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How to Soul Search Life Secrets

How to soul search is something I know a lot about as I’ve been doing it all my adult life with the core question in the back of my mind: what is this life really about?

Because on a deeper level, it’s not about our jobs, relationships or families.

They may consume parts and most of the time in our lives.

But we (you and me) are the most important part of our lives.

Because we’re the only ones we’re responsible for in the end.

And our best life is about our growth journey… and who we become.

yay! you're here is the happy feeling you get when you know how to soul search for a life of purpose and meaning

A decade from now you won’t care as much about what you did this year compared to who you’ve become 10 years later.

As we grow older, we’ve acquired more earthly proof in our experiences that nothing stays the same and experience impact fades… and we have chances to make big differences with change today and in the years we have left.

For our sake and our planet’s sake.

It’s individually up to us to crack the code of how to optimize this life and find meaning.

And I believe it’s through how to soul search in our lives.

…Because the deeper life answers are here and the mysteries of life are discovered there.

We don’t have to travel anywhere to discover what we need, so each of us has the same opportunity (that has no cost).

The universal core truths of why we’re here have stayed the same, while everything on earth changes.

Today, you’ve figured that out or like every person in every generation that gets to sooner, later, or not if you so choose.

Ultimately it matters because it’s not all up to you or me on how things turn out.

….It’s also not up to our bosses, parents, or anyone else that makes influence in your life even if they’re the loudest in our thoughts.

Then who is it up to?

Figuring out this life’s meaning I argue is the best way… choosing to agree with this life’s terms vs. fighting against it is the happier path of aligned purposed living without regrets along the way.

I was lucky to have discovered these life secrets on my journey and happy to share my how to soul search discoveries with you.

…That mind you, came after making many re-routes I took that helped me form my thoughts.

Because I had none of the answers taught to me growing up or in my 20s getting my feet off the ground, so I had to follow my blind instincts.

And that led me to unchartered wilderness places that would eventually land me into bigger and better places.

All those experiences helped me out and I know the Universe guided me along. I found my spirit before I found how to soul search.

My gut instincts came from an invisible hand giving me the blessed upper-hand in my situations where I was meant to go.

And that’s what’s daily playing out for most of us if we’re paying attention and open to the idea of miracle possibilities and forces greater than ourselves.

But when I was younger, I didn’t know all this.

…I just knew I couldn’t wait to grow up and be on my own.

I relied on the hopes of a better future and if it’s meant to be, it’s up to me.

I didn’t have role models other than distant ones in magazines.

I lived on the surface. I never delved deep in my soul.

Then living as a young adult, I discovered everything in my life was wrong…

I had problems in every wheel of balance area of life… from my difficult work struggles, unhealthy and rocky relationships, and financial woes looming over my life that eventually caught up with me.

Those were the buckets that mattered most at that age in my life that I was juggling.

My life was completely off from the happy life I wanted. I was far from knowing how to soul search.

It wasn’t what I would have hoped for life would turn out to be dreaming of freedom as an adult.

…And if any of this hits a chord with you or problems are what you’re going through now, believe that your struggles will make you better and stronger on the other side.

You’ll be better off in your future because of your problems, (after you’ve processed what you went through). You’ll learn about deeper parts of you and how to search the soul.

And if you lean into your wiser soul better-half guide inside you (also guiding your heart), you’ll get your higher calling answers in your life… the better and deeper answers that are not the same ones you started off with or initially fear about daily from the “rational” brain.

Or irrational mind… that not going to help with how to soul search.

Wise soul plans are subtle in thought and can take years in the making to manifest.

When older people tell you that life gets better it’s because they’ve found the better ways of life through life.

And leaning on their confidence, you can gain wisdom and get there sooner rather than later.

I’m grateful my life has turned out that way.

…I felt like I was once a crawling caterpillar that grew into a butterfly. 🦋

But before I got to the life gets better part, my idea of a happy life had to go awry so that I could struggle, survive, and get out of the chrysalis to thrive.

Looking back, I had to go through the process of those messy and tough seasons for my own good and growth to come out another way.

