Embracing Life’s Challenges To Determine Your Soul Lessons.

As human beings, we all have a deep desire to be happy. Embracing your challenges to determine your soul lessons is a powerful way to cultivate inner peace, purpose and authentic happiness.

Our soul expands when we bring wisdom and perspective to life’s challenges. The heart is believed to be the organ of love, and the soul is the organ of meaning. When we pause occasionally and reflect on what our lives are showing us, we tend to our souls.

In the post, 10 Soul Lessons For Living A Meaningful Life, I highlight my soul lessons from a year ago. I  reviewed them in preparation for doing my soul lessons for this past year. I realized something exciting when I reread them a few days ago—the previous year of soul lessons prepared me for all the challenges this past year.

I had an intellectual understanding with powerful personal and spiritual insights a year ago. But this past year was about living them in what turned out to be the most challenging and stressful year of my life.

Reflecting to create meaning and integrating our soul lessons takes time and space. It’s all part of our soul contract. When we learn the lesson, we get to move on. When we don’t, the Universe gives us more opportunities to practice.

How do you determine your soul lessons?

It’s believed that the purpose of the challenges and suffering in our lives is to create opportunities for us to learn, grow and evolve. Examining your life affirms what ancient wisdom has told us for thousands of years. That suffering is the catalyst for personal and spiritual growth.

According to Robert Schwartz, the author of Your Soul’s Plan: Discovering the Real Meaning of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born, we’re meant to learn 2-3 soul lessons (max 4-5) during our lifetime. If you’re curious about your soul’s plan, you can listen to the podcast interview with Robert Schwartz on Buddha at the Gas Pump.

Soul lessons always relate to expanding in what are believed to be life-affirming, expansive spiritual qualities that are flavours of love. 

Spiritual qualities like:

  • Self-love
  • Compassion
  • Forgiveness
  • Humility
  • Surrender
  • Patience
  • Courage
  • Kindness
  • Inner Peace
  • Equanimity

While not listed, the quality of PRESENCE is the master spiritual quality. It is the quality from which all other qualities arise. When present in our lives, we are open to receiving our soul lessons and have the foundation to work towards our spiritual qualities.

For example, my soul lessons are related to developing the qualities of forgiveness, humility, courage, and spirituality, all arising from PRESENCE. They’re also soul qualities that are not easy! It’s not easy to forgive myself or others. It’s not easy to have courage when I’m afraid. It’s not easy to be humble when I want to fix everything and everyone.

So the idea is that the significant challenges in our lives are intended to grow our consciousness in terms of the 2-3 primary spiritual qualities that our souls need us to develop. It’s why being spiritual is hard work! We’re not meant to bypass or avoid the challenges with our parents, kids, health issues, intimate relationships, soul-sapping jobs, etc. We’re meant to use them as fertilizer to learn our soul lessons and expand our spiritual qualities.

Reflection questions to create space for your soul lessons:

  1. What recurring patterns or challenges have you faced throughout your life, and what lessons might they hold for you?
  2. What are the most significant events or turning points in your life, and what lessons did you learn from them?
  3. What are your deepest fears, and how have they influenced your choices and actions?
  4. What personal qualities or behaviours do you feel are holding you back from living a more fulfilling and purposeful life?
  5. What challenges or obstacles are you drawn to overcome, and how might they be connected to your soul’s evolution?

Write down your reflections and highlight 2-3 spiritual qualities you’re meant to work on. Once you’ve identified your spiritual qualities, introduce a habit that supports your growth. For example, if you need to begin with the master spiritual quality of presence, perhaps consider my go-to for this quality: a simple meditation practice that helps you become more present.

Then a year from now, when you look back, you’ll gain valuable insights, expand your soul and have a new plan for the coming year. Connecting the dots in this way fuels our spiritual curiosity and keeps us open to what life asks of us.

Our life fuels our soul’s growth, and our evolution brings us closer to our true selves.

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