[Kelly Janae]

To be Soul-directed is to make life decisions according to your heart before your head. It is the practice of knowing yourself deeper than anyone else could ever know you, and having the ability to independently follow your intuition. Not in the sense that you are isolating yourself from the world, or not taking anyone’s opinions into account; rather, to be Soul-directed is to live in relationship with and in full faith of Spirit, the Oneness that resides in everything and everyone.

Practically speaking, this means choosing a career path that brings us pure joy, welcoming only friends and partners who encourage and support our higher journeys in life, traveling to locations or events that seem to call us there (even if we do not know why). It is complete trust in the Self and in the Universe. It is living by the belief that deep inside, we know Who and Whose We Are, and that all we have to do is remember. In this way, to move forward is to go back in time to our roots, our origins, the reason we exist in the first place. Time is nonlinear. The Soul is eternal. This life is simply a truncated episode in the infinite show of life; a show in which we are the actor, and the Soul is the director. Soul-Directed Living, indeed.

For me, Nature Connection has been a major influence in teaching me the ways of Soul-directed Living; therefore, I see this practice and concept as a sort of pre- or co-requisite, or naturally-occurring byproduct, of living in line with one’s Soul purpose. Again, connecting to nature is a sort of remembering. There are times in nature when your mind is quiet, your senses are heightened, and you are truly listening – and a revelation, a truth, seems to bubble up into your consciousness from seemingly nowhere. This is another example of remembering what at one point, when nature was our home, when the stars filled the sky with their stories, when words were scarce and love was unconditional, we already knew without even knowing that we knew it. Nature Connection is to live, eat, act in accordance with the seasons. It is to understand our bodies’ reactions to outside influences, even on the most subtle level; and to intuitively know how to holistically heal those issues when they arise. It is hearing the words of the trees as easy as a breath; and breathing as easy as our medulla makes it seem. It is the lifestyle of paying attention to what is around us, so that we can better understand what is within us. In this way, we can then fully give all that we have to offer the world.

We are human beings, which means that we live in both the spiritual and the physical realm. In order to fulfill our Soul’s purpose (to live a Soul-directed life), we must experience the fullness of Nature Connection (as it pertains to knowing, respecting, and loving Mother Earth). Before we reach into the cosmic realms of Oneness we have to see and feel it HERE, NOW. For whatever reason, our Souls have manifested in this form, and the state of our planet is a mirror of the turmoil that is churning inside of us for having forgotten and forsaken our origins. By tuning into the absolutely miraculous, beautiful, bountiful land we have been given, and thanking her every single day for everything she has ever done for us, we are automatically more equipped to answer the “bigger” questions of life: Who am I, and why am I here? By living presently with this Earth, we honor ourselves, give ourselves permission to live, and openly receive the gifts that come from leading with our Soul-directed hearts.

[Kelly Janae]

Hi all, my name is Kelly Janae (juh-nay), or Kelly for short. I currently work for a sustainability- and community resiliency-focused nonprofit called Ridge to Reefs, which fulfills my passion for travel, environmental service, continuous learning, and community building. In my off hours, I spend time making creative content for and building my business Ethereal Ecology <3 I am forever pursuing the search for spiritual advancement and groundedness in earth practices. My dream is to have an immense positive impact in changing the way people view their relationship to nature, to other human beings, and to their Selves.

[Kelly Janae]

Thank you to both @jacklyn.couturier and @nelumbohealingarts for sharing! I also started my nature-connected leadership path as a result of being laid off 10 months ago. My job as an engineer in the solar industry was so stressful I was starting to have panic attacks for the first time in my life. I saw so many flaws in our sustainability ethics that I started a committee, and was leading mindfulness meditations when I could, but all the extra work of just trying to do something I cared about was too much to handle. I basically was praying for something to happen that would allow me to transition into a less stressful, more fulfilling, outdoor and sustainability-related job. I started my business and blog in February and only started working for this amazing nonprofit a month and a half ago. It is incredible the events that have led up to this moment of finally converging on a huge step toward fulfilling my soul’s purpose. I really hope more people can learn how to follow their hearts; and that more people are able to find communities that encourage them to take care of themselves, to make decisions they actually believe in.