When the Body, Spirit & Soul Speak

There seems to be a resurgence of information and writing on Body, Spirit and Soul and how they interconnect today. As the photo says, we live in a body, are a spirit and have a soul. What is agreed upon universally is that the body, spirit and soul are definitely connected. I don’t think we really understand how connected these parts of us are and exactly how they affect each other. There are other parts, that for the sake of narrowing this subject, I will not even mention. Also, I am not a physician nor doctor of any kind so while I quote these experts, I’m not qualified to speak medically, psychologically nor scientifically about how these parts of us are connected. However, I’ve had experiences with each of these parts throughout my life so that is the lens through which I write this post.

Our spirit is the guiding force that informs our purpose and the part of our being that is connected to our Creator. Our spirit is the energy that fuels our souls. I felt the Creator's spirit in a tangible way after a terrifying experience with what I can only describe as a ‘presence’ that was anything but friendly. As I cried out to the Creator for help, I was immediately calmed and filled with a deep peace. Spirit seemed to fill my body and expand inward. The presence had a destructive, malevolent nature and tried to attack my body for months, but, after the initial attack and the Creator’s spirit permeating every part of me, this presence was repelled every time. It just stopped one day and has never come back. I knew that I had sparks of the Creator's spirit in me and that it could protect my body in a very real way.

It has been said that our soul is the container or vessel for our spirit in our human bodies. Our soul is also who we are and finding my soul was like searching for myself. Who was I really? This wasn’t some new age pursuit. As a very sensitive empath, I literally hid myself from everybody and eventually from myself. The reconnection with ‘self’ is the fodder for the book I’ve written and will publish in 2024. Self includes one's identity and how we think about ourselves and our lives. What we think about life is informed by our beliefs. Our beliefs can be sources of great comfort and growth (empowering beliefs) and also of great stress and even illness (limiting beliefs).

There may not be as much information on the relationships between all these parts of us and how our emotions and bodies are connected. Gabor Maté, M.D. writes about physician, William Osler regarding stress-related disorders:

“We have lost something. In 1892 the Canadian William Osler, one of the greatest physicians of all time, suspected rheumatoid arthritis–a condition related to scleroderma–to be a stress-related disorder. Today rheumatology all but ignores that wisdom, despite the supporting scientific evidence accumulated in the 110 years since Osler first published his text.”

“The new discipline of psychoneuroimmunology has now matured to the point where there is compelling evidence, advanced by scientists from many fields, that an intimate relationship exists between the brain and the immune system….An individual’s emotional makeup, and the response to continued stress, may indeed be causative in the many diseases that medicine treats but whose [origin] is not yet known–diseases such as scleroderma, and the vast majority of rheumatic disorders, the inflammatory bowel disorders, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and legions of other conditions….” Gabor Maté, “When the Body says NO”, Random House of Canada, LTD., Published by Vintage Canada, div of Random House, 2004, p. 5

Brain system, emotional makeup, responses to continued stress? I can add sarcoidosis, an autoimmune disease that can affect every organ in the body. This disease was very much a stress response in my body but here’s the quandary. What medicine or practice or thing interrupts the gradual wearing of an organ to the point of disease? I didn’t know about the practices that help calm our nervous systems. Actually, I knew about meditation but dismissed it as something that had no effect or that was too difficult to master. I was very busy coping with life, coping and surviving, coping with questionable choices and their consequences. I was coping well until I wasn’t! All those coping years brought me, thankfully, to my soul. The lack of awareness of my soul was curious in that I knew it was there inside my body but I could not put a name to it, nor describe what its function was. Until my soul, body and spirit were interconnected and I started to listen to their wisdom, I was wandering around in my life searching for something I could feel but not identify with my mind. Even more curious, I’d grown up in the church and heard the words ‘soul’ and ‘spirit’ at least a couple times per week.

Throughout my life, I’d always pushed my body to do more through sports, through lack of sleep during my University years, through stress and not paying attention to its signals of impending illnesses, through not processing emotional trauma deeply enough leaving my body holding its cruel aftereffects. My drive to accomplish anything I put my mind to and ignore any kind of pain was fierce and my body paid the price in several increasingly severe illnesses. Today I listen carefully when my body, spirit and soul speak and adjust what I do accordingly. Perhaps this knowledge is closer to home as I age and am not physically in the shape I once enjoyed. By the way, my illnesses were treated by medical doctors who were diligent and thorough despite unusual symptoms. I value my doctor’s advice and listen to him when he speaks, too.

Today, my body is often the first to speak about issues with soul and spirit, so naturally, I ask my body to let me know what’s going on and then listen carefully. My body was the first to tell me I needed to slow down and listen right around the time I was agonizing about what I needed to do with the rest of my life after 14 careers. I just couldn’t decide and, suddenly with no discernible reason, I could barely walk because my left knee hurt a lot, forcing me to slow down. As soon as my soul and spirit helped me sort out exactly what to do and I found out who I was finally, my knee started healing and I can now walk a couple of kilometers and have zero pain in my left knee. I also received Cranial Sacral and chiropractic treatments that were very helpful. I’m sure my body will let me know when I can start running again, or if I should start running again.

If there is one thing I could say to you, dear reader, to encourage you to really listen to all the aspects of yourself, it is this. Your body is wise beyond expectation and communicates with you constantly, so learn to listen to it and your life will move forward. Your spirit is always seeking connection with you, so connect with it and your life will have meaning. Your soul is waiting for you to find and/or know yourself, so ask it to reveal itself to you and you will create the life of your dreams. When the body, spirit and soul speak, the encouragement, love, guidance, knowledge and wisdom they bring to one’s life is astounding. It’s like trying to see or do anything in a dense fog and then seeing clearly with vision and momentum. Imagine what you could do.

I wasn’t unhappy before finding my soul or what I love to call my ‘inner genius’. I am fortunate that my partner and I love each other deeply and all our children are the most amazing individuals now and before I became ‘connected’. My life did get better as I made better choices, but I couldn’t have imagined how happy and fulfilled I feel today right this moment as I write this blog. Imagine knowing you’re doing something you were born to do and that work is meant to serve a much greater purpose. Imagine living with all the parts of me aligned and authentic, helping me accomplish what I know I came here to do with purpose and clarity. Maybe you’re already living your life’s passion and purpose, but if you’re not, take some time to listen.