Why It Is Important To Live A Soul-Led Life

On today’s installment of Thursday Tips and Tools for Soul-Led Living, I am going to tackle the question WHY.

Why it is important to live life from the truth in your Soul.

For me there are three reasons. They operate at the levels of the personal, the interpersonal, and the global.

Each reason is itself enough motivation for me to commit to doing the work to hear my Soul’s truth, and live by it. Together, they are everything. When you fully understand what is at stake when you do not live in alignment with your Soul, and what is possible when you do, there is no reason you would not make the commitment to Soul-Led living.

The Culture of Busyness

We live in a culture that teaches us that we will not belong if we are not busy (and productive) in acceptable ways.

Busyness itself is not a harmful state. There is value in tapping into that driven place within us, and getting shit done.

Living in a near constant state of busyness comes with a high cost, however.

At the personal level we become out of balance, both energetically and in the use of our intelligence. We end up exhausted and depleted relying on external stimulation and coping mechanisms or addictions to get us by.

At the interpersonal level, we do not have time or energy to develop meaningful relationships. Our relationships become transactional, manipulative and high drama. We shut down direct connection, and instead pay for products and services in an attempt to meet our needs and desires.

At the global level, we are not interested in becoming aware of the impact of our actions on other species, or the Earth. Our relationship with the Earth becomes one sided. We take and expect her to continue to provide. We turn a blind eye.

Over time, we become hard and unfeeling. We feel entitled to immediate and unlimited satisfaction of our desires because we are sacrificing so much in our lifestyle of busyness.

The impact of our culture of busyness at the personal, interpersonal, and global levels has hit the crisis level. Mental and emotional health issues, interpersonal and international conflict, wholescale species extinction, extreme weather patterns and natural disasters have been on the rise for years. At some point, likely soon, we will no longer be able to hold up the facade of modern perfection (I’d say we’ve hit that point, despite that many world leaders are still willing to turn the blind eye).

The truth is, our band-aid fixes can only go so far.

In order to make a meaningful cultural transformation that would address these issues on a long-term scale and make possible a more beautiful life for ourselves, and a more beautiful world for our children and all life, we must be willing to fully feel the impact of the way we are living, and to find the courage to live another way.

Soul-Led Living

Soul-Led living transcends the prevailing culture of busyness, materialism and disconnection.

It is not a reaction to it (i.e. a push back or a protest), but rather a gathering up all that has come before us, a transmuting our pain into courage, and the taking of embodied steps forward into a new way of being towards, in the words of Charles Eisenstein, the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.

Imagine.

We live in a world that values you living your deepest truth – the story of your Soul – above all else. Not your productivity, not your income, not your possessions, not your status, not your materialistic contribution to an organization or cause, but you living the story your Soul came here to tell.

At the personal level, you would be living your deepest truth every day. You would be in integrity with your Soul and therefore you would be peaceful. There would be no need for coping mechanisms to numb out from the pain of pretending to be someone you are not. You would be fulfilled because you would be making the difference your Soul came here to make.

At the interpersonal level, you would be connecting deeply and authentically with others from your Soul’s truth within you. There would be no need for superficiality, manipulation or drama in relationship. Others around you would be nourished by your authentic presence, and you by theirs.

Finally, imagine the impact at the global level if billions of humans were contributing to life on Earth in Soulful ways – ways that are sustainable and in service of all Life. The Earth would be renewed and provide abundant nourishment and sustenance for all who live upon her.

It is time to create a new culture.

The possibility I have described above is no fantasy.

This is what could be if we are collectively willing to break out of the paradigms of busyness and disconnection that we live within, and begin to see and live life from the deeper thread of truth that flows through each of us: the truth of our Soul.

These are my WHYs for Soul-Led living. I will provide more depth and context in future blogs, and my upcoming book. Some of the above writings are excepts from my draft manuscript.

As always, I would love to hear from you. Please let me know if you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions for upcoming blogs.

xo,

Danielle

Danielle RondeauComment
Win Back Your Body to Hear Your Soul

It's Thursday! 

Time for Tips and Tools for Soul-Led Living! 

Today I want to talk about why you must win back your body, to be able to hear the voice of your Soul, and how you can begin to go about doing that.

To keep this short and sweet, I am going to offer you 3 points to consider, a question, and a practice.

Point #1: Your Soul chose to inhabit your body for this lifetime. Your body is your Soul's first and only home. 

Point #2: Any time you have neglected your body's needs, you will not be able to hear your Soul. If your home was dirty, falling apart, filled with chemicals, and harbouring pests, you would not want to live there, and would eventually become unwell. The same goes for your Soul. If your body is unkempt, unhealthy, fed with artificial foods and chemicals, and filled with toxic thoughts and emotions, your Soul will not be happy to live there, and your relationship with your Soul will be unhealthy.

Point #3: You must inhabit your body in order to hear your Soul's truth. Even if you are in good health and have a positive relationship with your body, in order to hear your Soul's truth, you must be willing to visit your Soul in its home (your body) and listen.

Question for you: Are you currently neglecting any aspect of your physical, mental or emotional health? If so, what is one nourishing thing you could take on to tend to your body today? 

