Journey To Your Soul's Home Podcast

Are you confused about whether to sell or stay in your home?

In my workshops and private sessions, I often attract people who are struggling with selling or staying in their home. Our homes have such a major impact on the quality of our lives that it makes sense how difficult this decision is.  

As I’ve listened to people’s stories, I’ve found a common thread to the struggle. The ego points out all the reasons to sell when your soul calls you to stay. Or, your ego convinces you to stay when your soul is itching to leave. Unfortunately, it can be very difficult to distinguish between the voice of your ego versus your soul. When this happens, it’s important to tune into your soul’s purpose for this time in your life.

Look at your house from that lens and ask if your house supports you in living that purpose. If your home supports your purpose, stay until your purpose or something about your home changes. If your house doesn’t support your purpose, then it may be time go or it may be time to make changes to your home or decor, so it does feed your soul.

While figuring this out may sound easy, it rarely is. If you need help hearing if your soul is calling you to stay or go, I’d love to talk with you. Just click the link to schedule a free 30-minute call. 

In future episodes, we’ll explore specific situations where the choice to stay or go can be difficult starting with  when it’s time for adult children to leave their parent’s house. 

Until next week, I wish you well on your journey.  

Is the Declaration of Independence soulful?

In honor of Independence Day today, let’s look at the Declaration of Independence from a Soul’s Home® perspective. Community is an important Soul’s Home® ingredient and the Declaration of Independence is the foundation upon which this community of America was built. But does the Declaration of  Independence have soul?

When it was written in 1776, the 13 American colonies were controlled by Britain’s King George III who imposed military rule, restricted trade, and collected taxes without representation or protection of life, liberty or property. One could say that the ego of King George III attempted to overrule the souls of the colonists.

The most famous line of the Declaration of Independence “…that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” shows a refusal to allow a government to quash the souls of its people. It is this notion that our Creator gives us all the right to be free and live to pursue our happiness that is the essence of the Journey to Your Soul’s Home®. 

Here in America, wherever you choose to live, you are free to connect with your soul because your right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is protected by your government. Okay, yes! I acknowledge that this is not always true and that when the founding fathers said, “all men are created equal’, they did not include women, native Americans or slaves. While these omissions were not soulful, the work that was done to create a government that was by the people and for the people allows for a course correction over time.

Most days, we take our rights for granted and give little thought to others in countries that inhibit their people from living their soul’s purpose. But today, let’s appreciate the opportunity we have to live soulful lives in our American community and register our wish for everyone around the world to be able to do the same.

If you feel moved, write about this below because sharing is good for your soul. Next time, we’ll ask, “What gives you the right to own land?” 

Until next week, I wish you well on your journey.

Does your décor reflect your spiritual purpose or is it keeping you stuck?

A couple of months ago, I was spinning the wheels on my business and problem solving was going nowhere. Then, I remembered my father’s advice about getting stuck in the snow, “Spinning your wheels digs you in deeper making it hard to get out. Instead rock back and forth until you can move forward.”   

That’s the same way the Journey to Your Soul’s Home® works. You shift your focus back and forth between your purpose and your home to move forward. It was time to shift my focus to my home.  

When we’d last decorated, the spiritual purpose of our home was to maintain a connection with Eric’s children through their college years, re-align our marriage to an empty nest and develop my  Journey to Your Soul’s Home®. With three kids in college and my business just starting, we chose not to spend a lot of time or money decorating. I hung art from my single years even though Eric didn’t like it and put pictures of the kids everywhere so we’d feel connected to them. But now the spiritual purpose of our lives is different.

The kids are mostly independent but well connected to us, our marriage is stronger than ever and I’m confident in my Soul’s Home® approach. The new spiritual purpose of our home is to enjoy our strong marital union and use it to support each other in our work. But our home didn’t reflect that. It felt stuck in time and I felt like a fraud. How could I teach anyone how to have a Soul’s Home® if I didn’t?  

In the coming weeks, I’ll share how we fixed that! In the meantime, if you need my help hearing if your soul is calling you to re-decorate or move, I’d love to talk with you. Just click Contact Me to get in touch.  

Until next week, I wish you well on your journey. 

Got pesky household members?  

Last week, we applied the three choices you always have to things you don’t like about your house. But what if the thing you don’t like is a pesky household member? Let’s face it. It’s hard to live with other people! Heck, sometimes I find it hard to live with myself!

So, let’s use the three choices to turn pesky household members into pleasures. Should you:

1. Live with it

2. Lobby for change 

3. Leave

First, think about your soul’s purpose for the short term – what I call the little p. If you need help figuring out your little p, check out Episode 05.

Once you know your little p, ask if “living with it” makes sense. For example, is your soul is calling you to focus on something outside of the pesky relationship for now, say, a project at work or finishing school or caring for someone else? If it is, unless the pesky person is stopping you from focusing on this, your soul may be calling you to live with the pesky person, as is, until your other calling is complete.

