GLOSSARY: TERMS OF (HE)ART

Ascending with both feet on the ground: Soulshaping is a philosophy of grounded spirituality. We grow by coming down into our body and our personhood and learning the lessons necessary for our expansion (“You have to grow down to grow up”). Ascending with both feet on the ground is the idea that our ascension to a more heightened consciousness can only be sustained if it is an embodied unfolding from the ground up (from Sole to Soul…). We begin with the root chakra- the quest for Om begins at home- and we work our way up from there. It is not enough for our feet to merely skim the ground. The mythic life begins with our feet planted on Mother Earth. With our soles firmly planted, our soul has a leg to stand on in its efforts to go higher. Once the root chakra is satisfied, we proceed to the next chakras. As we heal, there emerges a natural and sustainable movement upward, toward God. This philosophy bridges the Eastern quest for the eternal with the Western quest for emotional health. Sole meets Soul on sacred footpaths.

Authentications: Intentional efforts to authenticate those pathways that have called us. When the soulular phone rings, we answer the call by trying it on for size. As we explore it, we check its authenticity against our soul-scriptures to see if it is true to form.

Body Masks: The physical armor we wear in order to adapt to and protect ourselves from various realities. Can come in countless forms i.e. shallow breath, rigid musculature, limited range of motion. To be distinguished from a state of embodiment that more directly reflects our essential self.

Callings: The particular form that our entelechy is here to take in this lifetime, the gifts we are here to humanifest. It can be as complex as finding the cure for cancer, as simple as learning how to cook. Only soul knows the path it is here to walk.

Cell your soul: The idea that the body is the karmic field where the soul’s lessons are harvested. In order to grow spiritually, we must bring our suffering and our joy through the cells of the body until our spiritual lessons are birthed. Repressed emotions are unactualized spiritual lessons. To grow, we have to see our feelings all the way through. Once they make it all the way through the conversion tunnel, the lesson is revealed and the soul evolves to the next stage.

Conscious Adaptation: The idea that we choose all of our adaptations (and disguises) with awareness, for a limited time and clearly defined purpose. We know who we really are, we know what masks to put on to deal with the circumstances before us, and we consciously remove them as soon as reasonably possible. Conscious Armoring is one aspect of this.

Depth avoidant behavior: Any behavior done with the intention of avoiding our true self and authentic emotional or spiritual experience.

Depth charges: In the context of psychological issues, depth charges are actions taken with the intention of triggering unacknowledged issues and repressed emotions into awareness. In the context of spiritual path, depth charges are intentional efforts to ignite our inner knowing and excavate our soul-scriptures from below the surface of our daily lives. Depth charges can take many forms, some radical and intense, some subtle and gentle.

Enrealment: The idea that a more ‘heightened’ consciousness is not all about the light (as enlightenment implies) but is about becoming more real, more genuinely here in all respects- shadow and light, earth and sky, grocery list and unity consciousness. It is about living in all aspects of reality simultaneously rather than only those realms that feel the most comfortable. Be real now.

Entelechy: The pre-encoded being we came here to manifest, and the tools we brought with us to manifest it. Actualizing our entelechy is the essence of our expansion. See also innate image.

Essence-centered way of being: A way of being that is soul-driven. We make our choices as to path by listening in and tracking our soul’s voice. Success is defined through the eyes of the soul- lessons, callings, authentic expansion. The ego is not our ruler anymore.

False-path: Any path that is not true to our innate image for this lifetime.

Forgiveness Bypass: The tendency to avoid unresolved emotions by feigning forgiveness. Premature forgiveness.

Habitual range of e-motion: Our emotional comfort zone. The familiar place between armor and vulnerability that we come back to time and time again. Our expansion depends on our willingness to move beyond our habitual range.

Innate image: A term defined by James Hillman in The Soul’s Code. See entelechy.

Inner Daimon: The presence that accompanies us on our life journey with the intention of reminding us of our true-path. This presence whispers sweet somethings in our ear, and even trips us up when necessary, in its determined efforts to bring us to the feet of our innate image. Also referred to as guiding angel, genius, deity, higher self, white shadow and guiding light.

JAB: The Jealousy, Abandonment and Betrayal emotional trigger. A powerful and often unhealed wound area that obstructs many individuals who are attempting to move forward on the path.

The Law of Averse Possession: The idea that we assume ownership of someone else’s emotional material if we hold onto it for too long. When someone takes their stuff out on us, it moves from them to us. It remains ours until we choose to give it back, to express rather than repress the feelings that arise from the experience(s).

A Leap of fate: A (courageous) jump onto the growing edge of our soul. A stepping out into our innate image.

The (real) Learning Channel: This is the channel that shows us the experiences and lessons that our soul chose for this lifetime. When we watch it, we see things through a broader lens. Expectations are exposed as meaningless - soul gifts come in unexpected packaging. Most everything significant that happens to us is revealed as grist for the soul mill, necessary learnings on the path home. The ladder to heaven is made from broken rungs.

Lite-dimmers: Individuals who have a tendency to undermine positive intentionality and good energy in others.

