Mapping the Soul

What's on my mind this week . . .

“There’s an internal landscape, a geography of the soul; we search for its outlines all our lives.“ ~~Irish Writer, Poet and Producer Josephine Hart

Illustration of the number 4:44 against the background of a morning sky

I have traveled a lot in my life, and I’m often asked where I would live if not where I’m living now. What is the place I’ve most loved of all the places I have been?

It’s not an easy question for me to answer. I tend to love where I am at the moment, but I have felt strong connections of place, strong connections of culture, of history, and, yes, of geography at far flung regions of the globe. I have also been repelled for reasons I can’t articulate standing in a place seemingly incompatible with my energy.

I would rather be asked about the places I’ve been that aren’t on any map. I have an inner geography filled with sacred spaces, radiant with light. I may not have traveled to some of the well-known sacred places in the physical world. I haven’t stood at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, or visited the birthplace of Buddha in Lumbini, Nepal, or walked the road to Mecca, or journeyed the Camino de Santiago in Spain on a spiritual pilgrimage. But I have traveled my inner world.

My inner geography is multidimensional, crossing time and space, framed by the borders of love and Divine purpose. My inner geography does not recognize the outer world’s artificial separations - those of language, culture, belief and lines drawn by victors of wars. My inner geography would have me understand that the physical reality is just one aspect of my true map. I am so much more. And so are you. So much more.

I have drawn the borders of my inner geography. My limitations are those caused by invisible marks of fixed belief, thought patterns, and unhealed emotions. Some of these invisible marks were not made by me but inherited as I began to find my way in a world of duality. It is up to me to find them as I journey my inner world. If I can move beyond them, I can discover the true geography of my soul.

Because I live in an interconnected world - a world defined by relationships - I can explore the geography of my soul through my capacity to be in relationship. First of course is my relationship to self and to the Divine self within. In my journey into my inner geography this is the relationship that most defines all the others and sets the boundaries (fences) of my inner landscape.

I had a troubled sleep last night, tossing and turning and very much needing reassurance from my soul-self and Divine Love about a health issue. When I couldn’t stand my own sleeplessness, I decided to pray for peace. I did that for a while, asking with each prayer that Divine Love send me a sign that all will be well. I was specific. I told Divine Love and the angels that I wanted a sign that was so definitive that I could not mistake it for other than their answer. When I opened my eyes, the clock next to my bedside glowed. I turned to look and there on its big display was 4:44. It was a definitive message and one I not only understood but am keeping close to my heart.

The trek to find the sacred places within is a life-long one. As I journey I find moments were old beliefs that I wasn’t enough took root. I find moments where fear, mistrust and shame were born. Those places in my inner geography shrink my inner and outer worlds, and I choose to move beyond them and into my soul light. Each time I do so, I build my capacity to love.

Wishing you discoveries as you travel your inner landscape.

With love,

Cathleen