August 8, 2020 • 54 mins
Join Kelly T. Smith for 3 keys to saying yes to your soul purpose. In this podcast we will explores all the ways we second guess our guidance or keep ourselves from taking action to take us to the next level of our soul purpose. We are always evolving and expanding and it is important [...]
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
You're listening to soul Keith Podcast with your host Kelly T. Smith. YEP,
that's me here to guide you deep within and remind
you that all of the answers you seek are within you.
Check me out at www dot soul Searching zone dot
com and let's get started. Welcome to soul Keith Podcast.
(00:47):
My name is Kelly T. Smith. Hi guys. I know
it's been a while since I've done a podcast, so
I'm super excited to bring to you today understanding your
soul purpose on a deeper level and this podcast and
explore a deeper understanding. My intention is by the end
of this podcast that you have a clear understanding or
(01:10):
clarity of your sole purpose and we're going to be
kind of breaking it down in a different way to
help you understand it and also help you gain some
guidance and some clarity, move past the fear, and truly
understand it on a deeper level. But before we get
to that, I'd like to tell you something really exciting.
I have. Many of you know that I'm the author
(01:34):
of the Intuitive Life Coaching Oracle Cards app and also
the author of the Guiding Light Oracle Cards app and
recently the Intuitive Life Coaching Oracle Cards is being published
through Beyondwards Publishing, which I am so excited to have
(01:54):
this opportunity, and it is currently available for pre order
through Beyond Words Publishing, also through Barnes and Noble and
even on Amazon, and I have all the links for
you guys, if you'd like to check that out. You
can get the full print deck version for nineteen ninety
nine and it's so exciting. So it's available to pre
(02:18):
order right now, and you can find the links at
www dot Intuitive Life Coaching with Kelly dot com. This
is going to be a little bit longer of a
podcast than usual because at the end of my segment,
I actually added a twenty three minute interview that I
(02:40):
did with a friend of mine named Marika van Austen,
and we talked about how she found her calling and
kind of understanding going into that, and really just I
interviewed her about this amazing project that she's been working on.
So be sharing listen all the way through so you
(03:00):
can hear the interview at the end. So I want
to start this podcast off by reading you a card
from the Intuitive Life Coaching Oracle Card deck, because actually
this card is going to help you understand sometimes how
when it's time to change directions. First of all, our
(03:21):
soul path has always been with us from a very
early age, and we're going to get into that and
understand what that looks like and also understand how we're
developing it throughout the years over time, and we're evolving
more and more into a master of that. But it
will change shape as we go on, but you'll see
(03:42):
elements of it from the very beginning of your life,
and when it's time for you to shift directions or
move into the next level of that, or it's going
to take a different shape. Then sometimes if we are
not answering the call to the kind of that next
level of entering into that, because everything's connected, then we
(04:05):
end up with the wake up call in our life.
We end up with outside circumstances putting us in the
waiting room, so that we have to evaluate our true
core values. We have to start asking the right questions,
We have to dig deeper, we have to let go
of things that we were that were once meant for us,
(04:26):
but we have now evolved into a new chapter. And
that's probably one of the hardest parts of life in general,
is just being able to let go and go into
the next chapter, because you have to trust that the
next chapter of your life is going to be a new,
beautiful version. But sometimes it is not presented that way.
(04:47):
It is presented in a way that feels like everything
is being pulled away from you, taken away from you,
and everything might go away all at one time. That's
kind of the energy of the wake up call. But
I wanted to start with that because that's a very
real thing that happens to many people when they're getting
ready to go into the next level of their soul's
(05:10):
calling or their soul's purpose. So I'm going to read
that to you now. Your life path is no accident.
Every event, experience, relationship, and hardship serves a purpose. Each
one of these experiences causes you to grow on a
soul level and evolve into your true self. Your life
purpose is not just about what kind of work you do.
(05:32):
It's about who you are as a whole person. It
is how you relate to the world. It is also
how the world relates to you. And if you've found
meaning and purpose to your life, if you're suppressing your
growth or your soul's journey in any way, the universe
will throw you a wake up call sooner or later,
despite what you feel at the time that you're going
(05:53):
through this. It is a beautiful gift, but only if
you stop resisting change and let yourself even into a
life of purpose and meaning. The wake up call can
come in mini forms through an illness, depression, loss, layoff,
financial crisis, or divorce. Any of these challenges can be
(06:15):
a call for you to listen to your truth. Your
challenges are a call for you to stop living your
life sleepwalking and worried about materialistic, meaningless things and embrace love, deep,
meaningful relationships, and what matters to you most from a
soul perspective. When you stop resisting it by running away
(06:38):
from your challenges and instead look at them from a
perspective of them showing you a new way, a new life,
or a new way of being, you'll find your passion,
which will also translate into your life's work or a
career that you love. So I really wanted to start
with that card because it helps to give us a
(07:00):
deeper understanding of some of the things that we go
through in life that are not pleasant that we want
to resist or run from. And if there's ever been
a time in the world where the world is collectively
experiencing some form of a wake up call. It is now,
and we oftentimes don't see that we're in the middle
(07:22):
of a wake up call, and that a wake up
call is a reevaluation on all levels that is meant
to bring you back to the core of what matters
for everyone. Because when we're talking about anything on a
soul level or a sole purpose, anything that you do
that really is coming from your inner spirit will be
(07:44):
beneficial to humanity always. It's not going to be an
external desire that you're feeling that is not a sole purpose,
that is not a sole calling. And whatever it is
that you do decide to do, you can rest assured
that it will be something that will be to fit
so many people, whether on a large scale or a
little scale, it will have a rippling effect. And when
(08:08):
we come to that place in our life where we're
trying to figure out what that is, if we're not
truly surrendering to the fear of it all and releasing
all of the confusion and the things that we do
to put up blocks from moving into a new change,
a new chapter of our lives, the next turning the page,
(08:32):
so to speak. If we don't do that, then that
is when it's it's most painful, when we're in resistance.