Material bypass: The tendency to get lodged in the material world (practical matters, earthly concerns) in an effort to avoid spiritual connection or uncomfortable emotions.

Nervous breakthrough: A profound (and courageous) emotional cleansing, a collapse of the false structures that have ruled our life, a breaking through to a more genuine state of consciousness. Often mischaracterized as a nervous breakdown.

Open-bless-a-me: An obvious play on the term “Open Sesame”, Open-bless-a-me refers to the relationship between the opening of the heart and the blessings that enter. Closing the heart is a self-fulfilling prophecy. When we close it, we attract more reasons to keep it closed. Opening the heart is a soul-fulfilling prophecy. When we open it, we attract blessings—open bless-a-me! Finally blessings have a way in, and a way out to touch others. Try looking in the mirror and repeating ‘Open-bless-a-me’ as a mantra, an invitation to your higher self and to the Universe to bring Blessings through the gateway of your heart.

The Power of then: The effect the past has on our present consciousness. Although the physical body travels forward chronologically, one’s emotional consciousness always lingers at any point of departure. To move forward on the path, we have to go back and heal the wounds and memories that obstruct us. We’ve got to be there then, before we can be here now.

The Presumption of Essence: The tendency to see Essence everywhere we look, particularly in others. We look beyond the armor and recognize the beautiful being living below.

Sacred grumbles: Building on Maslow’s grumble theory, sacred grumbles are frustrations that emanate from the soul itself, indications that the soul wants to ascend to the next stage of its evolution and that something is in the way.

The School of Heart Knocks: Life.

Selective Attachment: In the context of Soulshaping, selective attachment is the process of sifting everything through an essential filter, connecting only to those experiences and relationships that support true-path. If something fits, we bring it on. If it doesn’t, we stay away.

Self-distractive behavior: Any behavior done with the intention of avoiding our true self and authentic felt experience.

Shtuscle: Inner muscle, the soul driven determination to deal with whatever obstacles come our way in our efforts to excavate and actualize our innate image for this lifetime. A term embodied by my grandparents, who endured all manner of struggle and still managed to keep their hearts (and their kitchen) open.

Soul-scriptures: The transcript of the innate image, the form our lessons, experiences and callings take.

Soul-shadows: Reminders of our calling(s) cast by our soul throughout our lives. These beacons of light shadow us wherever we go, always calling us home.

Soul-traces: Images of individual or collective soul history that enter our consciousness.

Soulitude: Undistracted time alone with your soul-self.

Soulpod: That person or group of people whom our soul finds the most resonance with at any given moment. It can include anyone that appears on our path to inform and catalyze our expansion - our biological family, significant figures, strangers with a lesson.

Soulshaping: The idea that our soul comes into each lifetime in a particular form, with a natural inclination to evolve beyond it. Our innate image represents the next shape in its evolution. It is the form we are here to embody and manifest, the next step in our movement toward wholeness.

(The) Soulular phone: Your pipeline to divinity, the soulular phone connects your individual path to Universal Consciousness. When it rings, be sure to answer it. It is the divine Mother calling to remind you of the next step on your journey. The more inner work you have done to clear the lines, the clearer the connection.

Soul sheen: A glow that emanates from us when we are living from the heart of our innate image. Bright eyed, bushy-tailed, golden hue…

Spiritual Bypass: The tendency to jump to spirit prematurally, usually in an effort to avoid various aspects of earthly reality. The opposite of Ascending with both feet on the ground.

Spiritual Emergingcy: The state of confusion and inner tumult that one experiences when a spiritual path/awareness is forcing its way into consciousness, prior to its full emergence and integration. See also spiritual emergency, elaborated on in depth by Stanislav and Christina Grof.

Survivalism: A state of being that is oriented around our survival and the satisfaction of our basic needs. Often an anxiety-driven way of being. To be distinguished from an Essence-centered way of being.

Survivalist guilt: The guilt we may experience when we shift from survivalism as our primary orientation toward a more subtle and essential way of being.

True-path: Any path that is true to our innate image for this lifetime

Truth Ache: A form of sacred grumble, a truth-ache is a nudging sense of falsity, a palpable hunger for true-path. Although sometimes painful, although embracing it may well force us to turn our habitual patterns upside down in order to effect change, it contains the seeds of our transformation. When we repress it, truth decay sets in, and the only thing that can save us is a truth canal. Sometimes we wait too long, and we lose our truth altogether.

The Universal Broadcasting System (U.B.S.): The dynamic and benevolent network of relatedness that brings lessons and messengers onto our path in an effort to grow our soul to the next level of consciousness. Serendipity Central. The universe presents us with endless opportunities to synchronize our path with our truth.

Weastern Consciousness: A consciousness that bridges and integrates the wisdom of the east with that of the west. Rather than advocating one way of being over the other, we create a map of consciousness that is inclusive and that honors their respective merits. We bridge the eastern quest for the eternal with the western quest for groundedness and emotional health. Alexander Lowen meets Neem Karoli Baba, Localized lens meets Archetypal Wave, Unity Consciousness meets Healthy Self-Concept on a bridge across forever. A soul-ego bridge, if you will.