The Unclad Soul

Rumi, the gifted Persian mystic, wrote, “There is a voice that doesn’t use words. Listen.” That voice is heard when we make love; whenever we love others; when we are kind to people. It is the voice that confirms the authenticity of our relationships. The voice that doesn’t use words, stirs within us when we struggle to make the right choices. It reminds us of what is good. It warns us of what will harm us or others. That voice carries, wordlessly, messages in our spirit, in the soul, that urge us to be a better human than we are, to refuse to give in to primitive instincts, haughtiness and meanness, and instead live an exceptional life. It is the voice of maturity, of personal growth, of emotional depth and discipline. The voice that does not use words is heard in quiet moments, in times of solitude, when the mind is clear, and the heart is receptive. It is also heard in the face of fear when we hesitate and shy away from what may cost us something but what we kno...

Novelist Lisa See has written, “All women on earth-- and men, too for that matter-- hope for the kind of love that transforms us, raises us up out of the everyday, and gives us the courage to survive our little deaths—the heartache of unfulfilled dreams, of career and personal disappointments, of broken love affairs.” Transformative love. It is possible to know, to experience, and to share. We often look for it in romantic relationships. We all want that. A relationship with someone we truly connect with. Someone we grow to respect and cherish. Someone gentle and kind, affectionate and loving. Someone who makes us laugh out loud, whose joy in life we share, whose depths we understand. Transformative love gives us access to something undeniable, something solid and foundational. In the person we find this with, we find what we have always wanted to be true about human beings. They meet our longings, our desires, our needs—with intelligence, wittiness, humor, passion, tende...

“It's all a matter of paying attention. The magic in this world seems to work in whispers and small kindnesses.” ~ Charles de Lint, Canadian Writer

"To be able to listen--really, wholly passively, self-effacingly listen--without presupposing, classifying, improving, controverting, evaluating, approving or disapproving, without dueling with what is being said, without rehearsing the rebuttal in advance, without free-associating to portions of what is being said so that succeeding portions are not heard at all--such listening is rare."  ~ Abraham Maslow, Psychologist/Author