Tag Archives: Soul Work

Meet Me.

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Instead of writing a post that could only come from a place of anger, overwhelm and stress because that is how I have been feeling this week, I will share an article about me from Voyage Minnesota.

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nikki DiVirgilio.

Hi Nikki, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I cannot recall when I started my Soul Reporter blog, but I started writing in a journal in my 7th grade English class. Back then I used it to write out all my fears about school, especially swim class. I found that writing allowed me to express my fears, worries, and thoughts, and doing so helped me process my emotions and understand myself. The Soul Reporter, in a way, became a public journal of my process of knowing more about myself, while also hoping to inspire and provide support for others doing the same inner work. I do not write on my blog as much as I used to but in the near future, The Soul Reporter will be combined with my business Soul Work. Soul Work is a space where I provide psychotherapy, and supervision to other mental health therapists and plan to expand into group work, consulting, and creating and publishing therapeutic material and curriculum.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I would say, yes and no. The road has been smooth in the way that the intensity of my commitment to understand myself and then help others has provided support, whether it be financial or otherwise, to allow me to continue this work. It has been difficult because doing deep inner work is difficult, and then trying to convey that inner experience through words often proves challenging. Not to mention how often I procrastinate and tell myself I will write tomorrow.

As you know, we’re big fans of Soul Work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Soul Work specializes in providing therapeutic services, primarily through psychotherapy. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker I help people to understand their internal patterning, process trauma and essentially provide a safe and protective space to understand more of who they really are and also, who they are not. As a writer/blogger I share my own experiences of the deep inner work, I call Soul Work. Soul Work plans to expand into group work, consulting and creating and publishing therapeutic material and curriculum.

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
My father was a great comfort to me so many of my most comforting memories come from being with him. Some of them that come to mind are sitting on his patio looking up at the night sky and asking him questions about the stars and the moon. Or when he made “A Special Day” for me and cooked spaghetti and picked some flowers for the table. I also recall listening to classical music and Peter and the Wolf on his record player or him reading to me while drinking hot tea with lemon and honey.

To continue reading, and more information, click here.

~Nikki, The Soul Reporter

Know the Soul ~ Know Thyself

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Yesterday morning I stayed in bed until 1pm. I wasn’t in a state of rumination. I wasn’t in a state of worry. Mostly, I just was. Inside of me there was lots of space.

This wasn’t always the case. I was filled up with worry, anxiety, unprocessed traumas, emotions and experiences. The space I experience now is still somewhat foreign, sometimes bordering on what seems like boredom–– but, I welcome it. Truly, I earned it.

For nearly 30 years I have been consciously doing what I now call Soul Work. It’s a lot of internal digging and discovery. It takes curiosity, presence and commitment. It caused many dark nights of the soul and countless internal shifts. This has brought me a life of continuous growth and change.

Today, with the new moon, I am launching my new business. The vision of this venture is to provide a space for growth and transformation through soul work. In doing so, I would work as guide/coach.

I am also a licensed social worker, working toward my clinical license. Through my education and work experience I have gained skills in assessing and knowledge of interventions and theories. 

These two elements have aligned with my strong desire to be a helper in the areas of self-discovery and growth. Not much matters to me more than this because when we know our selves, we know everything. Further, in knowing ourselves, we push our human evolution as a whole, forward. In light of the times, THIS IS NEEDED. 

Knowing ourselves is a process. The help I offer is not gimmicky or for most of us, quick. If this is something of interest to you, if you find yourself in a consistent state of anxiety, worry and overwhelm, perhaps it is time to tip- toe toward the soul and find what’s there.

Go to this link to learn more. After looking, if you have questions, please let me know. This will help me clarify my service for people. After looking, if you are interested, fill out the form or send me an email and we can begin.

~The Soul Reporter

Go Deeper

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Today’s Soul Report: The Spiritual Life

Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life. ~Buddha

I heard about a man who left his wife and children to pursue a spiritual adventure. I listened to a man preach from the Bible, and yet he smoked and drank. A woman says, “I am a Christian, but I don’t know enough about the Bible to have a conversation about it.” I see religious politicians on their soap box to reform homosexuals. I’ve called myself spiritual and have found myself intolerant of others.

If we call ourselves Christians and participate in self-destructive behaviors, while preaching the Word- I say, go deeper. If we call ourselves spiritual, yet find we are increasingly intolerant of others- I say again, go deeper. If we think we can’t be who we are without leaving a relationship or go om with the monks, again, go deeper.