But those early years, I was crushed.

And every year I was sad and hit with the winter blues.

Nothing changed quick enough.

I had no idea what I wanted to do after I graduated college with a business degree (because I liked businesses).

…Even though I was so sure of my marketing major I chose.

But there was a disconnect of real life from the college life bubble of learning theories of economics and how to market goods and run a business.

So like most people, I did the next best thing: I got a job.

And starting with my first career, I had problems at work  that I had never heard of before from my friends and peers.

I was isolated because I didn’t know others who worked in the hospitality world (other than the ones that were in the same workplace I was).

In my bubble, a few months after starting I knew there was something wrong when I learned women in my office were harassed.

Made sense why they were all attractive with a Barbie dress code to match.

Then I realized that was me too.

This was decades before #metoo.

It wasn’t too long before I moved on into greener pastures.

I felt like I had made it as a catering manager with a better title and my own office… but it wasn’t long before my dream job landed turned into another work nightmare.

Your work life is only as happy as your relationship with direct bosses. That’s where I ran into troubles.

Those couple of years sitting next to the hotel brand’s bag of signature chocolate chip cookies only made me tougher.

I became a tough cookie even though I stayed soft and chewy outside. 🍪

Shaken by a sudden panic attack one day in my office taught me valuable lessons.

For one, I am not in control of this life.

…And I didn’t have it all together despite what my ego told me.

It took many more years of work experiences to make impressions on my soul, one traumatic event after another…

…from anger management bosses to micromanager and bullying managers.

Working in different toxic corporate management situations, I now know the root cause.

…and it’s the same one at the root of all human problems.

The ego is at the core of all relationship issues, arguments, misperceptions, and people acting out.

Same problem.

Different responses.

Humans aren’t looking eye-to-eye in their mind. It’s like the Tower of Babel where people are suddenly speaking different languages.

But back when I was in the work situations, I didn’t know any better.

I took what came at me at face value to survive and hold the job.

And for decades working in corporate office places, I wore rosy glasses thinking and hoping there were better places out there.

But job after job, I was disappointed.

Good people are there, but the egos show up and dominate.

Some places were downright miserable and the best ones didn’t last.

Everything changed eventually…

And I realized a forever dream job is a myth.

You can stay to retirement and be miserable and luckily I never got that opportunity. I got pivots instead.

Gaining this clarity from many work experiences helped shape my soul and I learned how to soul search from that standpoint.

And leaving the corporate world was my launching pad.

First off, I learned what the soul is…

The soul as witness to life is the part of you and me that is not on the surface.

But it’s not that deep below the surface either.

When you bare your soul, you’re sharing your authentic feelings and thoughts based on our opinions, personality, and interpretations.

Our soul are our deeper thoughts from our mind, will, and emotions that often gets confused with our spirit.

…Or our Spirit.

Our Spirit is a separate ethereal being inside us (and around us inside other people).

Spirit-thoughts are not our generated thoughts, but become our thoughts.

If you’re Christian, you’re familiar with hearing about the Spirit or Holy Spirit… even if you don’t know how that plays a part in your daily life today.

And that’s how it was for me before my spiritual intervention.

…I have enough to say about it now that I could write a book on the topic as someone living a faith-filled life. 😊

But I didn’t start out that way.

I was not born a Christian.

And I didn’t grow up in church.

How To Soul Search From Situations In Your Life

I became God seeking when opportunity arose and problems grew.

That started in those hotel working days in my 20s when I looked down at my body and everything was there.

But inside I knew something was missing…

Years later, I discovered the spirit first that was one way into finding my deeper soul.

Another way that supporting this was never feeling permanently satisfied in life.

So many moves and moons later, I gradually found my soul…

Along with my purpose and daily happiness that came as side gifts. 🎁

They were daily motivational keys 🔑 that unlocked deeper understanding of my soul.

Living a more emotionally and healthy balanced daily life created the growth foundation.

For me, that included lots of healthy sweet food inspiration (like the  healthy baking recipes I share  on this blog 🍥).

That was around the time my purpose started to shape up.

