This world can be a lonely place for a soul.

For the body, there is so much to see and do and feel and taste and experience - and it is all right here at our fingertips. The body can easily stay so busy, and so sensorily-fulfilled, it doesn't even have time to think about whether it is lonely or not.

For the mind, whether in waking or in sleep, there is near-limitless access to stimulation and satisfying occupation. Even better, the mind and emotions are joined at the hip as they think and feel and feel and think their way through each successive second of their shared days....life-mates right down to their twin cores.

For the heart, there is the ever-present opportunity for connection. From casual group meet-ups to deeply intimate one-to-one partnerships, concrete physical to virtual encounters, the average day brings approximately 7.442 billion connection options - and that is just if it is limited to connecting with other hearts of its same species!

But what about the soul?

The soul can't find relief, release, reassurance, a replete filling-up, from any of these places. Even nature, which many mystics and sages and ordinary folks (like me) believe is as close as any sentient being can get to the formless ALL with the barrier of body-mind-emotions-heart yet standing in between, does not comfort a soul.

The soul needs something different. Or maybe it is more accurate to say it needs something deeper. Or something more trustworthy. Or something that lasts.

Rubbing two bodies together will produce a temporary pleasure. But then it wears off. A warm cup of coffee, a promotion at work, the sight of birds in flight, a fulfilling conversation, even total companionable silence between two beings - these experiences ebb and flow. They come and go.

When they go, the soul is left all alone....again.

The older I get, the more every part of my being - body, mind, emotions, heart - needs me. Each part comes to me with daily requests - for easing of pain, good health, creative stimulation, emotive expression, connection (or often, re-connection).

But my soul needs me most of all. And it doesn't even know what to ask for. And I have no idea what to offer. Everything it has tried on its own to ease the emptiness comes up short. Its ache is profound - nearly unmentionable.

Its ache is my ache.

The truth is, I need what my soul needs. I am not body, or mind, or emotions, or even heart - I am spirit. I am deeper, farther removed, in but not of, all of these things. I, too, am moving hopefully, restlessly, and increasingly exhaustedly through life, searching, seeking, asking, begging for something REAL.

I am searching for my soul. And it is searching for me.

With great respect and love,

Shannon