Tuning in to the Beautiful, a Soulspace Newsletter

Savoring the Good

Amid our collective disorientation and wave after wave of ominous news, I’m perceiving potent felt experiences of love and solidarity among us. We are encircled by a Love that is permeating the darkness in the most creative ways.

As we slow down to explore subtle inner experiences weaving through daily-ness, fleeting felt senses of a different quality shimmer.

Neuroscience tells us negative experiences tend to stick to us like velcro and positive ones seem to slide off like teflon. If you get a glimpse of the Beautiful, consider tucking it into your heart.

Here’s a simple practice from Dr. Rick Hanson to guide us, “Taking in the Good."

Tuning in to tiny signs of beauty, life, connection, hope, courage…

Did you make a big batch of soup and deliver it to a friend?

Are you making art?

Did you sit with a friend who needed a listening ear? You couldn’t take their pain away, but you gave them space to catch their breath.

Have you walked with strangers in a protest or taken in live music and sensed a collective effervescence?

Did you help someone unload their grocery cart at Walgreens as you sensed the cat litter was too heavy for them at that moment — move toward them like they were dear to you?

Have you been on the receiving end of kindness?

Collaging songs that make us feel alive…

What songs give you words for your experience and call to the spark of life within?

Here's a list that’s taking shape as I’ve been listening with folks lately. Surprising words sometimes emerge in these conversations — signs of life not noticed before. Time falls away briefly, and I feel the words of Julian of Norwich like a sensory hologram:

“All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well.”

I listen to this playlist on shuffle, opening to synchronicities that call forth intuition and courage to take the next step.

If these songs don’t connect with you, consider collaging a list of your own.

A Felt Sense Wisdom Practice

I “like” songs as I hear them and listen for my felt sense of them.

As I begin to perceive a common thread, I choose an image and a title, usually drawn from a song lyric. Then I add the songs that constellate around the thread.

I listen while I walk, clean, and drive, letting the felt sense of the emerging whole deepen. I notice my inner YES, NO, MAYBE, add/edit along the way, and then change the title and image as something more consonant arises.

I’ll close with these grounding lyrics:

I want to be where my feet are
I want to breathe the life around me
I want to listen as my heart beats
Right on time…
I want to be where my feet are

My name is Kirsten. I accompany folks as they attune to their inner experiences. If you find resonance in this post and want to read more about in-person and online spiritual direction and spacious accompaniment, please visit my offerings page.