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Ta k e 5 a n d t r y t h e A B M P F i v e - M i n u t e M u s c l e s a t w w w. a b m p . c o m / f i v e - m i n u t e - m u s c l e s . 101 Besides being made of our physicality, we have—and are—a soul. On the most fundamental level, our soul seeks love. Moreover, it longs to receive, send, and create love. My soul is different from your soul. And Betty's and Beth's souls were distinct from each other's souls. What ensured love to Betty differed from Beth's perceptions about love. Hence, Beth's feelings, thoughts, and perceptions were showing Beth that her life wasn't aligned with her soul's concept of love. Ironically, most of the people in Beth's world were insisting that her feelings, thoughts, and perceptions were off base. She was taking pills to feel differently and told to alter her thoughts so she could perceive her life through the "correct" lens. From a subtle energy point of view, however, Beth's feelings, thoughts, and perceptions were exactly right on. As messages from her soul, these pillars of purpose were calling her to make life changes so she could express her soul in a more complete and loving way. That doesn't mean she needed to end her marriage or stop taking care of her children. Nor did it mean she should stop taking prescription medications. Rather, she needed to connect with her soul to identify her "true self" and make decisions from that place. Our life purpose isn't clear at birth. Our elementary teachers don't instruct us in it, nor can we look it up on a smartphone. We can't borrow meaning from someone else or unearth it from the words of a long- ago philosopher. That doesn't mean our searching can't provide us clues whereby we can figure out our life—or soul's—sense of love and meaning. THE THREE PILLARS OF PURPOSE Each of the three pillars of purpose (feelings, thoughts, and perceptions) provides the soul clues in different ways. Through these three vessels of communication, our soul reaches into our everyday lives and assists us in creating choices and composing decisions and actions. Feelings Each of the five basic feeling families or constellations shares a specific soul message: • Anger: You don't have helpful boundaries. Figure out which ones are needed and build them. • Disgust: An event, situation, person, food, or the like doesn't suit you. Stop participating. • Fear: You are experiencing a lack of safety and security. It's time to change direction. • Joy: Whatever is happening is great! Do more of it. • Sadness: You are failing to find love. It's time to figure out more ways to receive, send, or create from love. Thoughts Thoughts are merely opinions we decide to believe in or not. Ultimately, thoughts arise—even negative thoughts—because they need to be evaluated. It is our right to determine whether we want to consider a thought a minor or major player in our lives. In other words, we only want to accept the thoughts that are true to our inner soul and reject the others. Perceptions Perceptions are lenses through which we view situations. We have free will. We can employ any lens we want, but most are constructed from attitudes. If we perceive a situation through the lens of "being boring," we get to decide what to do about it. We Through these three vessels of communication, our soul reaches into our everyday lives and assists us in creating choices and composing decisions and actions. can remain bored, or we can decide that we are boring and make changes to entice our soul further into our daily existence. VIKTOR FRANKL: MEANING MATTERS Viktor Frankl was a neurologist and psychiatrist who lost most of his family to the concentration camps in Germany in the 1940s. He emerged from the camps with a philosophy of life that has become famous throughout the world. Namely, Frankl discovered that by clinging to the idea of life being meaningful, despite his abysmal circumstances, he could endure the torture. He also observed the same with other