It’s all About Soul – By Alice Grist

After reading The High Heeled Guide to Enlightenment by Alice Grist, I went into another zone for a few days. A lot of the concepts she discusses in her book were new to me, yet struck a chord.

Kind of like it was something I didn’t know I knew. You know?

I was particularly intrigued by the concept of Soul Mates and Soul Groups.

I asked Alice to write more on the subject hoping it might give some new perspective for those out on the hunt for Mr / Mrs. Perfect, or at the very least give you some food for thought the next time you think you just ‘freakishly’ feel like you have known your new friend for a lifetime….

I love the idea of being in a Soul Group and I am not talkin’ about The Supremes.

Over to Alice….

It’s All About Soul,

By Alice Grist

Soul mate? How about ... Soul group?

Soulmate, what a lovely term, what an amazing concept!

Don’t we  all just want the perfect soulmate to sweep us of our feet, understand our every need and to be that ultra perfect fit?

The thing with soulmates, spiritually speaking, is that they don’t really exist.

Well they do, but not in the fairy tale, Prince Charming manner to which we have become accustomed.

Now before you bury your head in the sand and click swiftly to the next story, let me assure you I am not setting out to vandalise your personal vision of ‘happy ever after’, although I may be about to inject some ‘spiritual reality’ that you may not like.

Brace yourself.

I have spent a good few years rooting around a variety of spiritual beliefs chopping changing and picking appropriate parts to suit my individual requirements.

Whilst to some that may be blasphemous; to me it makes utter sense.

We live in a consumer culture, and darn it if I want Buddhism with my breakfast and Shamanism for supper, then I think that’s only fine and reasonable.

Now on my personal spiritual journey I have been intrigued by the concept of soulmates.

I know we all want one and secretly a lot of us believe we have one, often we just feel we haven’t met them yet.

So to save you a lot of air miles and reduce your carbon footprint searching the globe for Mr or Mrs Right I can let you know you probably have your soul mate already. The problem with your soul mate is, well …your soul mate is human.

Let us debunk the soul mate myth. Firstly it is likely you have more than one soul mate.

The work of Michael Newton, which is truly fascinating hypnotic-regression style research suggests that when we depart this place called Earth we return to the most amazing place.

That place Newton refers to as the ‘life between lives’.

Once there we understand that life on earth is like a schoolyard, and that we live our human lives to learn.

In this life between human lives we also meet up with our own special gang.

This is our ‘soul group’.

In this soul group you will be reunited with a group of people who are essentially your soul mates.

You may recognize them as friends, partners, husbands, wives, relatives or even just acquaintances from your time on Earth.

According to Newton these wonderful soul mate folk accompany us to earth so that we can all effect one another’s lives in order for us all to grow.

To grow we have to step out of the ‘easy life’ and wallow in a life filled with stress, sadness, hardship and worry – or human life as we know it. Of course this morbidity is mixed with a great dose of happiness that makes it all bearable and helps to keep us all from unraveling under the strain of hungry bellies and broken hearts!

Soul mates are basically extremely good friends of ours who are with us for the ride. Occasionally they may trip you up, challenge you or just downright get on your nerves. But that does not mean they are not your soul mate.

The fact is that as much as they may annoy you, you are likely doing the same thing right back to them, without even knowing it!

It worries me that people are seeking a perfection that doesn’t exist.

Yes we all like to aspire high, but certain heights can’t and shouldn’t be reached and instead we should trudge on with the day to day interactions that whilst occasionally bland are essential for our very existence.

Now it may sound like I’m being rather cynical to the whole concept. And I guess that is true, but I have found a soul mate and I have married him. Whilst some days he is the light of my life, on occasion he is also the bane of it. Whilst I adore him to the ends of the earth, on occasion I swear I could bury him in it. And whilst there is no other man on the planet who can measure up, on occasion Keanu Reeves looks tempting.

The thing about soulmates is that I believe they are there to challenge us. Life is not, supposed to be easy. We are supposed to face hardships and difficulties and even deep loneliness that could be the result of our soul mate leaving us, hurting us or abandoning us.

That’s not to say we won’t be reunited with them. Because I am sure that we will. But the fact is that the quickest way to learn is by being burnt and if life is a playground for learning and improving then we are going to leave this planet pretty scarred up. The best way to get scarred is through pain inflicted by those we care about most.

Now this of course is dangerous ground and I am by no means advocating abusive or violent relationships. But then again if you find yourself in that situation, maybe it is your job to learn how to leave and how to be your own best soul mate. And yes , you may very well have to leave your soul mate in the process. But like I said you have others laying in wait who will, with any luck, treat you as you deserve.

That is the problem with soul mates, it’s not black and white, they are not perfect, we are not perfect. Moments can be perfect, gestures can be perfect, intentions can be perfect, but humans, I am sad to say are far from it.

So how can we cope with this new and devastating news that perhaps a perfect soul is not waiting to whisk us off our feet and show us Mexico, the Bahamas and the depths of our soul?

Well for a start we can love ourselves a little more. We can look to our own selves for affirmations, respect, interest and love. We can get to know ourselves, so that when a good match comes along we are ready for them. If we already have a good match then we can learn to love them despite their flaws.

A soulmate meeting is an opportunity for growth by both parties. If the growth goes well you may find a slice of heaven on Earth.

If not, you may split, families may fall apart and life might never seem fair. But a soul mate need not be your partner, and love can exist just as validly between friends, family and other souls who may fall outside of your traditional ‘soul group’.

We are here to learn and develop and part of that is acknowledging the divinity and soulfulness of all other beings on this planet.

So next time your partner, much adored sister, or strangely familiar newbie in your circle of friends starts making things more difficult than need be, remember that this is your chance to be a better person. Hopefully everyone else will follow suit and before we know it the world will be a better place!

Image from here