5 Key Soul Messages

Many people are taught to evade discomfort, or that moving away from hardship is always the best course. Yet, is it? Consider this story:

Two men visit a Zen master. The first man says: “I’m thinking of moving to this town. What’s it like?” The Zen master asks: “What was your old town like?” The first man responds: “Dreadful. Everyone was hateful. I hated it.” The Zen master says: “This town is very much the same. I don’t think you should move here.”

The first man leaves and the second man arrives. The second man says: “I’m thinking of moving to this town. What’s it like?” The Zen master asks: “What was your old town like?” The second man responds: “It was wonderful. Everyone was friendly and I was happy. Just interested in a change now.”
The Zen master says: “This town is very much the same. I think you will like it here.”

One view of this story relates to karma (the Law of Cause and Effect). It echoes that whatever happens stems from our actions. We may travel far and wide in the hopes of escaping a life we disliked. Turns out that we are the common thread. That is, how we feel about ourselves is with us wherever we go.

Another view of this Zen story is that discomfort or moving away from difficult situations may offer short-term relief, but often prevents the deep growth and integration that such challenges are designed to catalyze. Consider 5 Key Soul Messages:

1. Discomfort is a Messenger
Difficult emotions — grief, rage, shame, fear — are not enemies. They are signals from the soul, pointing to unmet needs, unhealed wounds, or inner misalignments. When we avoid them, we silence our internal guidance system and miss the deeper message encoded in the pain or suffering.

2. What We Resist, Persists
Unresolved trauma or avoidance of conflict doesn't disappear—it gets stored in the body, nervous system, and energy field. It tends to resurface in different forms: new relationships, repeated patterns, or even physical illness. The soul repeats lessons until we consciously engage.

3. True Freedom Requires Integration
Freedom isn’t escape; it’s the capacity to remain present with discomfort. Facing the fire allows us to alchemize pain into wisdom, fear into clarity. Avoidance may feel like protection, but it often prolongs the suffering.

4. Initiation Requires Ordeal
Ancient sages echo that discomfort is the portal to transformation. The dark night, the betrayal, the collapse— brings greater consciousness. By staying present in the challenge, we gain resilience, awareness, and spiritual maturity.

5. Our Presence Is the Healing Agent
Sometimes we are placed in challenging situations not just for our healing, but to bring light to the collective field. By staying—consciously, not passively—we become a stabilizing force, a living transmission of courage and wholeness.

In short, while discernment is essential (not every situation must be endured), evading discomfort as a default strategy cuts us off from our soul evolution.

Get to root of dis-ease

Notice we must each get to the root of our dis-ease (discomfort) if we truly want freedom to be our reality. How deeply can we heal our bodies or the bodies of loved ones when it comes to healing? How can energies outside the body be harnessed to heal? The energy that made the body can heal the body.

The what always comes before the how. The feeling or sense of direction presents itself in conscious awareness before the path that allows it to happen, before even clarity of exactly what is blossomin through us or in our midst. We get cues from body signs and signals, the environment. Opportunities show up. We may act in the moment before mind attempts to talk us out of it.

Trusting our gut is just as important as listening and allowing ourselves to tune into subtle senses. It helps to make deliberate choices, about relationships and situations we engage in. We can empower ourselves by deciding to stay engaged for a period, create boundaries, or an exit plan rather than allow others to create our limits, decide for us, take the upper hand. The ball is always in our court.

Consider dreams are the brain’s way of processing information that’s left over from each day. They are rich with valuable data – experiences, memories, learnings. Theya re valuable tools to work with if we allow this. Paying attention to dreams can provide information that we may not have access to when awake. Before falling asleep, we can turn our thoughts to any unresolved issues or situation. Focus energy on exploring options or resolutions as we fall asleep. This is an exercise in both self-directedness and surrender

Manage the internal

Notice when discomfort arises inside and creates restlessness, let it go. Everything comes up to be acknowledged and validated. As disturbances arise, relax inside. Leave it alone. Release it when u see it. Let the moment pass by. Train yourself to create space inside. Allow stuff to come up and transmute. Growth is when you let go of the root cause, inner disturbances not the reaction itself. This is inner work. Things happen around us that tend to pull us into a disturbance. Its wise to stay an observer.

Consciousness or focus is drawn to the point of maximum disturbance. Recall your will is stronger than the unconscious flow of attention. Want liberation? Are you willing to relax and let go, come what may? This is not a question of physical strength. Retrain the mind. Relaxation is always the answer-regardless of jealousy, insecurity, fear, anger arising, bring consciousness to it. This is not about suppressing, fixing or blocking discomfort. Simply sit with it, relax and release the blockage that caused the reaction. Transmute energy that blockage had over you. The power comes back to you. Reclaim that inner power. We either give our will (power) away to what is pulling on it or not. We are building the centre of Being to let go of the pull. We cannot deal effectively with the external til we manage the internal.

