How to Heal a Deep Soul

Recently a new reader of my posts on deep souls scheduled a coaching call. She said that after reading the posts, she felt understood, like she finally belongs. I have heard this often from deep souls who contact me from all corners of the world. And this fuels me to keep listening, researching, and writing.

At the close of our call, I asked this dear person what more she’d like to read about deep souls. She quickly responded, “I’d like to know how deep souls can heal.”

I understand.

Because they are outliers in thinking and in being, deep souls are often misunderstood from a young age. Even worse, they are regularly criticized for thinking differently. They are under enormous pressure to conform to the “normal” ways of being, set by the culture at large.

The gap between who deep souls are and what the world wants them to be creates a tension within and without, usually resulting in a deeply held belief that something is wrong with them—even if they have intermittent glimpses of confidence in their unique talents.

So the question is, How can a deep soul heal from this lifelong tension?

The answer is straightforward: Embrace the truth!

Yes.

Truth is power and the truth heals. That is the entire point of the work that I do.

When you know and understand the truth about who you really are—about your deep soul strengths—you can stand strong in those strengths and the tension dissolves.

When you own your strengths, constantly reaffirm them to yourself, and demonstrate their efficacy through your actions, you will finally feel that you are worthy, deserving, and qualified to make a unique contribution to the world.

Your clarity and confidence will also help others see you in your true light. Even if they still directly or indirectly pressure you to conform, you will live above the push and pull, firm in your knowledge that qualities such as independence, courage, and curiosity are valuable and important to nurture and employ.

David McCullough’s excellent book on the Wright brothers underscores this point. Paraphrasing McCullough, both Orville and Wilbur Wright had to overcome a fear of being labeled “crazy cranks” because in the press and in the popular culture people who made so-called flying machines were mocked and ridiculed. Imagine the pressure to give up their work—and imagine the confidence they had to maintain to fly (!) in the face of naysayers. Then, imagine if they had given up.

You may not be working on the next world-changing invention, but your ability to think differently might help find an original solution to a familial dispute, make an improvement in your community, or fix a broken process at work.

Then again, these small solutions could lead to the next world-changing idea.

I truly believe that it is deep souls who will continue to save the world by resisting conformity to popular narratives and conclusions.

It is deep soul types who have the courage to question, the tenacity to stick with a problem until it is solved, and the independence to stand with a new idea in the face of criticism. I propose that the very difficulties that come from feeling understood throughout life undergird these characteristics. If the road had been easy, or if you didn’t have experience standing alone, it would be nearly impossible to do so.

That said, you can leave that feeling of being misunderstood in the past. Identify your deep soul strengths, know why they are important, and redouble your efforts to use them daily.

That, my friend, is healing.

Follow the prompts on the Creative Strengths Spotter to spot your strengths. Engage the naysayers in your life to do it for you as well.