One morning, while reading some words of wisdom, I stumbled over these precious words of St. Augustine; “Love is the beauty of the soul.” And I thought, why not write a few words about ‘my soul’? After all, we all possess a ‘SOUL’! We either ignore it or do not take it seriously. Time to reveal my soul to the world!
Why is it important to know your soul? For me, my soul is the bridge from my material self to my spiritual self. When I allow myself to “soul search” the deepest, the most sacred of my thoughts are revealed to me! What I learned about “soul searching” is that I become disconnected from the ‘world at large!’ Therefore, completely relaxed! My blog is about such an evening. I wish you this kind of an evening. My soul has taught me that I have nothing to fix and God doesn’t set limits on me; only I can do that. Happy Soul hunting!
As I stood on the beach at the water’s edge viewing a sunset, I felt myself being pulled closer to the water; into the water. This gave me a wavering feeling and I could not steady myself.
Suddenly, I remembered why I was here! To view a sunset and a moon rise. It would become, for me, a night for unknown ‘feelings’. The night when I met my noble soul!
Living in Southwest Florida, winter sunsets are magical. Balmy breezes, palms swaying and magnificent birds flying into the sunset takes one’s breath away! While standing and swaying in the warm shallow water of the Gulf, a feeling touched me that I’ll never forget! In my long skirt and my soft cotton top, caught up with the breeze, I was lost in reverie! As though we were dancing to our own tune, the breeze and I! Or was it someone?
As I viewed the last streams of brilliant purples, reds and gold of the sunset, I felt like my shadow was illuminating and enlarging to twice my size; ten feet tall! Impossible! Such a majestic emotion!
That’s when the mysterious ‘feeling’ enveloped me. I gazed over my shoulder and across my shadow, I felt and saw glimpses of footsteps walking across my soul! Has my shadow become my soul? I shivered but took a firm gentle hold of my shoulders and went with the moment’s flow! I called it, “a gift from God!” A learning moment in time; a good thing! A special grace!
Were those (footsteps), like old souls visiting me for a purpose? Did they have a message? What did they want? They were peaceful; like an eluding kiss through a veil. Shadows can be huge and quickly passing but if they stay a while, you’ve reason to wonder.
As the tip of the magenta sun wished me goodnight, I turned and viewed the moon, a bright pink, trickled with orange! As it rose with a rippled effect, and all those diamond like stars, it was a sight well worth a thousand words! My shadow loomed large!
My little diversion gives you a peek of how I look at life, perhaps, my interpretation of my life!
Oftentimes my real shadow seems magnanimous to me! I’ve learned that I, and all of us, cannot live in the shadows of our lives. In obscurity! I’ve always wondered why my shadow looms so large when, by all measures, I’m a short person!
Perhaps the unknown artist in me is my shadow and loves to use the brush of time to color my life, hidden and open. My shadow consists of many parts and much time has passed, therefore, the strokes, some strong, some gentle, will reveal the depth of me. The prayer I whisper is that the best of me will always loom large in the gentle souls I’ve touched and shared the shore with. This is the lesson my shadow taught me; Just a shadow, just a whisper but never a doubt.
Me, my ‘shadow and my soul’ are no longer strangers in the night!
“The most visible joy can only reveal itself to us when we’ve transformed it, within.” – Rainer Maria Rilke
Nancy Fraioli is a retired Benefits Asst. from Town/Village of Harrison, NY. She’s alive and well, residing in Sarasota with her daughter and family and enjoying the Floridian lifestyle daily.
Her passions are writing, reading books of philosophy, children’s stories and poetry. Her deep love is living, learning and sharing how faith, meditation, and music guide her daily life. And she loves to lunch with the ladies!