But if your soul is calling you to address this pesky relationship, you are left with two choices: lobby for change or leave. Today, leave is often the go-to choice. And leave makes sense if there’s physical abuse for example. But for your garden variety pests, your soul will likely call you to try lobbying for change first.

“Oh, darn you, soul! It would be so much easier to leave or ask them to leave!” And maybe you will be called to leave eventually. But for now, if your soul is calling you to lobby for change there is spiritual purpose in your home and your relationship so lobbying for change will feed your soul.

“Good!” You say, “Now, I can tell that pesky person what they should do.” Not so fast. The choice to lobby for change in a relationship has two components. First, look within yourself to clarify the outcome you want and acknowledge how you need to change. Only then can you lovingly explain to your pesky person what you need from them and why it’s important to you. 

As difficult as it may be, you’ll have the most success if you avoid blaming, listen fully and expect to repeat this process several times. This is all easy to say but I know from experience, very difficult to do. If you ever meet my husband, he’ll confirm that I’m not always great at this.

My wish for you is that the two of you grow spiritually through this process. If you feel moved, write about this below because sharing is good for your soul. Next time we’ll talk about: A Cat That Saved A Life. 

Until next week, I wish you well on your journey.

Do you have so much to do that you have no idea what to do?

I often feel like I have way too much to do. If you’re overwhelmed too, here’s a simple cure for the, “I’ve got too much to do” blues. It starts with the belief that there’s always enough time to do everything your soul wants you to do. Think about it – your soul wants you to live your most authentic life and if you’ve always got too much to do, that just can’t happen. You need spaces in-between to hear your soul. But it can be tricky to know WHAT your soul wants you to do, so let’s break it down into three simple steps.

First, write a list of everything you think you should do. Second, find a quiet spot to connect with your soul.  Start with the first item and ask your soul if it wants you to do it – yes? no? Or maybe so? If you need help hearing your soul check out Episode 03. If you don’t get a clear yes or no, it’s a maybe – which means “no for now”. Write Y, N, or M next to the item and move on to the next one. 

I’m typically relieved and surprised by all that my soul removes from my plate. But don’t stop here. The third step is to ask your soul when it wants you to do each “Yes”. You can focus on short term or longer term. For short term ask, “What do you want me to do now?” and see which item you feel called to do. After you’ve completed it or reached a natural break, go back to the Yesses and ask again, “What do you want me to do now?” For longer term ask, “Do you want me to do this, this week or later?” You can substitute this week with today, this month or this year. Whenever you feel overwhelmed, go back to the first step. Don’t worry if you haven’t finished all the Yesses, if they’re still a yes, they’ll show up again. 

I hope that this will cure your “I’ve got too much to do” blues. If you feel moved, write about this below because sharing is good for your soul. Next time, we’ll talk about whether you’re a product of Nature or Nurture.

Until next week, I wish you well on your journey.  

Can your troubles help you find purpose in life? 

Last week, we talked about focusing on your soul’s purpose in order to stay balanced during life’s ups and downs. But what if you don’t know what your purpose is? Likely, you’ll find it in your troubles.  

Let’s transcend your troubles by leveraging them to find purpose. Times of turmoil are fertile grounds for discovering purpose because by experiencing what you don’t want, you can clarify what you do want and are more motivated to get it.  

Unfortunately, this opportunity is often missed because the ego fixates on our suffering, ruminates on what we don’t want, and becomes wistful about the past.   

Rather than engaging our soul to springboard from our troubles into a meaningful life by envisioning a positive future, our ego wants to spiral us deeper into despair. Instead, engage your soul to focus on what you want. Recall a time that you or someone you know transcended an obstacle by turning it into an opportunity. Use that memory to inspire you to do the same.  

So what does all this have to do with Soul’s Home®? The foundation of Soul’s Home® is knowing your short term or long–term purpose so you can set up your home to help you live that purpose.  

I hope you’ll be able to leverage your troubles to find meaning and create a home that supports you in living a meaningful life. If you want help finding meaning in your life and in your home, check out the link to the Soul’s Home® Alignment DIY.  

Next time we’ll ask, “Is your home an investment?”. Until next week, I wish you well on your journey.  

What’s Your Point? 

What do I mean by “What’s your point?” It’s a lesson I learned from spinning ballerinas and balancing yogis.  To spin without falling, a dancer “spots” by focusing on a fixed object as her body turns and whips her head around to see the object each time she rotates. The balancing yogi fixates on a point to stay steady.  Losing focus means wobbling and that’s bound to happen sometimes  but with maturity,  you regain focus and steady again. 

When your life feels out of balance or  you’re dizzy from spinning in circles, remember the ballerinas and yogis and ask yourself,  “What’s my point?”  Your point is something you look forward to in the future. The thing that your soul is calling you towards either in the short term or long term. It’s what gives your life meaning in that moment.  

If you want to spin perfectly or stay balanced even during chaotic times, you must first be clear about what your point is. The more you understand your purpose, the harder it’ll be for life’s ups and downs to throw you off balance or stop you from spinning and the easier it’ll be to get back in the saddle when they do.  