Make yourself vulnerable & Live fully

Notice we are often conditioned to believe that getting up close and personal, making ourselves vulnerable, can evoke significant discomfort and suffering. The surprising thing is, its precisely doing what evokes discomfort that builds strength and resilience. What we seek is right here within. Its closer than we think. The truth is self-evident. We must simply be willing to step outside our comfort zone to remember what enables us to feel most alive. Marcel Proust reminds us, "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes." 

Restlessness is a sign of transformation

Notice at the perfect moment, light penetrates like a catalyst to clarify what disconnects from all that is real and matters in heart. By affirming our dignity and allowing others theirs, we are able to honor ourselves, connect as equals, move forward with insight.

Earlier in life, I often heard myself saying things like;

"Everything happens for a reason"

"It was for the best"

"It was a blessing in disguise"

(all of which were relevant in context...)

In passing, such phrases sound optimistic and seem harmless. Yet, with maturity, I realized I had been taught to dismiss very real concerns and feelings worthy of considerable attention. People would cross my boundaries, be hurtful, or behave in ways that went against my core values or intuition and I would be overly tolerant and accepting or too easily forgiving. Making light of difficult situations was a superficial way of glossing over issues. This felt better in the short-term, but ultimately, it solved nothing and left hidden issues to linger. In fact, as I go down the rabbit hole, it appears I mastered the art of pretending things were fine when they were clearly not.

Part of my awakening has involved recognizing I would hide or avoid anger that deserved to be felt and expressed, Rather than working through hard emotions or confronting unresolved issues, I used to simply downplay or dismiss them. Believing traumatic events must serve as “learning experiences” or focusing on the silver lining behind every negative experience, did not allow me to experience the fullness of the wisdom they held. Assuming I had a handle on it was how I hid from insecurities. It was a clever way I pulled the wool over my eyes until I was ready to go deeper.

I went through stages where I was convinced spiritual practices I engage in are always positive. Feeling detached also came to mean I was not fully conscious or present. I was very good at focusing on the positive or being overly optimistic. Had no idea I was projecting negative feelings. At some stage, it dawned positive thinking is not the way to overcome problems. Facing shadows is far more effective. Rather than attempting to “rise above” emotions, I learned to feel, heal and move through them.

Pride is difficult to detect in ourselves because it is a refusal to admit wrong or see a need to change. As the light of our dignity shines more brightly, we realize that we don’t have to be perfect. Showing vulnerability and humility invites stronger connection. We move from the superficial into soul-level relationships. We grow approachable rather than seem intimidating. We don’t see ourselves as better or worse than anyone else. We are the same.

It is freeing to hold ourselves with the dignity that comes from simply being human. We don’t need to achieve “greatness” to have worth and value. Greatness is innate . We might be inclined to seek excellence because it feels meaningful, energizing and expansive, but not because it defines who we are.

It dawns pride that drives us at certain stages of life prevents us from acknowledging our human vulnerabilities. When driven by shame or illusion of inferiority, its uncomfortable to say, “I’m sorry, I was wrong, I made a mistake.” When pride rules, we believe we’re always right or we fear backing down. This makes it difficult to know and sustain intimacy.

A self-centred culture teaches we must achieve self-actualization (enlightenment) to be truly happy. This quest also contributes to a tendency to avoid difficult or painful emotions. Rather than trying to solve problems in environments that cause suffering, self-centred culture teaches people that they alone are responsible for their destiny. At certain stages, maybe you relate?

What stands out is that negative thoughts and feelings serve a purpose. They do not exist so we avoid them. Rather, they point to a diminshed self image, deep hurt, sadness and that emotions that require acceptance and validation. Negative thoughts exist so we use those thoughts to propel positive actions. Simply putting on rose-colored glasses and ignoring deeper issues does not make them go away. Choosing instead to forge friendships, look people directly in the eye, be candid and share vulnerability, are keys to being more assertive, self-loving and decisive when it counts.

Ultimately, discomfort is a soul-level sign that something is not right and needs to change. If you think you lessen discomfort by simply avoiding it, or normalizing abnormal behaviour, situations causing distress will remain. Yet, to recognize the nature of our unconscious behaviours, is to see restlessness is itself a sign of our ongoing quantum transformation. We are catching up with the light.