Introduction to Simplicity of Soul Thinking
The soul empowers us to create prosperity simply, powerfully and in harmony with each other and the planet. Soul thinking is our gift and our birthright. Here’s is the story behind the discovery of soul thinking from my extraordinary encounter with whom I believed to be God, or the Holy Spirit. ( It feels so awkward making this claim!)
Press the left arrow to listen to How Soul Thinking Came Into My Life:
Podcast in Print:
Kathleen Ann here! Welcome to SOS: Simplicity of Soul, my first podcast on Soul Thinking. This presentation is almost forty years in the making. Why? Because up to this point, I was too much of a coward to tell my story. I was too worried I’d be rejected, or worse, considered crazy. Clearly, I don’t feel this way anymore, because here I am, telling my story—a story that has not left me alone in all this time.
I discovered soul thinking in 1979 through an experience that changed my life forever. But, back then, when I tried to share what happened, I became so emotional that people thought I was unhinged. My family understood me. Heck, my mother and two of my siblings were with me at the time, but trying to explain what I’d learned was too bizarre for others to accept. And it didn’t help that I’d break into tears while trying to describe what I’d experienced.
So, I stopped talking. I concentrated on my life and my family just like everyone else I knew. Today, my sons are grown and on their own. My time is now my own. What I know is very powerful, and Time is up. I can no longer pretend I don’t know about this wonderful force already built into our very being. I refuse to worry whether or not you will think I’m crazy, because what I have to share is far more important than having my feelings hurt.
Now, the story I am about to relate is true. I am convinced this information will change your life and the lives you touch. It did mine. And the best part? This information will cost you absolutely nothing but the time it takes you to listen. So grab a cup of coffee, or go for your walk and share the next twenty-something minutes with me. My intention is to introduce you to Soul Thinking by telling my story. There is nothing difficult about Soul Thinking. It is tool already built into our being. Simply becoming aware of your own soul will tap into the beginning of Soul Thinking. You’re going to love it!
WHY THIS PODCAST?
I call this podcast SOS because quite frankly with the current state the world—economically, spiritually, philosophically and ecologically—we’re out of time for long-term answers. The younger generations are feeling the depletion of funds, morals and natural resources created by us and our progenitors. Our younger folk are feeling deceived. Robbed. Concerned for the future more strongly than we ever have. Why? Because the model by which modern society lives does not work. At best, it is self-destructive.
SOS in Morse code is popular for phrases like, “Save Our Ship”, or “Save Our Souls”, or “Send Out Succor.” Each of those phrases is appropriate for my choice of SOS: Simplicity of Soul. By understanding the reality of Soul Thinking we simplify our approach to life while creating the abundant lives we desire without harming ourselves, others or our planet. Yes. You heard me correctly. With Soul Thinking, as a species dwelling on this jewel of a planet, we can finally get a handle on who we truly are and why we are really here. Most exciting? The answer is so very simple it will blow your mind.
SO, HOW DO I KNOW THIS ANSWER?
I am no one special. I am my sons’ mom, a sister to seven siblings. I am a published author in several romance genres. I own a cigar company with my partner, and sell real estate. Nothing very different from what you may do. But, from a very young age, I was acutely aware of other people’s needs and feelings. I felt a deep connection to something/ someone/somewhere that I could not see. I believed I was never alone. Perhaps from being raised Catholic where my mother told us stories about God and Heaven at an early age, I imagined angels and a white-robed, bearded guardian watching over me from the clouds. Yet, something deep inside me felt an understanding about this invisible force that existed for us—within us—and I wanted a hands-on, one-on-one interaction with it. And, I was acutely aware that perhaps I was one of a very few five-year olds who wanted such contact.
As I went through Catholic school, I learned about saints, visionaries and young girls and boys in Lourdes and Fatima having conversations with the Mother of God. OMG! I wanted that. So, I wondered: Why wouldn’t the Blessed Mother want to talk to me? I prayed. Begged. Chatted away in my prayers at night like we were best of friends. I used to lie in the top bunk bed in my room whispering, “Hey, it’s me. I’m over here in this top bunk in this little room. Can you hear me?”
As a kid I bought this little glow-in-the-dark statue of the Blessed Mother. One night I looked down from my bunk and saw it glowing and thought . . . oh, there she is! And then I realized, Oh . . . it’s a glow in the dark statue. Ha!
