Your Weekly Soul Pause
A few moments each week to return to your Spiritual Heart, nourish your Soul Cup, and let your Inner Sparkle shine.
Hello Beautiful Soul,
Last week, I asked you a pretty big question:
What do you want to experience with the time you have left?
I asked myself the same question. And I’ve been writing. At first, I wrote down some of the things you might expect to find on a list like this.
Places I want to go. People I want to spend more time with. Things I’d love to do. But as I’ve kept writing, something interesting has shown up.
My list is beginning to show me more than the things I want to experience.
It’s showing me the kind of life I want to live.
For example, I want to travel. I’ve always loved traveling and experiencing new places. I want to go to Europe. I want to visit close friends who live in different parts of the country. I want to wander through charming little towns and stay in beautiful bed-and-breakfasts. I’ve always loved Victorian B&Bs. Something about them draws me in. The history. The architecture. The character. I love imagining all the people who have walked through those doors and the stories those old homes could tell. I’d love to travel throughout the United States and Europe, staying in beautiful B&Bs along the way.
Just writing that makes me smile : )
But here’s where my list started getting even more interesting. Because when I think about the life I want to experience, I don’t only see myself traveling for pleasure.
I see my work there too.
I love what I do with Heart & Soul Publishing. I love sitting with an author and listening to her story. I love helping her discover what she really wants to say. I love helping women bring their voices into the world and feel seen and heard.
And when I allow myself to dream without immediately worrying about how it’s all going to happen, I can see myself traveling to meet with authors one-on-one. Sitting across from them over coffee or a glass of wine and hearing their stories. Building those personal relationships.
Attending book fairs in the United States and internationally. Putting together intimate author events in different places. Connecting women. Connecting stories.
Traveling. Writing. Creating. Experiencing beautiful places. Doing meaningful work with people I care about.
And suddenly, I realized:
These aren’t a bunch of unrelated things on my list.
They’re showing me what I’m longing to experience in life.
That surprised me. Because I think sometimes when we talk about our dreams, we separate everything into categories, or at least I do.
Work goes over here. Family goes over there. Travel goes somewhere else. Our relationships have their own little box. Our spiritual life gets another one. And our dreams?
Well, we’ll get to those when we have time.
But what if they’re not as separate as we think?
What if the things that keep showing up in our hearts are giving us clues about how we want to experience our lives?
I’ve been thinking about that.
When I look at my own list, I see some common threads.
Connection. Beauty. Creativity. Meaningful work. Travel. Relationships. Stories. Freedom. God. Love.
Those things feel like me. Not who I think I should be. Not some future version of myself I’m trying to become.
Me.
And maybe that’s one of the gifts of asking ourselves what we want to experience. We begin to know ourselves a little better. We begin to notice what lights us up. What matters. What keeps calling us. What we want more of. And perhaps even what God has been quietly placing on our hearts all along.
I don’t know exactly what my life will look like five or ten years from now. None of us do. And I’m not trying to create some perfect picture of my future and then force my life to match it.
I’m simply listening. Paying attention. Allowing myself to dream. And becoming curious about what those dreams might be revealing.
Maybe you can do the same.
Look at the things you’ve written on your list. Don’t worry about whether you can afford them yet. Don’t worry about when they’ll happen. Don’t talk yourself out of them because they seem impractical.
We’ll get to some of that.
For now, maybe you can simply give yourselves permission to ask:
What is my list telling me about the life I’m longing to experience?
And then listen. You may discover something about yourself you haven’t noticed before.
✨ Reflection
Go back to the list you started last week. Read it slowly. Instead of looking at each item separately, look for the threads running through them.
Maybe you wrote down travel several times like me. Maybe family keeps appearing. Maybe you want more adventure. More creativity. More friendship. More time in nature. More meaningful work. More laughter. More quiet. More connection with God. More freedom. More love.
Ask yourself:
What keeps showing up?
What brings me alive when I think about it?
What do these desires have in common?
What might they be telling me about myself?
And perhaps:
What are they revealing about the life I want to experience?
Don’t analyze your answers too much. Just notice.
💜 Heartfelt Invitation
This week, keep adding to your list. But this time, go a little deeper.
Give yourself permission to write down what you really want to experience. Not what sounds practical. Not what you think you’re supposed to want at this age. Not what would make sense to someone else.
What do you want?
Maybe it’s traveling the world. Maybe it’s falling in love again. Maybe it’s starting a business. Writing a book. Living near your grandchildren. Finding a circle of girlfriends. Learning to paint. Spending more time in nature. Deepening your relationship with God. Or maybe you simply want more peace in your everyday life.
There is no right list.
There is only your list.
And if you feel comfortable, I’d love for you to share something from it with me in the comments. Not because you need a plan to make it happen.
You don’t.
I’m still figuring mine out too.
I simply want to know:
What are you longing to experience?
Maybe by sharing our dreams with one another, we’ll begin to realize we’re not walking this journey alone.
✨ Soul Pause Blessing
May this week’s Soul Pause give you permission to dream without needing to know how right away.
May you become curious about the desires God has placed within your heart.
May you recognize the people, places, experiences, and moments that bring your Inner Sparkle to life.
May you trust that knowing yourself more deeply is part of coming home to yourself.
And may you continue creating a life you love living, not all at once, but one day, one choice, and one beautiful moment at a time.
With a grateful heart,
Bobbi 💜
Founder & CEO of Heart & Soul Publishing
You matter. Keep shining your Inner Sparkle. The world needs your light.
Mine is screaming that I want to be able to retire earlier than what is currently in the plan. It's hard to give up the safety net of a regular paycheck. I guess I'll have to travel more aggressively while the money is still arriving with consistency, lol. I still have Australia and Costa Rica on my bucket list.