Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Soul Tribes

 I have had quite a number of interesting interactions lately.  Lot’s of good conversations, many moments where I paused to appreciate the similarities and differences among humanity, and I am drained, but full! I love the moments in life when the irony is so thick you could cut it with a knife.  Some may say that’s a bit of a masochistic view point, but I welcome those moments.  It is those moments that are richest and ripe for learning, at least for me.  I love when that right person appears at the exact right moment AND I can actually feel and acknowledge it happening.  That second part is the kicker, because at least in my world, everything happens just as it is supposed to, but I am not always aware of the connections.
While schlepping about for work today, I end up having not one, but two amazing conversations.  In the latter conversation we somehow got to the subject of people belonging to ‘soul tribes’…. an interesting concept to say the least.  So person’s in one’s soul tribe are people you have a connection with-  an immediate and undeniable energy, and that energy doesn’t soften with time.  No matter how long you’ve known one another, how long it has been since you last interacted, the energy is always there and always fierce.  People in your soul tribe can be friends, or lovers-the energy is different in each circumstance obviously, but it both cases it is almost magnetic. The soul tribe lover is the one, and not the one in the “I am going to marry them, they are the one” sense.  More, the one that does not and cannot ever compare with any other lover, whether it’s a lover or a significant other, the energy is unmatched and almost indescribable- it vibrates on a different frequency than the rest.   I actually believe I have met quite a few people in my soul tribe.  These are the friends that have been through it with you no matter what, and generally they know what is up with you before you tell them.  The people you meet and are instantly attracted to something about them.  The people you can talk to for hours about bullshit or the deepest shit and still achieve the same feeling of completeness at the end of the conversation. Meeting members of your soul tribe is a gift- something to recognize, cherish and cultivate.  But I believe that both the mind and soul must be open in order to recognize these opportunities when they arise.  How often do we go about our day on auto pilot? One of my professors used to say- who drove your car to school?! We have to be pinging at a certain level of consciousness in order to realize when someone is making an amazing impact on our energy.
It happens all the time with regards to those who are sucking the energy out of us, most of us will recognize those interactions as unhealthy and stay away from said people, interesting that we do not always appreciate those who feed our souls…  I believe that once that energy is in place within one’s self, it then becomes easier to recognize other members of our tribe.  And once we have opened ourselves up to recognizing these connections we can build upon that... and the process continues.  Of course, to many the concept of a soul tribe may seem abstract, maybe even a little crazy, but- if one really looks at the deeper connections in life the abstraction fades into familiarity. We have all been in that spot.  We have all met members of our own respective soul tribes, whether we choose to call it that or even acknowledge it—in the end it is the human experience that is undeniable.  Its not a cult thing, or a club thing-there are no secret handshakes or weird rituals. This is an experience thing, do I walk through my life thinking everything is coincidence, or do I go through life building on that power of interpersonal connection? I choose the latter, in many ways it seems a lot less hibbity-jibbity than explaining everything away with non-explanations like coincidence. ..