So it's really important to understand when we're in resistance,
why we are in resistance, and how to just surrender.
And that brings me to key number one. Key number
(08:54):
one is career versus purpose. So I believe that from
the time of your birth, there is a sole plan
for you. There is a soul contract for you. There
is something that it's been with you and all around
you from a very very early age. And you might
(09:15):
not understand what it is because we're always trying to
put it in a context of career or a job,
or how much money we make, or just all of
these outside things or things that come natural to you
that you might not even realize are a part of
your gift. And let me give you an example. For me,
(09:37):
I would say, even though I'm an intuitive life coach,
I wouldn't call that my life purpose. I would call
that a vehicle through which I express my life purpose.
But at any time in my life I could shift
the vehicle that I use to express my soul's purpose
and it could take on a different shape as it
(09:59):
has been in my entire life. But my real purpose,
my inner desire, my inner strength, my inner gift, something
that I came here to evolve into or to master
in some way is communication and communication plus connection. So
(10:22):
those two things have been seen throughout my entire life,
not only as a challenge. But you will see that.
You'll see it in my numerology charts, You'll see it
in my astrology charts. You will see it in how
I my core values, how I express myself. It is
(10:44):
a part of what I came here to evolve into,
and through that evolution of being able to learn and
master that within myself, I have also came to share
it with others. But again it can take on a
different shape. It can become like in my younger years,
(11:10):
communication it had to do with it. Will start off
with your challenges, right, So if you have the gift
of communication, you're going to be challenged with it very
very often and from the very beginning, and you might
be challenged from it in so many different directions that
you won't even realize that. It's because you're going through
(11:31):
some sort of a I don't want to say initiation,
but what I'm trying to say is that it is
something that maybe it is the word mastered. Actually it's
something that you have to be able to go into
the shadow of it on all different levels to get
to a place where you can really really start to
(11:52):
understand it and develop it. So for me, at a
very early age, I went to elementary schoo in Germany.
I came because my dad was in the Air Force.
I came back to the States with a speech problem,
and so I had to take speech class. And it's
very interesting that from a very early age even people
(12:17):
around me said I didn't talk very much. I mostly
just listened. Plus I had a speech thing, and there's
so many other things I can get into. But at
the age thirteen or fourteen is when I started to
understand communication on such a deep level. And my spirit
(12:37):
was also more in observation mode than anything else, because
even though I didn't talk a lot, I listened a
lot when I was very young. But at the age
of thirteen I talked a lot, and in fact almost
ran the negative shadow side of communication. But you have
to understand that you will experience all different angles of
(12:58):
your gift and the thing that you came here to
express or to master in your lifetime so that you
can get to an evolution of it. And so that's
just one example, and throughout time you know that communication
(13:18):
also connection. At a very early age, I wanted to
go to church. At a very early age, I was
praying to God. So the two things of communication and
connection or a part of feeling like at the only
connection I had to understanding myself and the world around
(13:39):
me was through prayer. And it wasn't because I came
from a super religious environment either. It was because that
is just something my spirit naturally gravitated toward. And those
two things became something that I continued to develop a
passion for over my lifetime until I get to this
(14:01):
place now, which those are probably two of the biggest
things that make up my personality is communication and connection.
So I want you to be thinking about what is
the elements that have been with you all your life.
So take out the career piece, set it aside, because
(14:23):
that will show up. When you have the core elements
of the essence of what your soul came here to
share and to develop, it will take on a different shape.
So think about for me, it was communication and connection.