Practice for you: Take 3 minutes today to fully inhabit your body. You don't need any special tools, just 3 minutes of uninterrupted time in a space where you feel safe. Close your eyes, relax your shoulders and jaw, and take three deeps breaths to centre. For the next three breaths you are going to breathe in deeply and hold. The first breath, I want you to direct the air into your heart space; fill your chest cavity with air and pause for at least 5 seconds, letting yourself feel fully anything that comes up for you (feelings, physical sensations, etc.). Next, do the same thing but breathe into your stomach; fill your stomach with air and hold for 5 seconds, letting yourself fully feel what comes up. Finally, breathe one more time into your lower abdomen; fill your abdomen with air, hold for 5 seconds, and let yourself be present with what comes up for you. Pause, recentre, and repeat the breathing sequence 2 more times.

This is a simple way that you can practice inhabiting your body, and fostering a deeper a connection with your Soul.    

Let me know how your practice goes if you try it, and as always, if you have any questions send them my way and I will try to answer them in upcoming Thursday Tips and Tools for Soul-Led Living!

Xo,

Danielle

Danielle RondeauComment
Three Step Formula for Soul-Led Living

Friends,

It's Thursday! 

That means it is time for my first installment of Tips and Tools for Soul-Led Living! 

My intention is to keep these to the point and practical.

Today I am going to teach you my three-step process for living life in alignment with your Soul.

After years of trial and error, and learning the best way to hear my own Soul and live in alignment with it, I noticed I was always going through the same steps. After distinguishing the steps, I began to intentionally apply them, and found I could move forward with more ease.

I use this formula every time I want to make a difficult decision or take a significant step forward in my life in alignment with my Soul. It has never let me down.

Here are the three steps:

#1. Awareness

The first step to living in alignment with your Soul is to become aware of your Soul’s truth.

Sounds obvious, right? That it is. But learning to hear, and distinguish your Soul’s voice from all of the other thoughts, ideas and voices (your own and others) that are vying for your time and attention, is not always an easy task.

Often times we block out our Soul’s truth completely because we have internalized a belief that is incompatible with our Soul’s truth, or because we are afraid of the changes it would invite us to make.

For example, take Rudy (*made up name), the accountant, who has internalized our culture’s belief that artists are poor, and so he has completely blocked out his Soul’s deepest desire to be a painter. He makes himself so busy with his accounting work that he has no time to think about it, and then he comes home and zones out on Netflix with a beer.

We often don’t let ourselves consider the possibilities and desires that reside in our Soul. We use all kinds of avoidance and numbing out tactics to prevent ourselves from becoming aware of our own truth.

The first step that must occur for you to even have a chance at living life in alignment with your own Soul, is to become aware of what your Soul is trying to tell you.

Without awareness, you cannot live out your own truth. Period.

#2. Allowance

The second vital step in living in alignment with your Soul, is that you must allow your Soul’s truth to be your truth.

This step follows naturally from the first step. Once you have become aware of your Soul’s truth, you will often try to talk yourself out of it because you are afraid, you think it’s impossible, or because it uncomfortably conflicts with the identity you have created for yourself.

Continuing with Rudy the accountant as an example, say one day he admitted to himself that he really wants to be a painter. (Maybe he was visiting his niece who really likes painting, and she asked him to help her, and all of a sudden he remembered. “Wow, I really love this.”)

He has become aware. But it is going to take more than awareness for Rudy to live out his Soul’s truth. Now he has to make his Soul’s truth his truth. He has to allow it to be alive in his heart and in his life. He has to allow himself to be someone who wants to be a painter (instead of a really busy accountant who binges on T.V. and beer).

The allowance stage requires that we rewrite the beliefs about ourselves and the world that keep us living lives that are not in alignment with our Soul’s desires. This takes time, courage and a lot of self-love.

Allowing yourself your truth is worth it in the long run. It is what makes step #3 possible.

#3. Action

Of course, nothing will change in your life if you do not take action.

Step three is where you create a vision and a plan in alignment with your Soul’s truth, and then begin taking small steps towards creating your life in alignment with it. (Rudy creates a vision of having his own gallery show in 5 years, and sets a goal to paint 3 paintings in the next 12 months. He signs up for a painting class, and goes to the first one.)

You take Soul-Aligned action.

Taking action is the place where most people like to start. This is where most goal-setting and visioning workshops focus. However, if you do not first become aware of your Soul’s truth, and you have not done the work to become willing to allow your Soul’s truth to be your truth, the vision you create and the goals you set will not really be yours. They will be the product of the beliefs you have internalized from our culture.

We see this all the time. People set goals to make a million dollars, to build a massive company, to own a fancy car, or to have the perfect nuclear family. They get those things, and are no happier and no more fulfilled than before.

When you create a vision and a plan in alignment with the truth you have uncovered from deep within your Soul, your dreams may not be so flashy or “culturally approved”, but they will fulfill you. They will make you happy because they are yours.

The above formula can be applied using many different modalities and tools. The tool I most often use is writing, though I often support it with other verbal and movement based practices, such as group sharing, witnessing, and dance. This formula underpins all of my offerings. Any time you work with me, I will guide you through these three stages in some way shape or form to help you move forward in alignment with your Soul.

Let me know if you have any questions and I will try to answer them in upcoming Thursday Tips and Tools for Soul-Led Living!

Xo,

Danielle

Danielle RondeauComment
Van Life, Dreams, and Looking Back on 2019

“Let’s convert a van into a camper,” he said, “and go on a big adventure around B.C. It will give us an idea of where we most want to settle down.”

“That sounds fun,” I said, not entirely believing it possible.

“I could build it,” he said. “I’ll just look up some videos. It’ll be easy.”

