Bioluminescence of the Soul
This is an excerpt from the weekly News-Loveletter. If you would like it sent to your inbox directly (with all the other juicy bits, including a mini joy practice), you can add yourself to my mailing list here.
2018, on the path to recovery, I buzzed my hair as I began again. Photo by Lavinia Nitu.
Biking home from downtown, I saw my friend, the poet Ce Rosenow, walking past the marsh. I slowed and pedaled beside her as we caught up on the sweet stuff of life. Ce told me she had been to a poetry retreat in Washington recently, where her group walked by the water after dark with a naturalist guide.
“When we touched the water, Kristin,” she told me, “it lit up.”
“Bioluminescence!” I exclaimed, and Ce nodded, beaming. “I felt like I was a kid again. So much wonder.” She shook her head, eyes wide.
“How beautiful,” I said. “And it’s all there for us when we just slow down.”
“And touch it,” Ce said. I turned to look at her. “We have to touch it,” she repeated.
“Bioluminescence!” we said together. “Bioluminescence of the soul!”
And so it is. We slow down. We go deep into our hearts, touch our truth, and softly, it glows. We come to life. This glow starts a chain reaction and the beings beside us light up too. Our vibration touches them, and their hearts illuminate. I’ve seen it over a thousand times.
I’m blessed to be in this line of work. For over twenty years, I’ve helped people connect with their hearts and each other. Now, in the Joy Collective, I am grateful to sit with groups of people weekly who illuminate themselves and each other by touching in. An hour in this state is more than therapeutic. It lights the way.
We touch each other’s hearts in many ways. My friend, the award-winning photographer, Lavinia Nitu, captured the photo above when I was just learning to connect with my soul again, just stepping back into life. Lavinia photographed our family through a “normal” day (you can see more shots on my website). I was hurting so much then, just beginning to find courage to feel joy. Looking at her pictures, at what she saw in me, I experience a quality of empathy that makes my heart both ache and sing.
My return to life has been epic. In nearly losing it, I began to discover all that life can be. And with the help of dear friends, I found my way back into the glow. Bioluminescence of the soul.
In which modes do you touch your soul and the souls of others? Do you intentionally schedule time for this wonder? There’s an opportunity to do so soon at our free workshop.