Tools To Fuel Your Faith
If everyone else’s demands are coming first, if you’re giving all you have and consistently putting yourself last, and if you feel like all you do is put out fires throughout the day, then it’s time to listen not just to yourself, but to your soul.
“Why is this life not enough?” you may ask yourself. “Why can’t I just be a little more content, a little more grateful? Why does something within me insist on expecting more?”
That craving for something more within you is your soul calling. And in this episode, I’m explaining why and how soul care differs from self-care.
Because we’re not here to manage our way through a prison of unreasonable demands and senseless, impossible expectations. We’re here to liberate our souls to experience meaningful joy and freedom, both in and out of the classroom.
My latest book is called Keeping Your LIght: Soul Care For the Whole Educator.
What exactly does SOUL care mean?
Soul care is the art and practice of maintaining your well-being from the inside out, both inside and outside of school. It’s about healing instead of temporary relief. Soul care integrates intentional action with connection, nourishment, and deep support for all aspects of the unique challenges of teaching and leading young people in an unpredictable yet rewarding environment of a school community. Healthy thinking patterns and emotional regulation are only part of soul care. It’s really about liberating yourself to embrace your gifts and pursue your creative passion so that you bring more peace and joy to the classroom of life. The courage to follow your soul path means following God’s path for you. Instead of human-concocted norms and bureaucratic mandates that are too often fueled by fear, following your soul path brings about a deeper sense of purpose and lasting joy for you and everyone you encounter. Your life becomes no longer a battle to fight, but a victory to relish every day. Soul care allows you to reach a more fulfilling state of existence on Earth and brings about a true transformation by allowing you to embody who you were created to be, which is who you truly are. And who are you? Well, your soul just knows! Your soul knows who your true friends are, what you can count on, when it’s time to leave, and when it’s time to arrive. Listen to your soul. Your soul has previewed God’s playbook. Your soul knows the way.
Self-awareness is key to a true transformation within your whole being. Pretending that we have all the answers or that nothing needs to change will only keep us stuck. (Believe me, I’ve tried.) In the same way that you sharpen a pencil, brush your teeth, or fill up your car with gas, replenishing your faith and tending to your soul deserves and requires attention and consistency.
Moving forward means continually reminding yourself of your soul’s truth, which is that you deserve to feel like a rock star every single day. Yep, I said it: rock star. This has nothing to do with external trappings of popularity or recognition. In fact, it has less to do with how others treat you and everything to do with how you treat yourself. So let me ask you: what is the state of your soul?
You are so much more than your position, or all the hats you wear. At the end of the day, when all those hats are off, and when there’s nobody around to say their hat is off to you, you’re left with your soull, who is worth getting to know.
“You are enough!” is a catchy phrase these days. But your soul knows the truth: you are so much more than just enough. Your soul—the spirit God made within you—is abundant. That’s why you deserve to feel valued not just during special occasions or on certain days or weeks of the year set aside to recognize you. All the gift cards and candy bars in the world could never come close to reflecting your true worth. You find this out for yourself when you decide to feel affirmed every single day by what matters so much more than shoutouts and door prizes. This recognition comes from a deeper place: how you feel.
We don’t get to talk about our feelings very much in education. The unspoken consensus is that it seems very unprofessional when someone can’t control their emotions. Society as a whole ridicules people for expressing how they feel. When our students express how they feel, then, yes, we guide them through. But adults? Oh, no! We’re not allowed. It’s usually perceived as immature, or worse, insane.
“The most successful teachers are the ones who have learned how to take the emotions out,” one well-meaning colleague advised in my early years of teaching. “That’s the only way you’ll get through this profession.” The funny thing is, I’ve found that emotions are what make the job of teaching so rewarding and fulfilling. A classroom and school are full of human beings, not man-made machines. Our sturdy, stalwart efforts to “take the emotions out” may have paid off in the short term, but in the long run, if our emotions are bypassed and not processed, our futile efforts to eliminate them only create more problems for us and everyone else. The truth is, our emotions are our superpower. They’re one of the wondrous gifts that make us human. We aren’t meant to be brainwashed soldiers or robots. Truly leading young people means showing them how to navigate every aspect of life, and emotions are a part of life. More importantly, emotions offer important clues about what our soul needs. Without emotions, we wouldn’t have the ability to give or receive what really matters: love. However, love isn’t always the default emotion for everyone, especially when the frustrations of life happen. So we can model for our kids a way of dealing with that. We can show them not kneejerk reactions, but choices for dealing with our emotions in a healthy way. Instead of trying to dismiss, numb our emotions, or “take them out,” we can choose instead to let the emotion in, acknowledge it, and normalize being human. We can teach our young people how to deal with emotions by showing them how to: take deep breaths to allow the nervous system to calm down talk with a trusted friend or mentor who can offer support and solutions step away for a “cool-down” period drink some water to feel refreshed write about what we’re struggling with ask for what we need take a break or go for a walk
The way we can truly transform education is by first transforming ourselves. And transformation begins with truth. So instead of trying to hide the truth of our wondrous humanity, we can let those we teach see us sweat, laugh, and yes, cry. We can admit when something hurts, and we can apologize when we mess up. This isn’t weakness; it’s courage. Instead of shaming ourselves and others for being human, we can accept and celebrate ourselves for who we truly are and what we truly need.
Instead of surrendering to fear, we can turn to TOOLS to fuel our faith. I’ll be back next week with another blog post and podcast episode about Faith over Fear. In the meantime, if nobody else tells you today, you rock!