We're going to pause for reflection now, and I want
(14:43):
you to think about what yours is. Think about the
elements that you've been developing throughout your entire life and
how it has taken on different shapes, different careers. Sometimes
(15:03):
you have gone through the shadow side of it and
then you get to a place where it's just something
you're naturally good at or comes to you easily, and
you don't even think of it as your gift. So
go ahead and pause for reflection now and taken a
(15:28):
deep breath and imagine yourself centered, dropping deep into your
heart and ask what has been with me that continues
to take a different shape throughout my entire life. I'm
(16:04):
now going to go to key number two, inner desire
versus outer expectations, So to understand your soul's path something
that was set in the stars before you even came here,
something that your soul came here to develop or express
(16:24):
or share with the world on some level. Think about
your inner desire to find that, or to develop that,
or to utilize that. And I'm going to go back
to my example just for a minute to help you
understand on a deeper level. So the communication and the
(16:48):
connection they started for me with disconnect on both angles
of that, not talking very much, having a speech problem,
you know, not having anyone that never filling her, and
then trying to find a way to actually communicate how
I felt in so many different ways so that I
could get that connection. So the gift was the disconnection
(17:12):
because I had to keep diving deeper to get to
that place where I felt heard or where I could
articulate what it was I needed to articulate. So my
challenge became my greatest gift, and my desire was to
be understood and not misunderstood. So don't think about your
desire in the typical way. Think about your inner desire
(17:36):
as something you're always striving to be, or something that
means something to you, something that maybe didn't come easy
to you, but something that never went away that just
you keep trying to get to that place. That's your
inner desire. Now, think about your outer expectations. That's going
(17:58):
to be your how you are, your success, that's going
to be your career, that's going to be your material desires.
That's going to be maybe even recognition. And see how
those two can sometimes confuse each other. So you can
think that you could think that the outer expectations or
(18:22):
your outer desires is your sole purpose, but it is not.
It will eventually meet in the middle with your inner
desire in some way, but it is not your sole purpose.
So become aware of what your inner desire is. Your
(18:46):
inner desire could be. You have a deep connection with nature.
You have a deep connection with music. You have a
deep connection with expressing yourself through you art. You have
a deep desire to heal yourself on some level, which
(19:09):
then translates into self healing, which then translates into becoming
a healer or a teacher or a counselor. But notice
that no matter what the core element is of the
ener desire, it will always take on a different shape.
(19:30):
And now we're going to look at how it takes
on a different shape and what that means exactly, because
many times your sole purpose or your sole gift will
be expressed in one way. At a very early age,
for me, it was I became a manager, and then
(19:53):
I just kept getting more and more careers that that
challenged my communication ability, which one of them was sales.
And throughout all of those times, I was learning and
growing and evolving and developing something that would eventually lead
me to what I'm doing now. But each and every
(20:14):
single one of them were exactly a part of my
purpose at the time they were presented to me in
my life. So we're always looking outside of ourself thinking
we're supposed to be somewhere else where. Whatever it is
you have been doing up until this point, it will
all come together and you will be able to identify
(20:37):
how this element built off of this part, off of
this strength, which then eventually brought you into something else.
But the key is to be willing to constantly go
to the next level of the something else, to listening
to that inner urge, that inner desire. Here's the thing.
(20:57):
If you're not listening to that energy urge or that
in a desire to take it to the next level
or to evolve a little more, and it's almost like
a death and a rebirth if you're not listening to it.
That's the wake up call energy because your path is
your path, and you'll get there no matter what. So
you don't have to worry about missing the train or
(21:18):
the boat, so to speak. But what you need to
become more aware of and more in tune with is
that when you get to a place where it's time
to express yourself and to take a leap of faith.
And you're not doing that, life becomes very bleak, feeling,
(21:38):
everything starts to fall apart. You know, you feel like
you're in the waiting room of life. Nothing's moving because
spirit's waiting for you to take a leap of faith,
take action, do the next right thing that you are
yearning to express. And it isn't going to be It
doesn't happen all at once. It's an evolution, and so
(22:00):
start where you are. Be grateful for where you are,
But what's the next level from where you are now?
If you're feeling that inner pain and that inner emptiness
or that enner, I don't know what I'm supposed to
do next, that's the call. That's it. So start listening,
start asking the right questions, go into meditation, start becoming
(22:26):
observant of where you have been and what you have
developed or even mastered all the way up until this point.
And now what's the next yearning, the next desire? What
are the signs that are all around you? A lot
of times in life, you will when it's time for
you to do something or take a leap of faith
(22:47):
or move in a new direction. You're going to start
to see that all the time. You're going to start
to meet people who do that very thing you're meant
to do everywhere. So pay attention to the signs go
then ask the right questions. And that leads me to
key number three, taking a leap of faith. So this
(23:14):
key is about how we resist change and how the
only way we can move into our sole purpose is
to face our fears and release our fears and our
resistance by taking a leap of faith. Very often, your
(23:34):
inner dialogue is going to be I can't do that now,
I can't afford it. Very often your inner dialogue is
going to be like, oh, it's the unknown, it's scary.
What are people going to think? Are you going to fail?
Are people going to think that you are losing your mind?
(23:57):
So all of those things are going to come to
play in your inner dialogue. It's just the way the
human mind works. But when you're listening to the human mind,
you are not in touch with your inner self. You
are not in touch with your soul self. So we
start by saying, everything that's happened up until now is
(24:18):
a part of the plan, So embrace that. Don't feel
like at some point you lost your way. You've never
lost your way. The perfect time is the time when
you decide that's the perfect time. Spirit doesn't have a
time frame for you the way your human mind does.