One day, I dedicated myself to the craft of writing: something I never dreamed of or sought to do before.

And I never stopped.

Balance and purpose were the keys that gave the most satisfaction and clarity to my life.

And those could be for you too…

Trying different things will help you to discover your purpose(s) and maybe some hidden talents along the way.

If you use your today gifts and talents to develop a craft that becomes your practice and purpose, you also develop more useful skills.

All that helps you to align to find your deeper purposes and eventual destiny.

I’m still in the deeper purposes part of life and I look forward to destiny when it’s time. I know it’s there.

And if you don’t know where to start, start with a passion and look at where you spent time in the past you enjoyed or were curious about.

Example: I worked with food as a passion that never died, so it’s no shock that I create and share daily healthy recipes today even though I had no idea I would. That came years later.

Because  I didn’t know I would do anything with food outside of the hotels and restaurant life I worked in for a decade.

Purpose and Soul Searching

That’s how purpose works…

You remove the outer self wrapped in pride (a form of ego) and you’re left with purpose.

Purpose is deep and daily happiness allows you to keep productively going and growing.

Then you’re left with a deep satisfied feeling that you often don’t get with life living on other people’s terms.

You’re emotionally freed up and have the headspace to be creative and innovative. Not the busy and anxious go-go-go ego environments of Corporate America.

Then being calm, creative, and satisfied-minded, you can minimize yourself and your needs and wonder more about possibilities.

You get and naturally want to explore more of who you are as a creator and spiritual being.

Feeling more inspired, you can more easily grow your deeper soul and parts inside you that you never knew existed (where there are beyond and abundant possibilities).

…That’s where dreams can manifest into real life.

Plus, more cool stuff in your life.

And remember, that can all start from life problems turned into blessings.

Experience Your Deeper Joy Instincts

Instincts help you out. You’ve probably heard of the Joy of Missing Out (JOMO).

During the global lockdown, we went with our better instincts to make decisions, as no one knew for sure immediately what next steps to take.

Deeper joy is unleashed here in my Sunday brunch experience. Onion pizza recipe below 👇

watermelon mint salad.

Some healthy outcomes during that time were that a lot of people grew, became more resilient, and today are still reaping the benefit of becoming better versions of themselves. That’s something to celebrate! 🎂

Even though “missing out” wasn’t something we chose, that’s what most of us did to stay safe and healthy in the world.

But tell that same story logic to a child or a teenager (…or the child still in us 🧸), and missing out on events can be devastating. But it doesn’t have to be!… and below I share two ways that “missing out” can be the biggest blessing for you and us all.

If our happiness is based on external situations, and not on ourselves, we can suffer sadness and disappointment.

Instead, inside us, we have the peaceful joy instincts built-in that today we may or may not have developed fully yet like we would in learning a skill.

…Wherever you are on your journey now is great. You are exactly where you’re meant to be, and you have a choice to replace what doesn’t work best.

And from what I’ve experienced, I know those deeper instincts are there to help us if we’re ready. They give us more peace and steer us to our best life. And I wish I tapped into my inner joy instincts sooner in life.

Feeling inner joy gives us better control over our lives and our feelings in situations we can’t always control dealing with specific people, places, and things we encounter.

And with practice, we can bring out our inner joy and turn it into a daily healthy habit we apply (replacing our original “happy” lens that doesn’t always help us).

I know this all too well from my younger days when I got excited about going to parties that sometimes got out-of-hand… a little too many Animal House-type parties that I wish I could take back now (…and go figure I became a professional party food event planner as my first career to round it all out).

During those immature pre-school graduation days, I wasn’t in control of my life on the inside. I lived for the outward happiness feelings that put me on an emotional roller coaster when situations didn’t go as planned.

And as I grew up… and as you and I are growing now, we naturally grow out of what we already experienced that wasn’t good for us whatever that looked like… and maybe even a bit relieved that we’re past those years and times… grateful we’ve “been there, done that” and not going backward.

For me today and maybe you too… happy fun is re-defined from a new lens of daily joy.