So, as you can imagine, for all those years, I heard nothing. Not a peep. Life went on. Meanwhile, I still felt that tie to something greater than myself. I loved being alive. Nature thrilled me. I grew up a happy person. I finished high school—which I loved. Went to college-which I loved. Met my husband and married young. And right about then, in 1979, is when my true understanding of our existence and our journey through life ignited. Please understand that this is not a discussion on religion. I am simply recounting an experience that transcends all religious dogma. Everyone from every walk of life can appreciate this story.
SO, HERE IS MY STORY:
Right after I was married at the ripe age of 23, my husband and I planned to move from our Amityville, New York home to Miami, Florida. My mother, upset that we were moving away, invited me and my brother and sister (not everyone wanted to go) on a road trip to spend some time together before leaving. I asked where we were going. She said it was a surprise.
Now, my mother, God bless her, is a bit of a fanatical Catholic. So, I shouldn’t have been surprised when we ended up in the parking lot of a small, threadbare church in the heart of Worcester, Massachusetts. Mom announced that we were about to attend a charismatic service. We said, “A what?” To which she said, “You’ll see,” and herded us into the church.
Skeptical? Completely. Disappointed? Absolutely! We thought we were going somewhere fun and adventurous. My Mom was notorious for letting her religion supersede her good sense. I was convinced this was another one of those times. But, guess what. Within two hours I would experience an adventure that would change my life.
At that moment, however, my siblings and I shot each other looks as if to say, here we go again! I decided right there and then that if I detected any duplicity on the part of this priest for whom Mother had driven four hours, I would stand up and challenge him for taking advantage of people willing to trust him as an agent of love, truth . . . and oh heck, God.
We found standing room in the balcony of the packed-to-the-rafters church. I could not see the altar from the crush of folks in front of us. What I did notice was a captivating, ethereal music. Against the din of people talking, the music was the only clear sound I heard. I thought, Angels. It has to be angels singing. I never heard anything so beautiful. I sat on a step, and began weeping. Why? I still don’t know. It was my reaction to the music. But, they were tears of gratitude and I could not stop. My younger brother questioned me and I just shrugged and said, “It’s the music. I feel so foolish!”
Moments later a man began speaking. Standing along the back wall of the balcony I couldn’t see him at first but I remember thinking, “If I were to hear the voice of Christ this is how He would sound.” The gentleness and the purity in this man’s voice had my complete attention. Instinct told me that this man was someone special. I craned to see a young, dark-haired man in white vestment with a white cord tied around his waist walking up the center aisle of the church. No pomp. No circumstance. Humble.
I was intrigued. I wanted to hear everything this man had to say. What I didn’t know was that this priest, Father Ralph DiOrio, was conducting a healing service. After he explained how the next hour would unfold, I worked my way to the edge of the balcony as assistants starting bring people forward from the crowd. From my vantage point, I watch father pray over a young boy in a wheelchair and from my bird’s eye view, I saw one shorter leg grow to match the other healthy leg. No joke. My mind could hardly register what my eyes were witnessing. None of the other healings were as obvious, as they were internal illnesses on folks, but viewing that boy’s leg growing longer rattled me right down to my toes.
This is insane, right? That kind of healing just doesn’t happen in real life, right?
Right! But . . . what if?
After Father D’Orio finished his healings, the congregation dismissed for lunch, to return in an hour. My mother didn’t want to miss a minute of the next half of the service so we ate sandwiches from paper lunch bags she had prepared in advance. Call me shallow at my mother’s forethought, but given my expectations (and, let me add, expectations are such a terrible nuisance) I thought, really? Not even a Big Mac to celebrate our road trip?
Despite the fact that I was awed by the boy in the wheelchair, after discussing what I’d witnessed with my siblings, a healthy dose of skepticism rose among us. The others hadn’t seen the boy’s leg grow because I’d moved to a better view on the balcony, but they were on board with me. To my mother’s complete irritation, my siblings and I decided that unless we saw proof, there had to be a gimmick here. The morning’s events simply could not have been possible.
Since it only took minutes to eat, Mom rushed us back into the church to claim better seats. The five of us ended up in wooden pews smack in the middle, right-hand side of the church. Mom was pleased. I was surprised at how quickly the church filled to the balcony once again. I expected to hear more of that amazing music, but no. Just regular church music. Lovely, but nothing like what I’d heard when we arrived. It wasn’t long before Fr. DiOrio returned. Quiet, peaceful as before, but meditative. His intentions were clear for the rest of the service, but looking back, I wonder if he knew what was about to happen. And when it did, how did he keep so cool?