(24:38):
You're not supposed to do something at this age or
that age. You will know when it is your time
by your inner desire, your inner yearning, or your inner pain,
or by when all of a sudden you start to
experience those wake up calls, and when you say yes
(24:59):
to it, when you embrace it, when you one hundred
percent identify it not related to career or money, but
related to soul energy, related to your inner yearnings and
your inner desire, and you understand that it will take
on a different shape many many times, over and over again,
(25:21):
but it's always been with you. Then you can say, okay,
I'm ready, I'm ready to take a leap of faith,
and you can allow yourself to trust that whatever this
next journey in your life, because everything is a journey
and there is no one destination. When it's time for
(25:43):
you to go to the next part of your journey,
if you're resisting it in any way, that's when everything
starts to go bleak, and your beautiful joyful love for life,
life starts to feel like it's not there anymore. And
(26:06):
when you follow your passion, when you take a leap
of faith, when you surrender with you, when you deal
with your enner worth, your enner self esteem, your interfears
of going into that unknown, and you take a leap
of faith and you say yes, that is when amazing
(26:27):
things start to happen. Nothing will be presented to you
or for you as an opportunity until you have already
accepted it within yourself on some level. And that means
releasing the inner conflict, understanding that if there is something
that you want to do, that next level, that next
(26:50):
shape of expressing a part of who you are. Understand
that when you say yes, that is when all doors
start to open. And that I'm not even kidding when
I say that, that's not even an exaggeration. I've seen
it happen time and time again. And if you think sometimes, well,
(27:14):
I did say yes, and I do accept it and
I do want it, then I want to challenge you
to ask yourself. Are you an inner conflict in any way?
Is there any part of you that is putting up
balls for yourself or getting in your own way out
of fear of resistance, because taking a leap of faith
is very scary at first, but it's also extremely freeing,
(27:39):
and it's a feeling of when you just open your
arms wide open and you say yes, yes, I'm just
gonna do this. There's nowhere else to go from here.
I just have to trust. I have to trust that
this is my path. I have to trust that when
I say yes, that the next part of my path
will unfold for me. So I want you to go ahead.
(28:02):
Now we're gonna pause for reflection. I want you to
take a nice deep breath for me, breathing in through
your nose and out through your mouth. I want you
to put your hand over your heart chakra, if you
would like to feel into the energy of your heart,
(28:27):
and ask the question, what am I yearning to express?
What gift do I have to share with the world.
What is the next level of expressing my unique soul essence?
(28:49):
What is a time for me to change? What is
the next right action for me? And how will I
be contributing to the world around me in a beautiful way?
When I say yes and I surrender, no matter how scary,
(29:14):
no matter how painful, It may be I just say yes,
feel into the energy of that, open your heart, ask
for your inner spirit to guide you, and now I
(29:40):
want you to go ahead and open your eyes. I
want to say thank you all for listening to today's
podcast on understanding your sole Purpose. My name is Kelly T.
Smith and again I'm super excited about the Intuitive Life
Coaching Oracle print deck. If you'd like to learn more
about that, you can go to my website and you'll
(30:03):
find all the links to pre order. It's actually going
to be available November seventeenth to be shipped out, So
check that out at www dot Intuitive Life Coaching with
Kelly dot com. And stay tuned because I am now
(30:24):
going to be playing the interview that I did with
my friend about following her soul's purpose. Thank you all
so much.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Thank you for listening to Soul Searching Zone talk radio
and podcasts. Join us at www dot soul Searching Zone
dot com to explore our podcast library, live events, live shows,
and our spiritual coaching blogs.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
See you there. Hello everyone, and welcome to Soulkey's podcast.
My name is Kelly T. Smith. I am so happy
to be talking to you today. Today we're going to
be discussing how to find your life purpose and how
(31:17):
to understand when you're on the right path, because sometimes
we don't understand or even realize that different events in
our life are bringing us to this one pivotal point
in our life. And it's kind of a gravitational pool,
something that many of us have always felt, but we
(31:37):
don't really understand it until we get to that place
where everything starts to align. And so I'm going to
be talking to my friend Marika von Austin, and we're
going to be discussing how she found that inner call
(31:58):
and how she moved moved into finding and understanding what
her purpose was and kind of those subtle, hidden like
beautiful treasures along the road maps, so to speak, that
brought her to her calling, her destiny. And I will
be sharing a little bit about how I felt the
(32:19):
same inner callings that brought me to do the work
that I do today. So welcome, Marika.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Welcome, Thank you Kelly for having me on your podcast.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
I am so excited to have you here. So you know,
we've talked many times about what you are doing and
this passion project that you've been working on for quite
some time, and I really want to start the show
off by you sharing with the audience what that is
and why you feel called to do that.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
Well. It all started ten years ago when I did
volunteer work at Costrica. I knew that I'm originally from
the Netherlands, and I knew I didn't want to continue
living there, but I didn't know how it had to
involve children and creativity. Lo and behold. Six years later,
I moved to the wonderful, beautiful tropical island of Dominique,
(33:20):
which is not the Dominican Republic but a completely different country.
