, I've been working hard on myself. Love is my focus. Speak with love. Do all things with love. It's not an easy thing. It's certainly not something that changes overnight. I still struggle with it. I still have to remind myself on a daily basis.

I would be remiss if I did not give credit to Don Miguel Ruiz's book, "The Four Agreements" as well. I try my best to keep those four agreements: Be impeccable with your word. Don't take anything personally. Don't make assumptions. Always do your best. These go hand in hand with love in my opinion, as in, if you do everything with love, you will also be following these four agreements.

In opening myself up to love more, I've been able to hear my soul voice at times. My soul voice has given me several things to do to better myself and the world around.

**Disclaimer: The things my soul tells me to do are things for me. This does not mean your soul will tell you the same or that I think you should do the same things as me.

Here is my soul voice has told me so far:

1. Change to a plant-based diet.

My soul has been nagging me on this one. I say that with love. It's because of ethical reasons and health reasons. My health needs improvement and the thought of how we treat animals for eating is horrifying to me. I'm not fully plant-based but I'm getting there. Slowly. The fight is that sometimes, I give in and say, "I'm not going to go fully plant-based I'm still going to have chicken or turkey fairly often and maybe a burger every once in awhile." My soul gives me a bit to think that thought and then chimes in: "What about the animals? Plant-based diet." So, I sigh. I complain to my husband about it. I make excuses. 

Now, my body physically tells me I can't have dairy anymore. I had already reduced dairy quite a bit. Since I was very young, I have drank chocolate milk every morning. For 30 years of my life, I made it with whole milk and Nesquik powder. Now, I make it with cashew milk and Nesquik powder. I've given up my beloved Chobani Flips greek yogurt. I'm so sad about that! I'm working on reducing cheese and I've switched to vegan butter.

As for meat products, that's the slower one. I really only eat ground turkey right now for meat as my husband and I put it in a lot of meals like spaghetti. So once I get the cheese and turkey taken care of, I'll pretty much be fully plant-based. I need to try out other sources of protein and get some in my diet before I remove the meat, I feel. 

2. Go cruelty free for makeup and skincare. 

Okay. I did this. I researched. My makeup, skincare, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash all only consist of cruelty free brands now. I also got my husband and me a cruelty free toothpaste. Done! This was easier than I thought it would be, actually.

3. Go cruelty free on cleaning supplies. 

That's so much harder and more expensive than the last one. I'm working on it. So far, I've bought cruelty free hand soap, dish soap, laundry detergent, and dryer sheets. I think I'm going to make my own cleaning supplies though - laundry detergent, all-purpose cleaner, shower cleaner, etc. It's cheaper, which is nice since the cruelty free brands are more expensive, and it's more natural. I'm going to replace disposable dryer sheets with wool dryer balls. So that's on the agenda to do once the stuff we already have gets low. I have saved some blog posts I've found on how to make your own cleaning products. 

4. Reduce waste. 

Ugh. I swear we have so much trash somehow just for two people and two cats. We don't use disposable dishes or plastic ware, though we used to because we both hate doing dishes, yet somehow we have way too much trash. This is the most recent request from my soul and has only been a thing for the past week or so. I did some shopping on Amazon for some items to pick up in the near future to help with this - reusable food storage bags instead of buying Ziplocs, cloth napkins instead of paper napkins or paper towels, washable and reusable pads for my moon time, reusable straws, reusable coffee filter for my husband, bamboo toothbrushes instead of plastic, and a couple of other things. So, plans are in the works. We don't have any money at the moment to get these things but hopefully by the time we get to the point where we would normally repurchase one or more of these things, we can buy the reusable version instead. It would be a waste to not use what we have already anyway.

5. Be kinder to myself and prioritize myself.

This is something people are just not good at. There are things I want to do daily for my own health and benefit, like yoga, meditation, and reading. I tend to put it off though or I don't feel well enough to put the effort in so I'm really sporadic on doing these things. A few days ago, I made a daily routine for myself. I also made a cleaning schedule for my home as far as what part of the home gets cleaned each day. So far, so good! It hasn't been 100% adhered to every day as I do have medical conditions that sometimes leave me feeling like I've been hit by a train. My husband does most of the cleaning because of this. Having the routine has helped though. I like checking things off lists so it works for me. I feel accomplished with each task I complete. I'm dying to make a bullet journal and have a habit tracker in it!

My soul voice has been speaking up more. More accurately, I am hearing it more clearly. I'm developing a better relationship with myself, my family, and my environment. My soul voice doesn't usually ask things of me that are easy but they are worth it, no matter how much work they take. 

My soul is pure love integrated in my physical body. I feel more connected to myself this way. I feel more love this way.

How does your soul speak to you?