Fr. DiOrio invited everyone to hold hands with the person next to them. Then, he asked us to close our eyes and simply listen. He intended to pray out loud. He said our silence and listening made his one prayer our own, and therefore more powerful. So he began.
I can’t quit remember everything he said. I do remember he spoke of the power of angels. The power of our guardian angels. The beauty of the earth and the breath of the Holy Spirit present on the planet. And then, with my eyes closed, the clatter began. Thump. Bump. Bump. I opened my eyes. All around me people were collapsing. In front of me. Behind me. Above in the balcony, one man seemed unconsciousness and was hanging over the edge.
People began shouting. Women screamed. Father DiOrio immediately instructed everyone not to touch anyone who’d fallen. He explained that the Holy Spirit united with their souls causing their bodies to lose motor skills. They were unharmed. Having a spiritual moment. If we touched them, it would break the connection with the Divine.
Terrified, my younger sister broke her handhold with my brother and bolted from the church. I learned afterwards that she locked herself in the car and cried. None of my family members had “gone down” as I called it, but my mother was swaying ominously. Horrified, I jammed my eyes shut and said this prayer as fervently as I could to the one and only God I know.
I said, “I know you’re out there, God, and you know I love you. But, You’d better listen, and listen good. I’ve fainted all my life. I hate the feeling. I am NOT GOING DOWN!”
At that moment, with my eyes closed, this brilliant, overwhelmingly spotlight-white light ignited inside my head. I felt as if I was mentally squinting to shield my eyes from the blaring radiance. Within this light, a golden triangle appeared that grew larger until my head was filled with these shimmering, trilateral edges alive like molten, liquid gold. I remember sighing out loud.
Next, inside the triangle, an eye appeared. Long-lashed, this magnificent Eye opened. I can’t be sure of the color but I’d say light blue, like the most perfect, sun-filled day. Awed as I watched the eye open, I felt something inside me move. I was lifted on a current of energy, my arms outstretched like flying. As I flowed toward this eye, I realized I was still standing, holding hands with my mother and brother. Yet, I was in motion, moving out of my body and streaming toward the eye into what? The Universe.
Upon later reflection, I realized my soul had connected with this power moving through the church while my body stood still. The fact that I could see where I was traveling proved that my soul has vision. I was intact. Whole, yet without my body. I was consciously and completely experiencing my soul freed from the physical.
Can you imagine this story coming from a good Catholic, raised by the rules, don’t-question-only-obey type of girl? You can see why folks thought my story bizarre, especially when, back then, I related this story like a blubbering idiot! But, let me continue.
Lifted on this current of energy, I flew through the pupil of this exquisite Eye as if soaring through the window of all windows. This sudden shift in my reality happened too fast for me to question, as one with the energy, I literally soared into the Universe. Everything felt soft, comfortable, familiar and vast. The darkness had substance. The light of stars had substance. Awed, I felt the flow of the energy moving me forward. I felt completely safe. You know how scientists say the Universe is traveling outwards as a result of the original Big Bang theory? I was racing outward with the stars and galaxies moving away from me at the same pace that I was heading toward them. I could feel the energy running through me, out my fingertips to the left and to the right. I felt euphoric. I felt calm, energized, free. For a brief moment, a wave of understanding washed over me. I understood everything. The meaning of Creation. The purpose of life. Why we are here. I remember saying, “Oh! It is all so simple! How could we not know?”
Why were we created? Why are we here? For one simple reason. Love. Now, I know you have heard this before, but please listen closely. It is so important that you understand the following: You and I are the Creation of an outpouring of unlimited, unbridled Love. We are the manifestation (I want to say the explosion) of an overwhelming emotion that ignited simply because the Joy of creating us could not be contained. You and I exist on this perfect, renewing planet (another outpouring of love and perfection, by the way) simply to experience and share what our Creator felt: LOVE. How are we supposed to experience this phenomenon? Simply by being who we were born to be. Do you notice I keep saying the word, simply? Soul Thinking is simple. Inborn. Ready for us to tap at any time.