And when I moved there five months a year later,
a hurricane completely destroyed the islands. And in the aftermath
of that, a lot of international organizations came here and
(33:40):
I got to work with, among other people, International Medical Corn,
UNISE and UNICEF set up child friendly spaces, but they
only stay there as long as UNICEF is here, which
I understand because they have to help other countries. It
sort of sparked my interest. How wonderful would it be
if those spaces could be something permanent on our island,
(34:03):
because there's a lot going on for children, trauma from
natural disaster but also sadly neglect abuse, domestic violence, and
children never have an outlet or a way to express
themselves without using words. But because when you're six, it's
very hard to tell somebody how you feel. And that's
why it sort of evolved from an ID to an
(34:26):
actual website. And now I already did a pilot program here.
That's it in a nutshell.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
So basically, what you're doing is providing a safe space
for children to be able to express their feelings through art.
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Yes, that's absolutely correct. Yes, And we usually also try
to provide a healthy meal because poverty is a big
thing on our island and some children come without food.
So but the main thing is having them in a
safe place and inspiring in place where you can express
themselves to art or dance or something creative.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
And you and I have talked about how this call,
how it just was so pronounced for you, how it
was not something you were necessarily thinking about, but more
something that you were just kind of pulled to and
your heart just expanded when you thought about it. And also, like,
(35:32):
talk to me a little bit about all of the
things that led up to this and how you got
to this space where you finally got to say yes
to this soul call to be able to provide a
safe space for the children.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Well, like I said, it started ten years ago, but
then I had no clue what I wanted, how I
wanted it, so it just let it go and I
met a logo guy online and we had a long
distance relationship. Because of him, I moved here. I had
been spent time here every year, and in those days
(36:15):
I met an elderly woman who had fostered over sixty
children in her life, and seeing where she lived and
the resources she had, I thought, Wow, if she can
do it, then there's something I can do with her
or I wasn't sure what. But after I moved here, sadly,
(36:37):
the relationship ended, but I felt really strongly that I
had to be here. I can't even tell you how
that felt, but I mean I wanted to give life
here a chance. Sadly, a year later the hurricane hit.
I wasn't here. I was in a Netherlands at that time,
(36:58):
but I felt homesick, I felt survivor skuilled. I needed
to be on my island, and I was thinking about
all the children, how horrible it must have been going
through that ordeal of the hurricane for five hours in
the middle of the night. So I can't even put
into words, but it sort of made my feeling, my
(37:23):
soul feeling bigger and bigger that I needed to do
something to help those children, even though I still wasn't
completely show what. But after seeing the un the unise
child friendly spaces, I thought, Yes, that's it, this is
this is something I can do. I'm not a therapist
(37:47):
or anything, but I have a big heart and I
know that once you open up the children, they'll open
up to you. You don't have to be uh schooled
or anything. And when I returned after her three months
after the hurricane, that was the first flight, and I
was on it because I needed to be here. Small
(38:09):
things sort of fell into place. Because I worked with
the International Corps. I met so many local people and
I talked about my ideas and they all said, oh, yes,
we need something like that. They were very enthusiastic, and
after I International Medical Corps introduced me to UNICEF. So
(38:32):
it sort of evolved in really tiny steps and looking back,
it's obvious, yeah, it led me here, but in those
days it was like, Okay, be sure, but I think
I'm still going in the right direction because small pieces
start to fall into place, and then eventually, for example,
I met somebody who lives in Columbia and did my
(38:54):
website for free because she was so passionate about my project.
She said, yes, of course I'll help you, so she
built my entire website. My previous boss in the Netherland said, oh,
I have a big party coming on. Everybody's donating money
for your foundation. So small steps, but it all confirmed
(39:17):
to me that I was going in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Wow. So it's like, as you said yes and allowed
yourself to really start to move toward that vision, then
it's like all of the resources and people and just
like tiny miracles just started to show up for you
to help make that possible.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
Right. Yes, absolutely, it's amazing to realize that that's what happened.
But yeah, and it's still happening now. To be honest,
I'm still seeing small steps to get my foundation more
known in the world, like this spot for example. So
(40:02):
it's still happening. So that makes me even more sure
that I am on the right bath and that I
really have to do this.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
So talk to me. That's one of the most amazing
things that happen when we do follow the call of
our soul, because what I think happens is a lot
of times there's confusion and then we second guess it.
But usually the call of your soul starts with like
this overpowering desire, and at first you don't have the resources,
(40:30):
you have no idea how you're going to do it.
But it's almost like Source or God or the universe
is filling a need through you and utilizing your gifts
and your compassionate heart energy to provide a space. So
it's like the children are calling this forward and then
(40:51):
you get to be, you know, kind of a vehicle
through which Source aligns you with providing that gift. Does
that make sense?