Our spiritual life is not intended to stop once we proclaim, I am Christain, I am spiritual. I am this. I am that. The spiritual life continues. It expands. Deepens. Widens. A spiritual life need not restrict or exclude. Condemn or cut us off. And further the spiritual life has everything to do with who and where we are right now, which means the smoking, drinking, judging, leaving- whatever. It has to do with ourselves, and everything that means, some of which we know, most of which we don’t.

The spiritual life is first of all a life.
           It is not merely something to be known and studied, it is to be lived. ~Thomas Merton

There is a disconnect happening, at least that I see, and I believe it is because our awareness of the spiriutal life is in our heads. We listen, mostly, to the ideas in our head that we believe to be true, instead of listening to our soul. In order to go deeper, we must move our awareness away from our heads and into our soul space. Beyond this, I am not sure, but the soul is where I see, is the next space for humanity to move.

The soul speaks a different language. It’s more subtle. Flexible. Honest. It might speak to us in images or feelings or words, which surface spontaneously. Once there, we will be moved to spaces within us that might frighten and overwhelm us, but as I said in my previous post, the only way out is through and I do believe, many of us have yet to get over many of the experiences we have had in our lives. Our childhoods still haunt us. Traumas are still buried. Dreams ignored. There is a lot there to realize. And no matter what cliches or beliefs we hold and proclaim, if there is something troubling our soul, the only way to move through it is to look at it. Connect to it. Learn from it, and therefore grow because of it.

To live deeper and grow, we must move beyond our superficial and lazy way of living the spiritual life. We must question our current beliefs. Stretch our commitment beyond saying the right things or accepting the right savior. To say or think any thing that we have not fully realized from within does not make us of sound mind. It may provide some relief, and have us put off what we know we must do, for another day. But, if we want more inner stability. More wisdom. More flexibilty. Freedom. More of who we are- then, we must go deeper.

I guess it comes down to this: do we want something lasting and true or do we want something superficial and convenient? Do we really want to know who we are or just think we know who we are? Do we want to commit to living deeper now or later?

For those ready to excavate the soul, go to the “Soul Work” tab to learn more, and fill out the form. I’m here to be a guide, if you so desire.

Namaste,

The Soul Reporter

 

Soul Work

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Today’s Soul Report: Soul Work

Yesterday, I wrote about being open. Yesterday, I lived what I wrote. Today, I intend to do the same. But, back to yesterday- in my mind, I saw myself getting some work done in the afternoon, but instead I opened- and took some time with my morning pages. From there, I stood on the sidewalk and looked at the sky and all I wanted to do was walk. So I walked. As I walked, it became clear what my next step would be- to introduce Soul Work (I’ll say more about that in a minute).

When I returned from my walk, it was time to get my daughter and begin dinner. When I finally sat down to write out my plan for Soul Work, my daughter came in with some news. I put my work down and gave her all my attention. And then, I stayed up until 1:30 creating my ‘Soul Work’ page, located here on this blog (look up). The only reason I am telling you all these somewhat boring details is to share what I learned- if we stay open, every step to make the day complete and full, arrives. Had I not opened beyond my agenda-riddled mind, I would not have gone on a walk. Had I not gone on the walk, I may have, instead sat at the desk spinning my wheels, wasting time wondering what I should be doing.

See how efficient we can be, when we are OPEN.

Now- Soul Work. I am not going too far into what I mean by Soul Work (because I did that last night until almost 2 am and if you click here you can read more) but, one description I will give is a quote, which explains it: “The only useful purpose is to turn within and realize. There is nothing else to do.” (Ramana Maharishi) What I do want to go into more are reasons why this IS the only useful purpose.

Here is one reason:

The places unseen are what cause the most trouble.

The news my daughter gave me last night is too personal to share here, but what I will say is by coming to me, and sharing what what none of us saw, was we finally did see, and in us seeing, she could see even more. And for me this is what Soul Work is about. We tend to want change to be more complicated than this- you know, 10 steps to enlightenment sort of thing, but really it is about SEEING, and then it gets complicated because there is A LOT to see. But first steps, first….

So, if I were to give 10 steps to enlightenment, my first step would be to SEE. To LOOK. To PAY ATTENTION- to how you feel. What you think. Where you are standing right now. What you are holding inside. JUST STOP AND LOOK, and to help even more, share what you see with someone else. Maybe this is why confession was/is done. I never went, and when I see it in movies, it always looks kind of creepy, but there is something about confessing what we keep hidden- the secrets we don’t want anyone to know about, that shifts our behaviors. Because the places unseen are what cause the most trouble.

I will continue to share more reasons why Soul Work is the only useful thing to do.

Namaste,

The Soul Reporter