The Prescription for our Dis-ease

In today’s fast moving world, there is a “dis-ease” within us: hurry sickness, being always on and always available; competing demands and being over-committed. We’re tired, worn out and burned out on religion. We struggle to care for others and while abandoning our own health.[tweetthis]The antidote to our “dis-ease”—is soul care. We are not without hope—no matter how fragile the ice is that we are dancing upon at the present moment.[/tweetthis] Learning to care for our soul is not only our cure but it is our hope. The English word, “care” gets its meaning from the Latin word “cura” which means—cure. As we care for our souls, we find the cure—the healing, balm and salve our souls so need. The pressure we live under; the cult of speed, our busyness and inability to really know how to rest all converge in a crisis that is now rampant both in the church and outside the walls of the church in the marketplace.  To realize that there is hope--is to realize that each of us have an opportunity to re-do our lives and to live the soul in mind.Soul Care requires a paradigm shift of how we look at life; what we believe really matters in life; and how to care for what really matters. Earlier in our lives, many of us were intoxicated with the belief that what mattered in this life was: power, position, significance and success. This dangerous cocktail became the drink of choice for many—including myself. We lived in a stupor trying to make sense of a life marked by striving, fast-paced living and busyness. When I look back upon my 30’s and early 40’s, I see I was intoxicated—drunk on this way of looking at life. We raise our children; do our lives in a culture shaped by a shallow way of life. The ripple effect of living in a stupor is huge! But in my case and in the case of so many others, God has a way of waking us up through some sort of crisis—some form of the rug being pulled out from under us: health crisis; being fired, a child in crisis, marriage woes, an affair or sweating at 3am and not knowing what our inner panic is all about. We awake from our stupor and the find that the tectonic plates of our world have shifted.What begins to matter is our soul…our meaning of life—our purpose—our well-being.  In addition to our own wake up and soul care challenge, we begin to really WANT this for those around us. This awakening is a growing awareness that our souls really do matter. The soul of our marriage; the soul of our children; the soul of our friends begins to take on new meaning. This, my friends is a Divine Invitation to begin to care for what really matters in life—to care for our souls. As we begin to care for our souls, we begin to live the healing. Read that sentence again: As we begin to care for our souls, we begin to live the healing. That’s right—we live our own healing. We begin to participate in our own transformation.We live the healing and cure our “dis-ease” when we embrace our souls and understand our souls. I was late to this realization. Earlier in my work, life was about my work; accomplishments, growth and so much more. Now, I am asking myself: Where did all that inner drive really come from? From a good place—or an unhealthy place? In my case, much of my drive was unharnessed—unredeemed—full out unbridled passion which resulted in way too much space in my marriage; what too much disconnect in my body—because I drove my body rather than cared for the physical address of my soul—which is what our bodies actually are.Soul Care begins with what I call a “dip stick” test. When you check the oil levels in your car, we pull out the dip stick and that stick actually reveals what is happening inside. My problem, like so many of you may be, that I never really knew I could do a “dip-stick” test on my soul. I had to learn to ask this one question: How am I doing WITH WHAT I am doing? I could quickly tell people what I was up to, but I did not have the self awareness to reflect on what was happening inside of me as I was going about my 90 mile an hour life. Soul Care begins with this question. Ask yourself, “How am I doing with what I am doing?” and you’ll find yourself slowing waking from a sleepy existence—an intoxication—that many of us have to go through some form or de-tox in order to re-gain what we have lost—our souls.I hope you'll consider joining Gwen and I in a way to care for our souls. We've just completed a brand new way to learn about soul care. It's called: Soul Care 101. It's a series of 8 conversations that we filmed at our retreat in Colorado.  We're providing the notes to our talks and a study guide where you can dig in and learn more about what we call the great themes of caring for your soul.  Soul Care 101 will be available in three exciting ways: 1) DVD's where you can watch as you can; when you can, wherever you are and learn.  2) Streaming from the Web--from anywhere in the world  3) An online class which will be limited to 25 people beginning in September 2016.  Stay tuned for more information and the actual release of this new and exciting way to learn.