What is “soul”? It is the essence of every living being. Soul is neither visible nor can be quantified. Every living creature on earth has a soul which accompanies the physical body throughout the life time, and departs the shell upon death onto its continuous journey thereafter.

Can soul be felt? It is most definitely. Even though the soul cannot be seen or touched, it’s an essence that each living being undoubtedly recognizes its presence. Unfortunately, many souls are lost in its own negativity or the negativity of others around them. When a soul is lost, darkness and despair set in. One can never be happy without the awakening of the soul. Depression is the most common symptom of a lost soul.

To find our soul, one must be committed in self-love and honesty. If we cannot be authentic to our own inner most core, any progress made is only superficial. Soul searching takes much strength and courage. It is often when we no longer can endure the pain in our darkest nights, we are then forced to pay attention to the aching of our soul.

An important aspect of soul searching is to let go of all expectations of yourself and of others. Write down what feels “true” to you, your personal truth and values. Write down what scares you the most, and what brings you most joy. In the process of doing so, you have a chance to clearly examine the motives and the core of your being. Sometimes, we are surprised to find out who we truly are or the strength that we never kindly give ourselves credits for.

Another clear sign of a suffering soul is addictions. When a soul suffers either in pain or in shame, it inevitably grasps substances in the attempt to take away the pain. Unfortunately, the addictive substances can only “mask” the pain without any promise of cure. Addictions can never truly take away one’s suffering. If you have addictions, it does not mean you are weak or bad. It is a clear sign for you to re-examine your soul and the aching attention it has tried very hard to receive. Starting today, notice what you truly feel when your cravings come up. There is usually a very uncomfortable emotion behind every craving, so uncomfortable that we try very hard to repress it by stuffing or busying ourselves with the substances or addictive actions of our choice. The only way to find our soul again is to feel its existence and needs. Also, the only way for us to rid our pain or shame is to work “through” it, not over it, nor around it.

Each soul from the light is pure and beautiful. The challenges of surviving in the physical world often dampen the light on a soul journey. It should not only be a preference, but our responsibility to walk a path of authenticity as the only way to true happiness is to through recognizing and respect the calling of our soul.