“Ok, sure,” I said, still hesitant. How can I believe in the viability of an adventure, I thought, when my adventures have often fallen short of the dream in my heart?

Maybe he will forget about it, I thought. Ideas die if you leave them alone long enough. I know this, because I have in the past dismissed my own ideas that seemed too reckless.

That was early 2019.

He didn’t forget. He started researching. He started sharing his ideas with me for where we could go and how we could do the conversion.

I started getting excited in between the cynicism my mind continued to spew. I began planning things out too. My excitement grew, and in early November, we fully committed, bought the van and converted it. By mid-December we were off on our first adventure (to Manitoba for a month over Christmas through the mountains in -20C weather!).

And so has gone most of my 2019.

A dream dared to make itself known (going on this grand camper-van adventure; looking for property to make a home, leaving my law firm; launching my new WYSS courses; shifting my primary focus and energy to my business).

All year my inner pessimist tried with all its might to beat my dreams back down. I took a few steps. I saw some progress. My excitement grew and gave me the courage to keep going despite my fear. I doubled down on my commitment to my soul’s desires, and then I leaped.

From the outside it probably appears like 2019 was a year of epic change and courageous adventure for me. In a way it was. Yet in my heart I know the greatest change and adventure is yet to come.

2019 was simply the year I said yes. It was a year of choosing the course and setting the stage for the transformation that I most deeply desire: a more liberated and grounded expression of my passion.

2019 was a year of “returning to the beginning”.

2019 took me back to square one.

Back to that existential question “WHY” that hit me like a truck in early 2013; the question that prompted me to start a business and this blog.

2013 has been on my mind a lot this past year.

In February 2013 I launched my first creative baby, Trash Your Stress. I held a number of workshops for young lawyers on reducing stress and creating lives that they loved, and even flew out to law schools in Ontario to motivate young law students. I wrote over 75 blog posts between late February 2013 when I first started my blog, and the end of 2013. I wrote numerous letters applying for funding. I reached out to every contact I had who might possibly be interested in helping me get my message out. I applied to the Law Society for professional development status on my workshops (at the time wellness was not approved for credits – now it is). I cold-called 100s of people. I networked incessantly. I put myself and my mission out there in every imaginable way, despite that I was often rejected, thought ridiculous, or ignored.

I was so full of passion in 2013. So full of ideas and courage, and hope. I embarked on new projects and adventures with abandon. I allowed my excitement to carry me forward through many challenges. I faced many fears. In addition to launching my Trash Your Stress blog and business, in 2013 I worked part time as a lawyer, released myself from the grips of an eating disorder, and began a new romantic relationship.

What I achieved in 2013 was incredible and, if I am honest, I’m not sure I have hit that level of external achievement in any year since (at least in getting my message out in my business).

In many ways, in 2013 I was also naïve. Back then, my expectations for myself and my business were out of proportion with reality (and therefore I was left feeling like I had not accomplished ‘enough’), even though by most people’s standards I had knocked it out of the park. My passion was ungrounded. I often burned myself out working too long and too hard without taking time to fill my own cup.

By the end of 2015 I had burned myself out completely, and crashed, hard as I watched my dreams crumble.

By mid-2016, I had hung up my passion like it was an old coat, closed the closet door, locked it, and hid the key.

I have no more use for my passion, I told myself then. All she is good for is making me naïve and hopeful, burning me out, and breaking my heart.

It took me three years to find the key to that closet and be willing to open the door.

That’s what 2019 was about.

I opened a door. I faced my fears. I looked deep within myself and began to dismantle the self-protection I had put in place to deal with my heartbreak: essentially shutting down, and giving up. I received guidance and encouragement from my ancestors as I began to navigate and heal the intergenerational trauma that kept me in the loop of playing small. I put in place the structures that would require me to become the woman who keeps her heart open and keeps her voice strong in the face of the possible heartbreak and fear that comes with launching a creative business.

I committed to my dreams. I stepped over the edge. I cut the cord.

In 2019 my soul voice was honest, blunt and in my face hard. I found the courage to listen.

2019 was the catalyst.

2020 will be the year that I reclaim my full passion and voice.

It is time. There is no turning back.

I have launched myself over the ledge. I am hurtling down the mountain slope. Will I navigate the obstacles with grace and determination? Will I land the next jump? Will I humble myself enough to do what it takes to succeed? If I fall, will I get back up?

It is time to put my healing to the test.

It is no longer enough that I have opened the door to my passion.

It is time to put on the coat.

See you on the slopes!

Xo,

Danielle

p.s. For those of you who have been asking, van conversion videos are available on my social media platforms - links below!!

Facebook: Update #1 (insulated), Update #2 (walls and ceiling in), Update #3 (90% finished), Update #4 (finished version after our trip to Manitoba).

Instagram: Update #1 (insulated), Update #2 (walls and ceiling in), Update #3 (90% finished), Update #4 (finished version after our trip to Manitoba).

Danielle RondeauComment
Loving Through Leaving and Getting Over the Guilt of Owning What You Want

As the last few days at my law office slip through my fingers as easily as the falling leaves, I am struck by how everything is both slow and fast.

This year has been a long series of letting goes. Mostly, my letting go has been of invisible things like internal beliefs, inter-generational patterns and relationship dynamics that no longer serve me. These inner releases have made available increasing space within me for my vision for my ideal work and my ideal home to root down and stabilize, which in turn, has made possible some significant visible external releases: of my law practice, my law family, a regular paycheck, and the stability of my home.

