Your soul — my soul — everyone’s soul — seeks expression. This is the very light we are told not to hide under a bushel. And yet from early in life we’re conditioned to dim it. The child who once ran, sang, and danced under the sun becomes the adult staring at the same sun through an office window, wondering how their life became so small.
Our interests get left behind because a partner or social circle thinks they’re “silly.” We sacrifice our soul’s expression in the name of being grown-up or “professional.” But did we truly choose any of this? Or did we simply drift into the shape life expected from us?
As Howard Thurman once said:
“Don’t ask what the world needs.
Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it.”
— The Living Wisdom of Howard Thurman (1980)
So what is the cost of diluting your soul?
There are many, but here are three that matter deeply — and if you’re feeling any of them, it may be your soul trying to sing a different song.
1. The Cost of Feeling Lost
When you don’t live from your soul, you fall out of sync with your own life. This is where depression, anxiety, fragmentation, and the sense of “I don’t belong” often come from.
Carl Rogers called this incongruence — the painful gap between who you are and the mask you’re wearing:
“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.”
— Carl Rogers, On Becoming a Person (1961)
I’ve seen this with clients for years: people who “have it all” on paper but none of it inside.
Others sacrifice their calling in the name of “getting a real job,” never questioning who defined what “real” even means. A job pays your bills — that’s reality. The soul is what makes it meaningful.
When the light of the soul dims, the rest of you follows.
2. The Cost of Joylessness
When the soul is suppressed, even things that should bring joy feel strangely empty — as if your toes are reaching toward the water but never quite touching it.
People turn to extremes:
drink, drugs, shopping, constant stimulation.
Not because they’re immoral, but because they’re trying to feel something real. But once the snow has melted and the high has faded, the ache remains.
When you live from your soul — even a little — you realise how little you actually need. Joy no longer comes from pursuit or escape. It comes from alignment.
John O’Donohue wrote:
“Your soul alone has the map of your future.”
— Anam Cara (1997)
When you follow that map, joy becomes a companion rather than a rare visitor.
3. The Cost of Regret
This is the deepest wound of all:
the moment you look back and whisper, “What if…?”
What if you never let your soul speak?
What if your truest self never found daylight?
What if your inner calling stayed buried because life asked you to be smaller?
I’ve worked with people who only realised who they were after retirement — when the role, the identity, the career was stripped away. Without those masks, they felt lost. They no longer knew who they were. Their soul had been diluted for so long it barely had a voice left.
Joseph Campbell understood this when he said:
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.”
— The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949)
Regret is the cost of never entering that cave.
So… how do we stop diluting our soul?
You don’t need years of therapy, expensive programs, or a spiritual retreat in Bali.
You need honesty, stillness, and the willingness to listen.
Here’s a simple process — free, practical, and powerful — if you DO IT (yes, I’m putting that in capitals):
Step 1 — What If?
Ask:
- What if I am enough?
- What if I let my soul speak?
- What if I stopped shaping my life around who others want me to be?
Write these where you’ll see them.
Then do nothing.
Just ask.
Step 2 — Do Nothing
Really.
Ask the questions and sit in stillness — even five minutes a day.
The inner self answers in silence, not noise.
Step 3 — Dream Past the Conditioning
When you feel even a flicker of longing or light inside you, ask:
“If there were no barriers, what would I be doing with my life?”
Your conditioned mind will try to answer first:
Big house. Nice car. Holidays.
Ignore it.
Look for the thing beneath the things.
The spark.
The “oh yes.”
The thing that feels like you.
Nietzsche said it best:
“Become who you are.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883)
Let that be your guiding star.
Step 4 — One Act a Day
When you’ve found the spark, write it down.
Then ask yourself each morning:
“What is one thing I can do today that brings me closer to my soul?”
One thing.
Small is enough.
Small builds momentum.
Small becomes destiny.
If your soul feels hard to find…
Try this:
- Ask yourself, “Where do I sense my soul?”
Don’t think — notice. - If it’s not in the body, ask, “Where around me is it?”
- When you locate it, imagine its colour and shape.
- Bring it closer — not forcefully, just enough to notice it.
- Sit with the feeling.
Let it speak in its own way.
Sometimes the first act of magic is simply paying attention.
And yes — that is magic.
Inner alchemy at its most real.
Here’s the truth:
You are enough.
You always have been.
The power to transform your life has been yours from the beginning.
You are part of a great mystery —
call it God, Tao, Spirit, Universe.
Whatever name you choose, it lives within you.
That makes you enough.
That makes your soul sacred.
That makes your expression necessary.
As Jesus said:
“No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket.”
— Matthew 5:15
So here are your final questions:
What if you are enough?
What if your soul deserves expression?
What if the only real task of your life
is to let your inner light out?
And if even a part of you whispers “yes…”
then let me ask you one last thing:
What is the one thing you will do today
that lets your soul be seen?
p.s. dont just do these practices once and expect transformation, they are gentle, yet powerful, you need to repeat them daily.
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