4 Soulful Keys to Keep Moving Forward
Photo by Christian Bass on Unsplash
This past month, I’ve watched several colleagues and friends experience big acceleration. It wasn’t that it happened overnight — it was the result of months (or years) of staying with their work, their hearts, and their souls. Then, suddenly, the flywheel caught, and momentum carried them forward in big ways. Their work was being recognized, their path felt lit up. It was a leap into their next chapter.
I noticed a bit of that in myself, too, through the recent Career Change Challenge. It was definitely a learning curve — but it also moved me forward in meaningful ways toward what’s next. It also reminded me of my proper focus.
That got me thinking:
What about those of us who aren’t feeling that acceleration yet? Or those times when we wobble?
What helps us stay on track with our soul path, even when things feel slow or uncertain?
To explore this, I put together a little mind map of tools for empowerment and keys to soulful living. This is what keeps us moving forward — especially in a world that constantly distracts us from the deeper meaning our soul is pointing us toward.
Here are the four pillars I noted:
1. Sanity Habits
These are the foundations that keep us steady:
- Food, exercise, and sleep (basic, but not always easy!)
- Daily meditation and heartful check-ins
- Fun and social connections
- Creative outlets and contributing to causes you care about
- Tools for when you’re triggered or in fight-or-flight
2. Strategic Growth
If we’re committed to growth, we need a plan. That might look like:
- Yearly visions, broken into quarterly, monthly, and weekly goals
- Plans rooted in both logic and heart (the mind alone can’t lead a soul-driven life)
- Written or digital notes, and check backs, so you can remember these in the busyness of life
3. Courageous Action
Growth requires stepping out of comfort zones. For me, that meant stepping up to do the Challenge — messy as it was. Courageous action is about:
- Naming the step and following through
- Tracking the learning (not just the outcome) in a compassionate, growth-furthering way
- Recognizing any skill gaps and asking for help to grow
4. Deeper Healing
As we take courageous steps, old patterns or beliefs may rise up. This is where we may need:
- More support (therapy, coaching, spiritual guidance)
- Boundaries — learning to say no so there’s space for what matters
- Realignment in relationships, home, or environment
- Patience for the deeper healing work that unfolds over time
These are the pillars I’ve been reflecting on — but I’d love to hear from you.
👉 What keeps you empowered on your soulful path?
👉 What’s been key for you when life gets noisy or distracting?
Personal Story: The Nonlinear Path
What might this look like in real life? For me — it’s not always linear. There are often unexpected stalls, like a night of poor sleep. This is where we may need to adjust our speed, timelines, and bring in self compassion.
Those of us who are more creative and sensitive often experience fluctuations on the soulful path. You make great progress in one area, then slip back in another. For example, this fall I fell off my food plan — and it didn’t feel good. But feedback is always there, that contrast between ideal and real. I joined a cleanse and reset – much better!
I’ve also learned that my planning style is more creative than logical. It can feel meandering, yet when I look back, I’ve often met my yearly or quarterly goals. I have to keep it simple and regularly refresh my focus. Around the equinox especially — with its “standstill” energy — I found myself returning again and again to the plan. There can be a bit of amnesia with these, have you noticed? So I write them down, and create a visual “cheat sheet”. I also have Mastermind partners to keep me on track. I continually tweaking my weekly schedule to create time for what matters.
This quarter, my focus includes three business goals, maintaining my health and spiritual practices, and branching out with dating and creativity (hello, courageous actions!). In the summer I realized I needed more support, and once I named it, help showed up with ease. There’s still technical support to line up, but I trust it will arrive in the right timing.
And always — the foundation is sanity habits. If something feels off, that’s the best place to begin. A poor night of sleep or diet derails may be a message to give some attention to the need for a bigger reset. These foundations give you bandwidth for any deeper healing needs that may arise.
The heart’s progress looks different from the to do list progress, so give yourself a lot of grace on this earth walk.
Thanks for being here, and my best to your sane success.
Denise Barnes
Soul Savvy Guide
Resources this month:
Career Coaching: Two books of this area have jumped onto the bedstand:
The Happiness Files: Insight on Work and Life, Arthur C. Brooks – He’s a professor at Harvard Business School, and author of many books, on co-authored with Oprah. His course at Harvard is Leadership and Happiness. This recent book includes articles from his weekly column in the Atlantic, How to Build a Life. He covers relevant research first, then give simple steps for the reader to try.
Becoming You: the Proven Method for Crafting Your Authentic Life and Career, Suzy Welch – She is a profession of NYU business school, and brings her expertise on values and their role in forging meaningful careers. Has composed 3 researched tools. The tone of the book is warm, real, and the content includes helpful client stories.
Simon Sinek podcast with Arthur Brooks – Your instincts know what you want – You’ll see how Brooks weaves in the research, fascinating. His own life shows the value of courageous actions, and not being afraid to start over.
Emotion-focused coping
– Emotion-focused tools are often a great fit for things we can’t control. They also help you mine and grow the wisdom of your emotional intelligence. The author believes that avoiding or suppressing emotion is the cause of most problems. Interesting approach that notes that thinking isn’t relevant, most of the time.
Main book for his “Letting go” tool – Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender, David R. Hawkins
Another famous one: Power vs Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior
Comments welcome:
👉 What keeps you empowered on your soulful path?
👉 What’s been key for you when life gets noisy or distracting?
👉 What new tools are you loving?