There have been so many times this year when I have wanted nothing more than to be further ahead; past this time of grief and fear and healing, and onto the part where I am free, lit up from the inside and getting paid well to do work that makes my Soul sing.

At the same time this year has gone by much too fast, and I have found myself trying to cram into these last few weeks: just one more project at work; one more research deep dive; one more exciting strategy session; one more carefully worded letter; one more intense debate.  I have indeed had one more of each of those, and then just one more again.

I have loved each moment at my law firm to the fullest these past months, through the heartbreak and the quiet certainty that the time for me to go was ever nearing. For this, I am proud. Normally, to leave something, I first find a problem with it; I make it wrong, exhausting and detrimental to my health, to the point where it is not up to “me”, I simply must go, and quickly, to preserve my health. That way, you see, I did not have to be responsible for the impact of my leaving, on me or anyone else.

I “have” to is language used by someone who is afraid to own and take responsibility for what they want. I have a lot of familiarity with this way of choosing, but it is no longer who I am or the way I live my life.

I choose to leave my law firm because I want to.

I choose to leave my law firm despite that I enjoy practicing law, and I love the people I practice law with as if they were family. 

I choose to leave knowing there are consequences of doing so, both to myself and to others. I choose to leave and I choose the consequences of that choice.

I choose to leave my law firm despite that leaving would, and is, breaking my heart.

I choose to leave my law firm because I want to follow the calling in my Soul to create a business from my art.

I choose to leave my law firm because I want to. Simple as that.

Not too long go, writing that sentence would have evoked in me a significant amount of guilt.

Why would you leave something that is good? Many people have asked me variations of this question. What most people mean when they ask me this is how can you possibly leave something that you enjoy that is safe?

If you have a secure job that you enjoy, and you get to work with people you love, how could you possibly want to leave? How entitled are you? How selfish can you be? How childish are you to follow your crazy unconventional ideas that offer no promise of reward or success? You need to grow up! Be reasonable! How will you make any money? How will you survive?

Can you hear the judgment in these questions? Entitled. Selfish. Childish. Stupid. Crazy. Judgments that cut like a knife.

I have been on the receiving end of these judgment laden questions many times, both from others, and from the voice of our culture internalized in my own mind.

Coming to understand and accept that these voices are not mine, and learning to instead distinguish, listen to, and trust the deeper voice of truth that flows from my Soul, as the only guiding voice in my life, has been (and is) my journey.

The stories of scarcity (i.e. you’ll never make money) and selfishness (i.e. you should be happy with what you have) are tactics used by our culture to keep us conformed to certain lifestyles and paths. Do you think large corporations, systems and institutions could profit if every one of us was soul-guided, self-sufficient (within the web of our communities), and liberated to live life fully on our own terms as is our divine right?

The truth is, they could not.

If we are not afraid or ashamed to be all of who we are, we cannot be convinced we need products, relationships and life paths that give us the illusion of being someone we are not.

If we own who we are, we will consume products, participate in relationships and choose life paths only if they are in alignment with our deepest truth.

Were each of us connected in and empowered to live a Soul-Led life, all that is false in the world would fall away.  All that would be left is the Truth.

The Truth of who we are. The Truth of our Divinity. The Truth of our connection to all Life and our desire to be in service to it.

This is why I do this work of reconnecting with my deepest truth. This is why I do the work of tearing down the stories that keep me imprisoned in identities and life paths that are not quite me. This is why I do the work of learning to trust and follow the voice of my Soul.

I do this work for my own liberation. I do this work for a more beautiful world.

I hope you will join me.

Today is officially my last day at my law firm. So, let me say this: I choose to leave my law firm today because I want to. There is nothing wrong here. I still love these people. I still enjoy this work. I choose to leave my law firm today because I want to follow the calling in my Soul to create a business from my art. My heart is both heavy with grief and alive with excitement, and there is not a shred or guilt or shame in me. I have learned how to own what I want, and to go about getting it respectfully and with responsibility for the consequences.

I am ready to let go. It is a perfect time for this next leg of my journey to start.

Xo,

Danielle

Danielle Rondeau Comments
A Story About Death, and How to Make Magick

I faced death today.

Not in the way you might think. And, don’t worry, I am fine.

Today I faced death intentionally.

No, not because I wanted to end my life, or the life of another.

Notice how much fear may have come up for you already from reading the first few lines of this blog. Maybe you have decided you don’t want to read any further. (Note: Its okay if you don’t. There will be more graphic content as you go on.)

Death is an uncomfortable topic, I know.

We are so afraid of death, we spend our entire lives avoiding thinking about her as much as we can, until we, of course, can’t any longer. We all must face her in the end.

If you are still with me, I’d like to share a little story about my meeting with death, and how it came to be that I am more alive because of it.

See today, I sought death out, to speak to her as a friend.

I did not know that is what I was doing.

I was antsy. Avoiding writing the book that I had specifically created this writing retreat for. I decided to do some divination.

I pulled a tarot card: Ruin (Ten of Swords). But why? I pulled another: The Devil. Ok, and how do I move forward? I pulled another: Truce (Four of Swords).

I am ruining my writing retreat by not writing: check. My bad habits of procrastination and anxiety have got me like the Devil: check. And I’m supposed to call a truce with these two treacherous forces? Not exactly what I was hoping for.

I decided on a change of scenery and went for a run.

I did not know where I would run to. I am not familiar with this island. I have been here a couple of times before, also to write, but it was during the winter, and I kept myself locked up in my room with my words.