Inner joy is more freeing than external happiness that’s fleeting.

It doesn’t mean giving up on fun because that would be no fun! But coming up with new ways… that’s what I do anyway to please my Enneagram 7. We tend to get our enthusiasm from fun. That’s one thing I hope to never change.

…And that motivated me to set out a fun day (Sunday) anti-inflammatory donut table while Nadal showed his sustainable match win, and the Queen her Jubilee and longevity.

You don’t usually see donuts on an anti-inflammatory menu, but these ACV cinnamon honey ones are without added sugars.

…While creating a menu and daily food joy like this is nice, it doesn’t make or break the day. That’s an example of finding joy in the moment and then movin’ on.

And that keeps the inner peace, and naturally feeling good in daily calm living. Good grows. And I don’t mess with good growth! 🌱

And if you’re into growing, want new experiences, and are ready to tap more into your deeper sides and joy instincts if you’re not already… or still wondering why that matters or how it’s different than what you could be doing…

Here are a few more differences…

By developing your joy instinct by filling up your moments with your peaceful and calmer desires, you feel less disappointed moment-to-moment (or not disappointed at all) when events don’t happen and situations don’t pan out.

And ultimately, you’re in deeper control of yourself, thoughts, and feelings… and that’s super powerful to your life. Finding deeper instincts feels like a superpower when you discover it later in life.

Finding that life-giving abundant space inside is a gift. I think so, anyway.

And experiencing that chosen path opens you to a whole bunch of other great things you pick up along the way.

Like, I rid of the worry habit. Worry is helpful until it isn’t. It helps when it gets you to think, and those thoughts help you to initiate solutions or a new way to look at a solution.

But staying in the habit of worry is not helpful or healthy. So one day in the bookstore (…remember those?), I picked up The Power of Positive Thinking written by the late-Norman Vincent Peale, and read the “Worry” chapter in the self-help book.

It starts like this… “Worry is just a very bad mental habit. And I can change any habit with God’s help.”

I read that chapter over and over again and practiced the 10-point steps that literally transformed my life of worry in less than a decade. That sounds like a long time, but most great things take time.

And at the time, I loved it so much that I went out and bought a few additional book copies and gave them to my co-workers around me. And I’m passing it on to you here. Hopefully, you can read it…

How to Stop Worrying Chapter (Steps 1-6)
The Power of Positive Thinking Book
How to Stop Worrying Chapter Continued (Steps 7-10)

So then I carried less unhealthy worry turmoil, and I worried less about my workers as they knew what to do. 😉

So leaning into joy has perks and side benefits.

…I hear myself talking about joy like it needs to be sold as a natural drug, haha. And sometimes it does feel that way in a good way!

Two cool perks about stepping into your inner joy are:

Feeling contentment – and not getting emotional when things pan out or don’t. Being free of this feels relaxing, stress-free, and breathes in more joy. Back in the day, when we didn’t know any better, we would describe this as, “you’re so mellow.”

With contentment, you feel more peace and get more done without the thought-feeling drama.

Your creativity – is the gateway to your highest purpose, second or next act, and clarity with what you want to do with your life if you’re not feeling fulfilled with the one you’re in. You can unleash greater imagination, gifts, and buried talents. There’s a treasure trove in you. And it costs nothing to discover what’s inside. Not only can it bring new ideas and save you from spending money, but also save you from losing time and unnecessary headaches.

The two C’s can be a ticket to your best life today. They can make the difference or be your launching pads to a “new life” in a world of uncertainty and give you a peaceful escape from your job, especially if you’re not happy there.

If you’re looking for more joy in your life, be encouraged that the way you started out and the path you’re on doesn’t have to be the one you stay on.

And choosing to trust and lean into your healthy natural instincts is easy, light, and aligned when you pick the channels meant for you.

Print

Whole Wheat Onion Pizza

Course lunch
Cuisine American
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

  • whole wheat flour
  • red onions
  • white or light cheese (optional)

Instructions

  • Make the pizza crust.
  • Bake the onions beside the crust about half way through.
  • Add the cheese to pizza crust and add onions on top.