Speaker 3 (41:01):
Yeah, it does a lot. Exactly. I couldn't have said
it better. It's like, yeah, they work through me. I'm
the one doing it like really physically in Dominica. But yes, exactly,
I couldn't have said it better.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
So talk to me kind of like, what are some
of the things that you have experienced since you started
working with the children in a way that you know
tells you that, yes, this is helping them, this is
what they need, you know, and how is it providing
just talk to me about the art program and kind
(41:40):
of your experience overall with it since you started.
Speaker 3 (41:45):
Well, it's in the beginning. I was really like, Okay,
I'm going to have ten children, all different ages. How
am I going to do that? But it's sort of evolved.
It's fun. I like to see they're looking forward to it.
So when I take out all the glitter and glue
(42:06):
and whatever, they're like jumping for joy at the desk. Yes, miss,
when you when can we start? And usually I usually
work with a theme. They can do whatever they want,
but there's always a theme. And at a certain point
in time, the theme was I am happy because and
I was a little ten year old boy and he said, Miss,
I'm not happy. So I tried to talk to him.
(42:28):
Did you know your poppy this morning? Did you have breakfast? No?
He was not happy. I said, well, see what happened?
So he started working and I think ten minutes into
the session, he started humming to himself and I felt
so happy. It was like, you see, he is happy,
because otherwise he wouldn't be humming. And I had a
(42:48):
conversation with the deputy principal because I used a classroom
a in a local primary school, and she told me
that he always asks for a lot of negative attention
because of his situation, but since the program started, he
spent less time in her office than before. It's a
small step, but to me, that's huge because it means
(43:10):
he benefits from being there. And another little boy is very,
very introvert and very and I make an effort to
when they're doing their work. I to stop at every
little desk and talk to them and see what they're doing.
And he's slowly coming out of his shell a little
less shy. And yes, it's amazing. I mean I ended
(43:33):
the program like four weeks ago and it felt really
bittersweet to not be seeing them for a very long time.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
Are you going to be starting that again?
Speaker 3 (43:45):
Like, that's the idea I'm hot. My AIG for twenty
twenty is to find a suitable building and it's safe
in a good area where I can also live to
save on rent. But if that hasn't materialized before mid September,
I already talked to the school and we're going to
(44:05):
continue in the school. The school has around three hundred
and forty students and about eighty five percent of the
children qualify for the program. So and that's only one school.
There's over six thousand children in Dominica, so there's a
lot that still can be done, and hopefully if we
(44:26):
find a building, we can do more than just one
session a week. But I'm grateful that the school offered
it and that they hosted it, that I could start
and learn from the program what works and what doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
So I want to talk a little bit about just
this concept of being able to help the children, you know,
express their feelings and their emotions through art and in
a program at school, because I think it is so
important and it's so rare that you get that kind
(45:03):
of nurturing or you know, even in our world today,
just feeling that you have to hold your emotions in
that you're not allowed to feel a certain way. So
for children to be able to find an outlet, to
be able to express how they're feeling in any given
moment with everything that's going on, and just have a
(45:24):
complete creative way of releasing those emotions or understanding those
emotions is absolutely to me one of the most powerful
tools we could give children for self healing and self
love and self understanding.
Speaker 3 (45:45):
An empowerment I think enpowerment. Yes, yeah, I think the
main part what I get from being with the children
is that they feel seen and heard. Is so important
and understand why schools here focus on academic skills because
(46:05):
of hurricanes and storms. They're always behind in their educational program,
so they have to because children need to learn how
to read and write. Because of poverty and all sorts
of other reasons. At home, there usually is no time,
no money, no place to do that. So I have
to agree with you. I think it's very important for
(46:27):
children to be able to express themselves without words, because
sometimes even adults cannot explain how they feel, let alone
a six year old. The hurricane is almost three years
ago now and still people have not told their story
because it's too horrible to talk about. So if you
can catch that at an early age and have children
(46:52):
find an outlet in being creative and whatever that is,
writ poem, dance, do arts and crafts, whatever, it helps
them so much in the rest of their life. So
that's why I think it's. Yeah, it's amazing to be
able to do this.
Speaker 1 (47:09):
It is amazing, and I just want to say that
it's such a good example of how spirit, source and
God will utilize the person who has, you know, the
open heart and the compassion and the ability to actually
fill a need that is for the highest and best
good of the people and the community around them, which
(47:31):
is exactly what's happening with you. And so as we
wrap this up, I'm going to talk to everyone to
send them to your website, to tell them how they
can support the program, and also to learn a little
bit more about this amazing project that you're doing and
how important it really is. But before I introduce your
(47:52):
website and tell people where to go, I just kind
of want to end the podcast with just a deeper
understand of what happens after you have accepted the call,
Like how has your life changed, and how do you
feel differently and do you still feel daily guidance? Talk
(48:13):
to me about that.
Speaker 3 (48:16):
It has changed my life massively. I mean I literally
moved from the Netherlands to a small topical island. But
I've never felt more at home than I am here
than in the Netherlands. I felt I feel at home here.