I started to run back up the long lane I had come in on to arrive at my cabin in the woods. After a few bends in the road I came across an approach leading to what appeared to be a parking lot hidden behind a few trees. I veered off onto it sensing the parking lot was for hikers and there would be trails.

I was right. Trails leading up a little mountain appeared before me. I picked one and continued my run, winding up through the mossy forest along the far west coast of the island. To my left, through the trees, I could see the Pacific spanning out majestically for miles, the horizon dotted with other islands and the passing of the occasional Ferry.

I kept running. Up, and up, and up, until I tired. I slowed to a walking pace. I began thinking it would be nice to get a little closer to the water so I could take in the view.

Not a minute after the thought came to me, a path appeared leading to a little bluff overlooking the ocean. I walked out towards it, feeling for the first time my own insignificance amidst the cliffs, trees and ocean surrounding me.

As I walked towards the point of the cliff, the wind picked up. Adrenaline rushed through me as I steadied myself.

I was high up.

Out over the edge of the cliff was a sheer drop down for a couple hundred meters. I could see tree tops reaching up towards me from far below, and beyond them the water. As I got closer to the edge my pulse quickened. I sat down and inched my way forward until I was sitting right at the point of the cliff a few inches from death.

That was when I knew we were meeting. Not a moment before. Up to then I had simply been wanting to admire the view, take a photo or two, and carry on with my run, before returning to my cabin and (hopefully) some fruitful writing.

Instead, I sat at that point, on the edge of that cliff, for what felt like a very long time; death holding me in her arms. It was perhaps half an hour. It felt like more.

In my mind’s eye scenarios played out. I saw myself fall over the edge and tumble violently into the forest below, hitting various outcrops of rocks and trees until I came to rest splayed out and tattered at the bottom.

I saw myself leap with a malfunctioning paraglider and hit the water with such velocity that my heart stopped and I became pieces with my glider floating in the sea.

I saw myself lose my footing after being backed up against the cliff edge by a snarling animal, and watched myself grasp futilely for a hand hold in the cliff face all the way down.  

Visions of possible ways I might die falling off that cliff’s edge continued.

In my present mind and body, I was not afraid. I felt peaceful and aligned. I knew I was not actually coming to any physical harm. I felt connected to the natural world around me, and to a knowing that I needed to be here in this moment.

In the visions in my minds eye, I felt adrenaline; I felt fear; I felt sadness. In each I was acutely aware of my own vulnerability as a human being on this earth, and of my own impermanence. I may not get 100 years to taste all this life has to offer. I may not even get tomorrow. Who knows?

At the moment I faced my end, in each scenario, I felt peace, and also, a twinge of regret.

It was the regret that bothered me.  

It was only a twinge, but it was there.

I am at a place in my life where I can honestly say I do not have any regrets about the past. I have made peace with my actions and my story up to now. I know that where I have come from allows me to be and experience who I am today, and because of that, and how much I love my life, I would not change a moment of it.

I also do not have regrets about not telling people how I feel about them. The people whom I love know that I love them. Unexpressed feelings wasn’t it either.

This regret was something more present and pressing. A certain understanding of myself, and of life, that I have been uncovering that I have kept secret. Parts of myself and my experience that I have kept tucked away from the world for fear of judgment or rejection. Gifts I have to offer I am not sharing because I have been afraid of their power.

If I died tomorrow, I would regret not having declared: I know how to make MAGICK.

Yes, it’s true! You heard right, I do!

And you will too!

If you join me on this adventure!

This little tune plays in my head as I am typing.

Am I going crazy? You may wonder.

Well, that depends on how you define it.

All I know is that I have been silent now for a little too long. My truth is burning me from the inside far hotter than the sting of any criticism it may be met with. I must sing and dance and share what I know in my heart to be true.

I can make MAGICK. And so can YOU.

I pause and get up to pull another tarot card as I am writing this: Success (Six of Disks).

This is what I know about Magick.

When you align with your Soul, you align with Life, and Life shows up to support you.

The more you sink in to the deeper thread of truth running through you (your Soul), the more you consciously connect in to the deeper thread of truth and justice running through all of Life, and the more the Magick of Life begins to work with you.

You may at first call them coincidences, or serendipities, or synchronicities. With time, and as you become familiar with your own Soul as the guiding force your life, you will begin to see that you are influencing these seemingly magickal events as much as something outside of you.

You begin to see that there is Magick in everything, including you.

“Magick is the Art and Science of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will.” Aleister Crowley defined Magick in this way. He cautioned that “Will” in the sense he meant it, had to be the person’s “True Will”, i.e. the deepest truth within them. I am pointing at the same thing when I speak of being guided by your Soul. Your True Will; Your Soul; the deepest truth that lies within you. This truth that flows through all of us, is part of, and in alignment with, the deeper Truth and Justice running through all Life.

Let that deeper truth guide you, and you will have the support of all Life behind you. It will be impossible for Magick not to occur.

If I were to die tomorrow, I would want to have said this: You have had the power all along, to make Magick.

To create it: You only have to be willing, to remember your own truth.

Xo,

Danielle

p.s. As I am about to hit publish, I pull another card: Truce (Four of Swords). And so it is.

Danielle RondeauComment
Thoughts on Divine Creation and Living a Beautiful Life

Words build up in me.

