Soul Dates
Hello. Thank you for joining me here. I truly hope you are well and are having a good start to this new week, as we are now settled, quite comfortably (I hope), into October. May this be a moment for you to rest and reflect on whatever you wish. May this be a moment for you to settle into yourself.
Get snug, that’s it, lean a little harder into whatever you may be leaning on. You are held. Allow yourself to be supported by whatever you’re leaning into. Maybe it’s a chair, the ground, a tree, a pet, God, whatever it is, feel the connection. Feel the support. You are safe. You are not alone and have never been alone. You are so deeply loved; so deeply supported. Feel the resistance holding you. And breathe out.
Welcome back. Soul to soul. Heart to heart. Here we are. Vessels of Divine Love, existing here, on Earth, blessed with the greatest gift: to love and be loved. I believe this is our true purpose. Why else would we be here? What greater reason is there to exist other than to love? Yet, to quote The Black Eyed Peas, where IS the Love? (FYI, that was written in 2003. Double FYI, it’s one of my favourite songs.)
Where is the Love? And how have we become so disconnected from it? Have we forgotten how to Love? Is it important? Do we even know what Love “looks” like in 2024? Love is not something that can be dressed up, filtered, airbrushed or branded – it is its own brilliant, fierce, messy, adorable entity that cannot be tamed. It is powerful!
Is it no longer human nature to need Love and connection? Because if it isn’t, we have a huge problem ahead of us.
False alarm — no huge problems. It will always be human nature to need Love and connection. But saying it once isn’t enough, we need endless, chronic reminding of this, big time. We are responsible for reconnecting with our innate loving spirit, our forgiving hearts to spread Love here on Earth and I know, if you are reading this blog, you have already committed to this as a daily practice. You are moving through this world Heart open and ready to give, in all the miraculous ways that you can, allowing Love to flow, to orchestrate precious moments in your day-to-day life. Isn’t that beautiful? What a beautiful choice you have made – you are brave. But I have a question to ask: have you committed to Love, or have you committed to loving yourself first? And the peace, acceptance and Love that you have so bravely offered yourself, is that what resonates through your Heart, ready to be shared with others?
I feel quite strongly about Love being something abstract. It can be abstract, but it doesn’t have to be. If Love is abstract to you, I invite you to find a way to make it real and tangible for yourself. Know what Love feels like for you. Why? So, you can then share it. I am not talking about being in love with someone, I am talking about the fuzzy warmth in your chest, perhaps your tummy, that you feel when something touches your Soul. To me, this is Love… when I invite my Soul and body to work together. My Soul has to feel invited. But before they work together, they have to be introduced, to spend time together, to feel safe and familiar. Intrigued? So…
Take your Soul on a date. I try to take my Soul on a date once a day. I walk most days along a canal, and I know, once I have been walking for a few minutes, I can feel that warm fuzzy feeling and I wake up a little, I tune in with the trees, passersby, dogs, ducks, occasionally geese (blocking the footpath!) and I know my Soul is present. The invitation has been accepted. I have arrived. And this is when I feel most loving. I feel peaceful and expansive. It’s a beautiful feeling and it has taken me a while to cultivate within myself, however now, I can say with confidence, yes, I know what Love feels like. And that’s without anyone else involved, other than our dear, sacred, Mother Earth, of course. I know the presence of my own Heart and I can talk about it and write about it. And I am so excited to!
Yawn, so why is this important? It’s important because we are pulled in so many directions here on Earth and we need to learn how to tune in, to learn how to Love ourselves in order to Love others. To heal others, to heal our collective. There is a lot of pain, suffering, confusion and hurt on Earth right now and yes, it is unforgivable. During these times it takes a tremendous amount of effort and strength to ground ourselves and make sense of it all, because how, how can you make sense of the inhumanity? But we cannot give up on Love. In this darkness, we have to find the compass within ourselves that points towards our Hearts. We are here, and if we are here, we are responsible for making this world a better place. Who else will do it?
We are not helpless. Cultivating Love in ourselves is more powerful than we can imagine and if we are in the privileged position where we even have time to think about Love, then we must work hard at this.
In this darkness, I see the perfect opportunity to remind ourselves of our true loving nature, to re-define what Love is and how we want it to manifest in the world. To train ourselves into becoming loving beings, that champion truth, compassion and humanity. For it to arrive on a collective scale, it must begin on an individual level. This is why I urge you to ask yourself, how do I Love? What does Love look like to me? How can I cultivate Love in me, for myself, for my journey, my gifts, my demons, for all of it? How can I wake up each day and find new ways to Love? How can I move towards understanding what Love feels like in my body? And if I can do this and want to, how can I share this? Love will feel, look, manifest differently on all of us.
How have I practiced Love today?
I woke up and messaged the person that first popped into my head when I awoke. This brought them joy and I honoured myself in sending the text. This brought me joy too. I was even more joyful to receive a reply!
I made myself a cup of tea. I like tea!
My sister asked if I wanted to play badminton with her and I had to say no. That was loving – I don’t like saying no to my sister because we have so much fun playing badminton, but I just wasn’t feeling it today. If I had said yes reluctantly, I would have got even more grumpy on the court than I normally do because I didn’t want to play in the first place. That wouldn’t have been loving. (I normally get a bit grumpy anyway because she’s better than me – a healthy bit of sister rivalry.)
I arranged some flowers today to celebrate my Grandad’s 100th birthday. He would have been 100 years old today, sadly he passed away in June. I love you, Grandad. My Grandad was a truly loving man. He mastered Love on Earth, and I know he is mastering it elsewhere right now. Forever in our hearts, and I know he’s definitely helped me write this post today. You’ll never stop helping me Grandad, will you? Thank you, thank you, thank you. Rest in Peace.
I spoke to a cat. Sweet cat.
I took a picture of the sunset – it was so beautiful. I think it was my Grandad, reminding us, to shine bright.
I decided to write this short list as I wanted to reiterate practicing Love does not have to be some wild, extravagant, grand gesture of halting the Earth for a moment, while you declare your deepest thoughts and feelings; it can be a choice to live consciously with an open heart and invite Love into your life at any chosen moment.
And will these small moments of being consciously loving change the world? Absolutely. Imagine 8.2 billion people choosing Love, even just for a few seconds – it would create such immense energy, immeasurable healing power and ignite a collective strength. We’re here to love, we’re here to love, we’re here to love.
So, with this in mind, I invite you to ask yourself, what does Love feel like to me? And even if the thought of asking yourself this feels a bit scary or vulnerable, I urge you, even more, to ask it, because it such a beautiful journey towards Love. You can do it!
Have a blessed week.
Big love,
Jessica x
P.S. Take your Soul on a date. Feel fuzzy. Or perhaps it will feel like something else… that’s a journey for you, my friend.