There's something about life here that suits me. Is it's
(48:39):
an easy life, No, because there's a lot going on
on this island, but it's beautiful and it's simple. I
think I feel guided every well, not every day, but
when I tune in, I know there's more things coming,
and step by step I'm getting where I want to be.
And I mean I have a huge and very detailed
(49:01):
vision how I want the center to look. It's not
there yet, but I know it won't come. And I
think the main part in that is trust and have
your vision as clear as possible. So God, the universe,
however you want to call it, knows what you are
looking for and what has to be in your path
(49:22):
in the right time, because you can't take ten steps
at a time if you're not ready for the ten steps.
Speaker 1 (49:28):
And also, I think the path of the soul, in
the calling from the soul, it always has to do
with more than our own personal agenda. It always has
to do with the greater good, and in some way
when we align with it, it not only changes our lives,
but it changes the lives of other people around us.
(49:49):
It's the difference between having like a career goal versus
following the call of your soul, you know, understanding and
going into the depth of who am I and how
can I serve? Because I think once you get past
a certain age that becomes so it can for a
lot of people, especially when you've had any kind of
(50:11):
a deeper understanding or spiritual connection. It gets to a
point where you are like, how can I serve? Where
can I be of service? And that becomes that energy
which opens you up for God's spirit source to utilize
your strengths, to utilize your gifts and your talents to
(50:38):
serve the highest and best goot of people around you,
whether it's children or community. But also what I think
is beautiful is that sometimes it just feels destiny like
set in, like like pre like it was written in
the stars before we even got here, Like it just
feels like a almost like a soul call tracts so
(51:01):
that when it shows up, there is no doubt in
your mind that this is one hundred percent where you're
supposed to be and what you're supposed to be doing.
Does that resonate?
Speaker 3 (51:13):
Yes, I couldn't agree with you more. It does feel
like I have to be here and it's so not
about me. I mean, it's not in my honor of
my glory. No, it's because of my skills and my
network or however you want to call it. I am
able to do this for the children here. And even
(51:34):
if it serves one hundred children in total, that's a
hundred children that benefited from the program. I'm sure it
will be more, but I'm taking I'm trying not to
be overwhelmed by the thought of six thousand children on
the island. But yes, it feels like it's predestined. I
(51:55):
have to be here, and that's why I stayed. And
in the beginning he was not easy because all of
a sudden, you're on yellow on your own. Well you
think it will be in a relationship in a completely
foreign country, but every little step I take is sort
of guided. Yes, you're on the right track. Don't worry,
you're on the right track. Trust thing will happen. So yes,
(52:18):
I totally agree with you.
Speaker 1 (52:20):
Well, your story is amazing and the project and the
work that you're doing with the children is amazing and beautiful,
and so I'm so happy to have you on the
show today to talk about that. Can you tell us
where we can go so that we can support you
more learn about your project, and even you have a
(52:42):
go fundme page, I think that people can find if
they want to support the project, they can find it
on your website, So would you like to share your website?
Speaker 3 (52:52):
Yes, the website is ww dot Breadfruithouse Dominica dot com.
Speaker 1 (53:00):
Say it one more time, sorry, bread? Did you say bread? Food?
Speaker 3 (53:05):
Fruit? Okay, it's a fruit. Ww dot Breadfruithouse Dominica dot com.
Speaker 1 (53:13):
Okay. And I'll also be providing a link anywhere you
found this podcast. It will be in the description for
you to click on the link so you can go
to her website and you can find more information about
this podcast and the description at www dot Soul Searching
Zone dot com. So I want to thank you Marquis
(53:35):
for coming on the show today and sharing with us
this beautiful journey. And I'm just sending you so much
love and blessings on your journey and hoping that everything
that you need will continue to just find you as
you become of service for this beautiful journey you're on.
Speaker 3 (53:57):
Thank you so much for having me Kelly very much
Speaker 1 (53:59):
Appreciate, thank you, and thank you all for listening.
You're listening to soul Keith Podcast with your host Kelly T. Smith. YEP,
that's me here to guide you deep within and remind
you that all of the answers you seek are within you.
Check me out at www dot soul Searching zone dot
com and let's get started. Welcome to soul Keith Podcast.
(00:47):
My name is Kelly T. Smith. Hi guys. I know
it's been a while since I've done a podcast, so
I'm super excited to bring to you today understanding your
soul purpose on a deeper level and this podcast and
explore a deeper understanding. My intention is by the end
of this podcast that you have a clear understanding or
(01:10):
clarity of your sole purpose and we're going to be
kind of breaking it down in a different way to
help you understand it and also help you gain some
guidance and some clarity, move past the fear, and truly
understand it on a deeper level. But before we get
to that, I'd like to tell you something really exciting.