If I do not journal for a day or two; if I do not publish anything for a month or two: I literally begin to swell up. It is subtle. Maybe not even visible. But I can feel it. Like water dammed up in a river my body becomes an unnatural lake. The words swirl and churn and angrily press against my insides as they look for a way out.

When I finally do give myself permission to put pen to page, they all flow out. Often beginning with a mighty rush and some emotion. As I write my physical body calms. My heart slows. The nausea fades. The swelling goes down.

This is how I know I am a writer. This is how I know, I must write.

There is no other release quite like writing. Ecstatic. Orgasmic. Healing. Cleansing. Generative. Clarifying. Electrifying. Joyful. Transcendent.

Writing takes many faces for me. Some easier to face than others. Often seducing me into worlds I dared not venture to alone. Always emptying me out of what is no longer mine to hold.

Writing is my liberation.

My most intimate times with my pen and blank paper have been in the aftermath of some kind of destruction. Some heartbreak. Some loss. Some massive change of course. Writing takes me into my pain and transforms it into nuggets of palatable wisdom for me to hold. It humbles me. It holds me. It gives me faith and courage to go on.

Writing has also introduced me to what I can only describe as the ecstasy of being alive. An experience of merging with the divine. It is a form of lovemaking this kind of creation. Paralleled only by the heart and soul connected union between two lovers.

I remember writing my first book late 2015. Walking down the sidewalk unable to contain the creative energy within me. Allowing it to burst forth into the notepad on my phone. Sending myself emails of creative writing to insert into the manuscript as soon as I got to my computer. Spending full days of unbroken concentration in flow in front of my computer. Writing. Writing. Writing. It was pure bliss. I long for that sensation. The beauty of surrendering my hand to the divine. Allowing the words to move through me and out onto the page even before my conscious mind could understand what was being written. Thought follows inspiration. Inspiration is divine.

It was truly a gift. An experience of myself as one with Life. A true partner in creation.

Yet as much beauty and healing as it brings into my life, my relationship with writing also has a dark side. In the past when I have allowed myself to really get into my writing; when I have truly surrendered; when I have met my muse in that magickal place between worlds: I have lost my sense of myself. It has been all consuming. I have allowed the ground to be swept out from under me. Sustained only by the ecstasy of creation I have allowed my foundation to fall away: my health, my friends, my romantic partners, my financial stability, and even my home. I have let the feeling engulf my sense of reason. I have crashed hard as a result.

Like a bad romance (or an addiction) eventually the highs stop outweighing the lows, and either you have to amp up the volume on the upswing (and eventually crash harder) or get out. I crashed one to many times and got out(ish).  

For almost four years now I have been only allowing myself my writing in small doses. Enough to maintain my sanity, and serve my own healing journey, with an indulgence in the bliss here and there. I have been practicing allowing myself the pleasure without losing my ground.

It has not been easy. To be honest, cultivating the patience and faith to slowly and responsibly approach the divine in my creations, having tasted ecstasy, has been one of the most challenging things I have done.

It has been a humbling experience walking slowly back towards the divine. Seeking her out as a true partner in creation this time, not looking to the divine as something better than me up on a pedestal. Knowing my own worth and that what I bring to the partnership is equally valuable, equally necessary. Creation can only take form through matter. I am needed to bring divine creation into the world.

And therefore, so are all of the things that sustain me and nourish me. My health, my relationships, my financial stability, my home, and my community. All are essential and beautiful parts of my life.  All are needed in order for me to create sustainably.

Remembering our value allows us to create sustainably in partnership with the divine. Just as remembering of our own value in romantic relationship allows partnership to blossom there too.

Here I am 182 days (6 months) in to my 300 Days of Soul challenge. I can say the first 6 months have been grueling. Filled with inner work. Healing. Releasing. Dreaming. Planning. Creating space for creation to occur.

I stand here now and declare: I am ready to begin to allow new creations to emerge.

One bold and responsible step at time.

I am here to show up to the partnership. I am not looking to fill a void. I will not ask for the divine to save me this time. I now know myself as capable and worthy of creating the life of my dreams. In many ways I already have. I am ready to do this sustainably because my life is already filled with dreams come true and too much beauty to destroy.

There is nothing “wrong” or “bad” with my life. I love it all. My health, my home, my city, my friendships and of course my romantic partnership that just keeps getting better. I even love my legal work which I am leaving (at least this in this form, for now).  

I am on the cusp of creating the extraordinary in my work by moving into work that is more in alignment with my philosophy for life, and by bringing in deeper partnership with the divine.

Can an already beautiful life become more beautiful?

That is the question I sit with as I move forward into this next stage of creation full of gratitude for the healing months behind me, and feeling blessed to have those who love me standing beside me.

Can an already beautiful life become more beautiful?

Only if You say it can.

I do.

xo,

Danielle

Photo Credit: Megan Alcock (http://meganalcockphotographer.com/)

Danielle RondeauComment
Thoughts on Resistance, Breaking Through and the Magick of Mediocre Pizza

It feels like forever since I have written or shared with you all. As if I entered a time warp early April and a year passed for me despite that its only been about 60 days.

I have so much to share. I just haven’t been ready. So here is the ‘Cole’s Notes’ for this post, in case you want to skip ahead and read only the parts that call to you: 1) why sharing your Soul Journey is an act of resistance; 2) F***ING BREAKING THROUGH; and, 3) the Magick of Mediocre Pizza.

