Soul Work

To the Soul Workers

There are people who are willing to sit with their own grief, suffering, and turmoil - whether personal, communal, or global. People who do not turn away. In many ways, I liken it to an apprenticeship - ongoing.

For so many, it feels excruciating to sit with what arises inside. The instinct is to reach for distractions, like eating, shopping, drinking, scrolling, endorphin hits, devices - anything to avoid the discomfort. But those who choose to stay discover something different: our awareness broadens, consciousness ripens, courage and compassion deepens.

Many people feel but struggle to name it: the sacredness of those who can truly stay with suffering without turning away, or trying to fix.

This kind of presence allows you to truly see another person and what they are carrying. You are not unsettled by their pain. You are not tangled up in your own worries about saying or doing the “wrong” thing. Instead, there is an ease, a steady being-with. It sounds like: “I won’t leave you. I’m here alongside you.”

It is important to remember: this is not savior energy, nor the urge to fix or advise. That belongs to the ego. This is something quieter, deeper - a grounded force that stays beside you, bearing witness without interference.

As the poem A Medicine Woman’s Prayer expresses so beautifully:

I will not rescue you

for you are not powerless.

I will not fix you

for you are not broken.

I will not heal you

for I see you in your wholeness.

I will walk with you

through your darkness

as you remember

your light.

This is soul work. And I am deeply grateful for the soul workers - the elders, healers, witches, whatever names we may give them. They remind us that grief, struggle, stress and suffering are not problems to be solved, but part of life itself. And life is sustained by those who remain, who do not run away.