The Dark Night of the Soul

Do you ever have a night when you just cannot get to sleep and rather than getting up and trying to figure out why, you just lie there tossing and turning or getting a book and distracting yourself.  I know I've had these and so have many of my clients.

I call these nights messages from you soul - messages you will be glad to hear and act on as soon as you figure out what your soul is trying to tell you.   Of course, this is not simply a take the call and do what you're told to do.  The soul speaks in symbolic language which is often difficult to grasp.  But grasp it you must or more of these nights will show up for you.  One way to help figure this out is to do Morning Pages - an idea by Julia Cameron who wrote The Artist Way, a book written to help artists and would be artists allow their creativity and artistic nature come to fruition.  But of course you do not need to be an artist or even a would be one to benefit from Morning Pages.

Morning Pages 

Morning Pages are three hand written pages done in the morning as soon as you get up.  According to Cameron, "There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages - they are not high art.  They are not even writing.  They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind and they are for your eyes only."  The main thing is to do it as soon as you get up and do it in long hand.  The soul speaks through your body - your hand on the page, your mind on your thoughts and your body relaxed and comfortable.  If you decide to use a computer or smart phone to do this then you will be interfering in the direct message from you soul.  The souls is not interested in technology - it is interested in you and your spiritual awakening to whatever it is that has created the dark night.

Morning Pages are Self Care

What I tell my students is that Morning Pages are self care and not another task to add to your list of obligations.  I consider it a form of meditation and it always makes me feel more centered and more fully myself.  In terms of the dark nights I have - and I have them too, just like everyone else - but once I finish my three hand written pages - I feel more alive and positive, even when the message from my soul does not fit my ego's desires.  The ego, by the way, wants things the soul may not want.  This is why we have these dark nights.  So what happens when the soul message is disruptive of the ego's desires?  Then what?

The Ego is the Driver, But the Soul is the Navigator

The ego wants what the ego wants and is often good at getting whatever that is, but the soul will navigate you away from that if you are not going in a soulful direction.  Last week I talked about the Hand of God - the hand that distributes the cards you will use to live and negotiate your life.  As I said, this hand will have genius cards and idiot cards and the ego thinks it holds all the cards, but in truth, the soul holds all your cards and lets you know this via soulful messages which can be both light and dark.  

Dark Nights are Messages From the Soul But So is the Sunrise

Like the picture above, there is darkness in the foreground but the sun is rising and you can see from this picture it will be a gorgeous day, full of beauty and challenge.  So if your three handwritten pages challenge you, get up when you have finished and get busy with your day.  Your soul will not give you a challenge you can't meet - your ego might, but not your soul - it's just not in your cards.

Blessings, Lorraine 

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