Now, this Being with whom I connected was larger than life and the purest, most innocent and joyful form of Existence I have ever experienced. I felt infinitesimal next to this swirling dynamo of fiery energy. It’s so hard to put into words. . . but this Being was like a mountain of contained, happy, burning power. No form. Pure energy. I realized that when scripture says, “Fear the Lord for He is great,” it’s not that he is damning, it is because He is such a dynamo of complete and pure compassion that to realize our form compared to his is terrifying! Only, what stunned me was that it appeared to me that this powerful, omnipresent Being was like an innocent child smarter than existence itself, yet disarmingly and exquisitely charming. It seemed to me that this Being cannot comprehend hate, fear, unkindness, tragedy, violence, suffering, loss, depression, despondency, greed or lack. Negative emotions such as these—experiences such as these—did not exist for this Being. At all. Not in the least. If I generated such an emotion, it would bounce of its surface. The beauty of it? At that moment, I did not believe anything negative existed either. I was sharing the wonderment of simply being.
Do you understand what I am saying? If I tried to explain a single negative expression to this Being, it would be as if He could not hear me. As if while expressing such earthly pain I would become invisible, because for this Being, pain does not exists. It is not a manifestation of God. Therefore, simply does not exist. Suffering experienced on earth is not a manifestation of God, but men. And God did not intend suffering as part of his Creation.
I am saying that Truth is Joy. Truth is Fearless. Truth is Innocence because nothing negative exists in reality outside the earth to believe otherwise. Negative emotion simply DOES NOT EXIST in the realm of Perfection. So those negative things we feel as humans must be stepping stone—or gifts—for us to reach a higher level of understanding joy.
I think that what we fail to understand as human beings is that we are a part of this Perfection. We were created as an outpouring of love from the sheer joy of Creating perfection from Perfection. Each and every human being is a perfect machine carrying a perfect soul. Our bodies leave our mothers when we are born, but our soul—which was part of our creation—stays with us. Our soul is our umbilical cord to all that is possible. Fear is the only tool holding any of us back from believing in the power of our soul. We can do anything. When we trust from our soul—our tie to Creation—dare I say, to God—everything works out.
Can you comprehend the possibility? Please take some time to think about this information after we finish, because, that was not the end of my story. To top off this breathtaking experience, this Being spoke to me. I heard Him (and I say, ‘him’, because the message seemed masculine) from behind my right ear. He said simply:
I am so gentle. I would never harm you.
Simply. Softly spoken. And, not what I expected to hear. Remember, I started this encounter in a state of terror. I demanded that I not be harmed. Yet, from this Being, there was no condemnation, no criticism. Only a quiet explanation of what is true. I wanted to throw my arms up and leave with this Being, never to come back again. (I felt as if the invitation was there.) But, I suddenly remembered I was standing in a church and that I was recently married and my husband and family would not know what happened to me. I said out loud, “They won’t know what happened.”
And with that, the Eye closed. And was gone. I sucked in a huge breath and opened my eyes to see I still stood in the same church holding hands with my mother and brother. Knees trembling and near tears, I looked from one to the other and whispered, “Did anybody else see that?”
My mother and other siblings had not. My brother and sister had enough and begged my mother to leave. Not sure what else to do, my mother piled us into the car to head home. I don’t know what she had expected to happen on the visit to the charismatic healing, but she didn’t want her children to be hysterical with fear and pointing out visions they had no right experiencing.
So, in retrospect, the day was a bust for mother, but changed my life forever. And now, I am sharing this experience with you because I am no longer afraid. I finally understand that even when I don’t understand something that is happening, I don’t have to worry. I simply have to trust. Open my soul to answers, and Believe. Move forward. And everything unfolds as it should. This is Soul Thinking. It is that simple. The only trick is to recognize your soul, and understand its purpose, which is to bring you to your fullest potential. And, in so doing, everyone around you reaches their potential. Soul Thinking is a win-win situation for everyone.
In my podcasts to come, I want to share why I found this experience so terrifying when all was said and done. I want to discuss my new understanding of fear. I want to explain how my understanding of Soul Thinking evolved from this experience. I want to discuss how to tap into and trust Soul Thinking. I want to talk about fear and how useless this emotion is to our existence. I have so much more to discuss with you. I’m sure you have questions, perhaps criticisms. I am happy to address each one. But, for now, it is time to close.
Thank you for taking time from your busy day to listen to my story. I hope this discussion either confirms or awakens the truth for you about the power of our soul in our lives and in our world. I welcome questions or feedback. Please feel free to email me at SOSKathleenAnn@gmail.com. I promise I will answer. ‘Til then, please see yourself and each other through the eyes of your soul. All you have to do is look.
Much love! Kathleen Ann