When you find yourself out of kilter, remember the ballerina and yogi, re-connect to your purpose and ask how you can use the events that are throwing you off to best serve your purpose.  But what if you have no clue what your purpose is? No problem.  

Next week, I’ll show you how to leverage your troubles to uncover it.  In the meantime, if you’d like more about the journey to your Soul’s Home®, click the link to my website because I’d love to see you there. 

Until next time, I wish you well on your journey.   

Where are you on Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs?   

Maslow believed that people are motivated to act on their needs in priority order: Physiological, Safety, Love/ Belonging, Esteem and Self-Actualization. So, if you don’t have food and water, you’ll seek it even at the expense of your safety. Once you have food and water, you’ll seek safety. Until you have safety, it will be your priority before seeking love and so on. Maslow believed that the ultimate goal of self-actualization was not possible until all the lower needs were met. 

I was excited to learn about this in Psychology 101 because it explained why there were so many struggling people who couldn’t just pull themselves up by the bootstraps and make something of themselves!  

Here I was, a young woman who had grown up in the safety and love of my parent’s home with all the advantages of middle-class America. I had the luxury of being able to focus on figuring out what I wanted to do with my life. But what about all those people at the bottom of the pyramid whose only thoughts are protecting their safety or getting enough to eat?   

This is why “home” is so important. The Journey to Your Soul’s Home® is about getting all your needs met so you can self-actualize by living your soul’s purpose.

Where are you right now on Maslow’s Hierarchy? What can you do to strengthen the foundation of your triangle so you can achieve self-actualization? I believe that as each of us moves to the top of the pyramid, we’ll be able to give a hand up to others below so we may all live to our greatest potential. 

If you feel moved, write about this below because sharing is good for your soul. Next week, we’ll talk about why perfect isn’t always perfect.

Until next time, I wish you well on your journey.  

Are you a product of your nature or how you’ve been nurtured?

As a teenager, I had an ongoing good-natured debate with my mother about whether or not, people were a product of nature or nurture. She was a science teacher so, she argued the Nature side – that people were born with genetic predispositions. I studied psychology so, I argued the Nurture side – that it was the environments people lived in, particularly when they were a child that shaped who they were.

But now, I’ve come to realize that we were both right – both what you are born with and your environment shape who you are. Learning how to make the most of what you were born with by creating an environment where you will thrive is the essence of the Journey to Your Soul’s Home®.

On the nature side, you were born with a purpose – your soul’s purpose and you were given unique talents to carry out that purpose.  

On the nurture side, creating a home where your talents will thrive is critical to living your soul’s purpose. You can think of it like this. Your soul’s purpose is what nature gave you – your predisposition. Your Soul’s Home® is the environment that will  nurture your soul’s purpose.

The two have a direct relationship so as you focus on your environment, your ability to live your soul’s purpose increases and as you focus on your purpose, improvements to your environment will flow. Allow your focus to shift back and forth between the two as your soul feels moved and eventually, you will be fully living your soul’s purpose and be living in a home that fully supports your purpose. This is the Journey to Your Soul’s Home®.

If you feel moved, write about your journey below because sharing is good for your soul. Next time, we’ll look at how Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs fits into the Journey to Your Soul’s Home®.

Until next week, I wish you well on your journey.  

What shall you do? It’s often hard to know what to do. There are so many difficult decisions in life.

I remember the first time I struggled to make a big decision, my mother gave me some sage advice. She said, “Suzanne, you always have three choices: 1. Live with it, 2. Lobby for change or 3. Leave.”

Knowing the three choices has felt liberating and empowering. Liberating because it shrinks a sea of unlimited choices down to bite sized pieces and empowering because – gosh, darn it! With this tool, I can decide and move on!

So, let’s look closer at these three choices. First, name something about your home that you don’t like. Second, think about your soul’s purpose for the short term – what I call the little p. If you need help figuring out your little p, check out Episode 05. Third, consider your choices in the context of your little p. Given your soul’s purpose for the short term, what would feed your soul the most right now?

Is it time for you to live with your home the way it is? Is it time to lobby for change by decorating or remodeling? Or is it simply time to leave or move out? Sit quietly and ask your soul to guide you. The answer may come quickly, or you may need to take more time to explore your options and let them simmer before the answer is clear. It’s important to know that the answer can be different depending upon when you are asking the question.

Let’s say for example, that your soul is calling you to take care of an ill family member. This may not be the time for you to renovate your house so, the answer may be to live with it. But once that family member has recovered, your soul may call you to a new beginning by directing you to renovate or leave.

No matter what you decide, my wish for you is that you are at peace with your decision and in your soul’s flow as you implement it. If you need help figuring out if you should live with it, lobby for change or leave your home, you can check out the link to our free quiz: Does Your Home Feed Your Soul?   

If you feel moved, write about this below because sharing is good for your soul. Next time, we’ll explore how to apply the three choices to: Pesky Household Members. 

Until next week, I wish you well on your Journey.