Sharing Your Soul Journey is an Act of Resistance

I’ve been doing some reflection lately on why it is I write these posts. Why do I share the deepest thread of my journey when it’s often messy, and riddled with wild bursts of inspiration and equally wild bouts of self-doubt? Why do I share with you the process of my transformation, instead of just sharing the end results?  Successes, inspiring wins, and magic formulas get way more likes than indecision, grief, and excited sharing (and correcting course). So why share these things at all?

My thoughts took me back to when I started this blog six years ago (early 2013). My purpose then was twofold: personal healing; and inspiring others.

First and foremost, I write this blog for me. Writing about my journey of self discovery and sharing it with others is the greatest tool for healing I have yet to discover (which is why I founded Write Your Soul Story for you, in case you haven’t figured that out 😊).  

I also realised very early on that in our culture where super human perfection is revered, sharing my perceived flaws and the messiness of my journey (humanity) with others, provided both healing and inspiration to those who read it. And so, I share both my messiness and my wins with you because I want you to know it is not only OKAY to be human, it is NECESSARY. The only way to grow and heal, and be liberated to do something meaningful with our lives is to allow ourselves to be willing to hold it all. We must be willing to embrace all of our humanity and our divinity, messiness and wildness included. I want you to know its ok to be exactly who you are and where you are at.

It is ok to not be perfect.

That takes me to the third reason I continue to write this blog: it is an act of resistance. Sharing the messiness of our humanity from an empowered place is an act of resistance in a culture that values only perfection. It is an act of resistance in service of a wider revolution that is beginning to take hold. A revolution of self-love. An allowance of all of who we are. A returning to a deep trust in humanity, and the intelligence of the life force that flows through us (and all life). And that is a revolution that I definitely want to be a part of.

So share not only your wins, but your messiness friends. May the resistance continue.

F***ING BREAKING THROUGH

123 days in to my 300 Days of Soul.

I have been doing some deep healing of the wounds around making money from creative work; around standing in my truth and being seen. It has not been easy. I am shedding at a deeper level the identity of suffering that has kept me silently bound up in a bed of thorns. I have fought my way free, but I am sore from the battle. I am still tending to the last of my wounds.

Becoming someone who speaks confidently into the world what she wants, and stands unwavering her ground, while still being connected to her heart and the impact she is creating, is deep work for me. I am healing wounding and rewriting patterns of suppression that have held back my lineage for generations.

I have at times felt absolute terror running through my body. I have wanted to cave. I have wanted to quit. I have wanted to run. I have wanted to retreat and give in. I have wanted to do anything and everything but stand my ground. I haven’t done any of those things but it has taken all of my strength not to. For a couple of weeks fear gripped me and I was unable to move forward with my vision. My mind and body stopped processing properly on many levels. I was literally getting sick.

I continued to trust because I know I am doing deep healing work, and I know the rewards are always worth it. My daily spiritual practices and my regular free writing helped to keep me sane. My relationship with my partner Jason, which is only getting stronger, and which reminds me every day of the power of believing in your dreams even when you are going through hell and back, has helped me keep my faith in my dreams for my work in the world.

Ultimately, it was coming back to and inhabiting fully my body that helped me break through (it always is). In a rage-filled dance of surrender, I released the terror. I faced the fear. I let my life force flow.

My rage is my ally in this work. My Holy Rage. My Power.

My friends, I am sharing this with you because I want you to know it is ok if you are going through hell and back on the inside in service of something greater. I feel you. We are in this together.

I also want you to know this part of my journey, because, friends, I am f***ing breaking through. This is the time. My creative work will soon be what sustains me. I am rising. I can feel it. And I want you to know I am not special. I don’t want you to just see the shiny part where I made it, and think: “Well she must just be lucky. She’s different. It’s so much harder for me. I can’t.”

I never want you to think you can’t because its hard for you and it looked easy for someone else. I never want you to give up. I want you to remember this blog post when you are wavering, and let it forge new strength and determination in your heart. Let my grit awaken your grit, and you too will emerge from your inner war, bloody but victorious.  

We all have to face our own demons on the way to freedom. None of us gets to skip this part.

Needless to say, it has been an emotional couple of months. I have, however, continued to show up to my commitments, and managed to have some relaxation and fun. I have done what I said I was going to do. I am continuing to slowly decrease my legal work. I have hired a business coach. This month, with her assistance, I am making a sustainable plan.

I will continue to stand firmly in my truth no matter how uncomfortable.

I will rise. I will be free. Just watch me.

The Magick of Mediocre Pizza

After my mother of a multi-month-long-awaited-breakthrough, I took myself and my notebook out for pizza and wine (as you do). Despite that my body was still not 100% recovered, I knew that comfort and familiarity was what it needed more than a “healthy clean meal”. So, I trusted. And it was glorious.

Well, to be honest, both the wine and the pizza were mediocre (I was at a pub), but I was so blissed out from the feeling of being in flow again in my life, that the average nature of the food was lost on me. Everything was magickal. The hazy-yellow pub lights twinkled like stars in a black velvet night sky and… well, you get the picture.

I began writing. First, journaling about my day and the wonderfully mediocre pub fare. And then a little more quickly letting the words emerge through the pen from a deeper place, faster than my conscious mind can follow. Surrendering into the flow:

“I am trusting that this [pizza and wine] is what my body needs. I feel so much more peaceful now. I do not have to give up all of my comforts to succeed. I do not need to force myself to be a certain way. I am allowed to be human. I am allowed to have an ego. I am allowed to succeed. All of the above. Together. In service of each other and the deeper calling of my Soul. Sometimes I forget that it is a conversation. It needs to be a conversation. I can’t dive into my soul’s purpose (divine purpose?) at the expense of my humanity.

