Essential Soul Care™ has been percolating for some time now- for at least six years but really, quite longer. Combine my 25 years as a psychotherapist and a dozen years as a life/wellness coach and that lays a fairly solid foundation to this alchemy of integrative elements that make up Essential Soul Care.
For about 10 years I have been teaching on the topic of intuition and how to ethically integrate intuition as well as other approaches, including divination tools such as oracle cards and essential oils into the helping professional’s practice with clients.
I have launched a couple of successful courses, most notably, the Intuitive Wellness Coach Practitioner course. This is a 200-hour self-paced online course that affords the graduate the ability to seek a third party credential that is recognized in the coaching profession.
Over the years, I have wanted to hone my course to speak specifically to the spiritual nature of the work we do, the guidance we give, the tools we use and the teachings we share. I knew for this to happen, I would need to write a book further defining my influence.
Once I decided to write the book, I very quickly came up with the Title, The Essential Soul Care™ Playbook. That was easy. The subtitle, not so much. In the meantime, I decided to bring on a collaborator to this project that I knew was growing well beyond a book and knowing that we are very alike yet different in complimentary modalities, I asked Madison to join me.
In one afternoon, we brainstormed many subtitles and finally settled on, Designing an Expansive Life. We both knew this was it, but upon sharing this subtitle with my friend and colleague, Cedric Speyer, I sensed a frowny face through the phone. My sense was right and he said that really wasn’t working for him. And then he paused and said that the word expansive reminded him a book he read many years ago in the seventies. “Hold on, I have it right here…” He said, “All I remember about the book is the author’s concept of expansion and contraction.” He opened the book to see how far into the first chapter the word expansion would appear. First page, fourth paragraph and the author states “The basic function of each being is expanding and contracting.” We both took this as a sign that the subtitle was right on track.
The aforementioned book is entitled, The Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment and is apparently still all the rage in some circles. Of course, I had to order a copy for myself (I purchased my copy from ebay) and upon receipt I noted the mandala on the cover. Madison and I had already settled on the concept of a mandala for our cover and even the color schemes were similar.
In the spirit of synchronicity, I am sharing someone else’s book, not my own. To be honest, mine isn’t published quite yet. We are working on it and it will be fabulous. I wouldn’t say it is a Lazy [Person’s] Guide but we hope to offer an enlightened read that has been parsed out to deliver the most important elements of living an expansive life.