DIVINITY AND HUMANITY ARE POLARITIES.

Soul is the paradox that holds it all!!!

Revelation!!!

Soul is not = to divinity.

Interesting Concept.

Yes. Then what is Soul.

Pure Life Force.

Soul is the truth that encompasses all of it. Soul takes into account your humanity and divinity; it challenges you to embody more aspects of both than you previously have. It does not favour one to the other. It considers the wider impact and consequences of you pursuing one path or another. It guides you from a wholistic place of knowing what is in service of Life. Not only your life, but all Life. It can do this because it is tapped into the energetic frequency of Life.

SOUL IS THE ENERGETIC FREQUENCY OF LIFE.

Wholly ****. I feel goosebumps. Resonating. Soul is the energetic frequency of Life. So good. So, so good.

YES!!”

I forgot how good it is to write with pizza and wine. Those moments where we get glimpses into the mysteries of Life. I may write more on the subject of divinity and soul soon, or it may simply be absorbed into my larger philosophy. All I know is that when I am willing to be with all of it, and I am willing to listen to the deeper Soul Voice within me, I am rewarded with moments like this: moments when a resonance of Truth inhabits my whole body, and it feels absolutely exquisite to be alive. These moments make it all worthwhile, and make me so grateful for the strength and the courage and the grit I have cultivated to get me through the tough times.

I know I have only rounded the corner on the first leg of this mountain I am climbing. There are many more challenging treks ahead, but I feel rejuvenated, and ready.

This life is hard and beautiful, friends. Don’t shy away from one, or you will miss the other. And wouldn’t it be a shame to miss out on stories of liberation, because we were afraid of our stories of pain.

Let us face those sad stories and re-write them. Go on now. Pick up your pen.

Xo,

Danielle

Photo Credit: Megan Alcock (http://meganalcockphotographer.com/)

60 Days In: The Alchemy of Discomfort; Blooming Through the Tangled Web of Spring

February 4, 2019. A Monday. Two months ago. The date of my last blog post. The first day of my 300 Days of Soul. A week before that, I had launched the 300 Day program, for you. But the truth is, I wasn’t ready. I still needed the space, and the time, and the energy, for me.

And so, with a quiet promise to myself, I took my time back, and my energy. 300 days for me to transition fully into the work I came here to do.

Selfish, yes. So very selfish. But oh, so, very generous, too. Filling myself up, and setting myself free, so that I will be, and have, more to give to you, when our journey together begins.

Gift yourself what you need. It is the greatest gift you can give those with whom you are in relationship.

I am now 60 days into this journey – this intentional dedication to my own Soul – and there is no denying my Soul’s truths have begun to take root and unfurl into the world.

I have initiated a transition out of formal legal work.

My last day at my law firm will be November 15, 2019 – four years to the day since I last returned. I have negotiated a slow transition out, to temper the shock of the change for both me and them. My colleagues are family to me, and this loss is more than financial.

Navigating conversations about leaving my firm has not been easy. Being with the discomfort of disappointing others and still holding my ground is something I find very challenging.

I am leaving. I really am. I am. It has taken a while for me to take myself seriously. Bolting would be easier. Less time to change my mind. Less time to feel the impact. Less time to grieve. Less time for fear and doubt to creep in.

Yet, I know I need to do this slowly, and responsibly. I am ready. It is time. Another 7 months will not change my mind. The truth in my Soul will not waver, and I am unwilling to numb it out. I have fought too hard to build up this relationship of trust with my Soul to give up now.

Instead, I practice the art of Grace: I give myself permission to be human. Every. Day. I give myself permission to not be perfect in how I communicate my truth. I give myself permission to go back in, to correct course, and to clean up my messes, as many times as is necessary to stay true to myself, and be respectful of those whom my actions impact.

Our culture vastly underestimates the alchemical power of standing in an uncomfortable conversation. Too often we miss out on the healing and transformational gift of allowing disagreement and pain to exist, in the open, without trying to fix it.

My heart is breaking from this leaving. I grieve the potential futures I have not chosen, such as being a partner at this firm. I grieve the familial comfort of the office that has been my second home. I will continue to grieve the changes over the coming months, as my heart becomes lighter, and more excited about the adventure to come.

I will not avoid the pain. I will not deny myself the experience of the underbelly of love.

I am noticing in this moment just how good it feels to write this, to make this process sacred. Because it is.

Allowing my Soul to guide me does not mean I get to escape the vulnerability of my humanity; it means opening to those tender, trembling moments even more. It means amplifying my self-love and self-forgiveness to levels beyond what I have previously known, and being present with all of it.

In those courageous moments when I have spoken my Soul’s truth with an open heart, despite my nauseating fear, I have felt, in an embodied way, ancient and well-worn patterns of self denial begin to re-route themselves; deep seated wounds begin to recover.

The body is amazing. It will work miracles of healing for us if we choose to fully inhabit it, while standing in our Soul’s truth.

Sixty days in. It has not been easy so far. I doubt that will change. But I have experienced magick, deep healing, and the freedom of allowing my Soul to be seen.

I am emerging from the entangled and thorny brush of the past two months, cradling a tightly-woven bud. The fog is lifting. The sun is peaking.

I am pregnant with the creativity of spring.

May the blooming begin.

Xo,

Danielle