I have. Many of you know that I'm the author
(01:34):
of the Intuitive Life Coaching Oracle Cards app and also
the author of the Guiding Light Oracle Cards app and
recently the Intuitive Life Coaching Oracle Cards is being published
through Beyondwards Publishing, which I am so excited to have
(01:54):
this opportunity, and it is currently available for pre order
through Beyond Words Publishing, also through Barnes and Noble and
even on Amazon, and I have all the links for
you guys, if you'd like to check that out. You
can get the full print deck version for nineteen ninety
nine and it's so exciting. So it's available to pre
(02:18):
order right now, and you can find the links at
www dot Intuitive Life Coaching with Kelly dot com. This
is going to be a little bit longer of a
podcast than usual because at the end of my segment,
I actually added a twenty three minute interview that I
(02:40):
did with a friend of mine named Marika van Austen,
and we talked about how she found her calling and
kind of understanding going into that, and really just I
interviewed her about this amazing project that she's been working on.
So be sharing listen all the way through so you
(03:00):
can hear the interview at the end. So I want
to start this podcast off by reading you a card
from the Intuitive Life Coaching Oracle Card deck, because actually
this card is going to help you understand sometimes how
when it's time to change directions. First of all, our
(03:21):
soul path has always been with us from a very
early age, and we're going to get into that and
understand what that looks like and also understand how we're
developing it throughout the years over time, and we're evolving
more and more into a master of that. But it
will change shape as we go on, but you'll see
(03:42):
elements of it from the very beginning of your life,
and when it's time for you to shift directions or
move into the next level of that, or it's going
to take a different shape. Then sometimes if we are
not answering the call to the kind of that next
level of entering into that, because everything's connected, then we
(04:05):
end up with the wake up call in our life.
We end up with outside circumstances putting us in the
waiting room, so that we have to evaluate our true
core values. We have to start asking the right questions,
We have to dig deeper, we have to let go
of things that we were that were once meant for us,
(04:26):
but we have now evolved into a new chapter. And
that's probably one of the hardest parts of life in general,
is just being able to let go and go into
the next chapter, because you have to trust that the
next chapter of your life is going to be a new,
beautiful version. But sometimes it is not presented that way.
(04:47):
It is presented in a way that feels like everything
is being pulled away from you, taken away from you,
and everything might go away all at one time. That's
kind of the energy of the wake up call. But
I wanted to start with that because that's a very
real thing that happens to many people when they're getting
ready to go into the next level of their soul's
(05:10):
calling or their soul's purpose. So I'm going to read
that to you now. Your life path is no accident.
Every event, experience, relationship, and hardship serves a purpose. Each
one of these experiences causes you to grow on a
soul level and evolve into your true self. Your life
purpose is not just about what kind of work you do.
(05:32):
It's about who you are as a whole person. It
is how you relate to the world. It is also
how the world relates to you. And if you've found
meaning and purpose to your life, if you're suppressing your
growth or your soul's journey in any way, the universe
will throw you a wake up call sooner or later,
despite what you feel at the time that you're going
(05:53):
through this. It is a beautiful gift, but only if
you stop resisting change and let yourself even into a
life of purpose and meaning. The wake up call can
come in mini forms through an illness, depression, loss, layoff,
financial crisis, or divorce. Any of these challenges can be
(06:15):
a call for you to listen to your truth. Your
challenges are a call for you to stop living your
life sleepwalking and worried about materialistic, meaningless things and embrace love, deep,
meaningful relationships, and what matters to you most from a
soul perspective. When you stop resisting it by running away
(06:38):
from your challenges and instead look at them from a
perspective of them showing you a new way, a new life,
or a new way of being, you'll find your passion,
which will also translate into your life's work or a
career that you love. So I really wanted to start
with that card because it helps to give us a
(07:00):
deeper understanding of some of the things that we go
through in life that are not pleasant that we want
to resist or run from. And if there's ever been
a time in the world where the world is collectively
experiencing some form of a wake up call. It is now,
and we oftentimes don't see that we're in the middle
(07:22):
of a wake up call, and that a wake up
call is a reevaluation on all levels that is meant
to bring you back to the core of what matters
for everyone. Because when we're talking about anything on a
soul level or a sole purpose, anything that you do
that really is coming from your inner spirit will be
(07:44):
beneficial to humanity always. It's not going to be an
external desire that you're feeling that is not a sole purpose,
that is not a sole calling. And whatever it is
that you do decide to do, you can rest assured
that it will be something that will be to fit
so many people, whether on a large scale or a
little scale, it will have a rippling effect. And when
(08:08):
we come to that place in our life where we're
trying to figure out what that is, if we're not
truly surrendering to the fear of it all and releasing
all of the confusion and the things that we do
to put up blocks from moving into a new change,
a new chapter of our lives, the next turning the page,
(08:32):
so to speak. If we don't do that, then that
is when it's it's most painful, when we're in resistance.
So it's really important to understand when we're in resistance,
why we are in resistance, and how to just surrender.
And that brings me to key number one. Key number
(08:54):
one is career versus purpose. So I believe that from
the time of your birth, there is a sole plan
for you. There is a soul contract for you. There
is something that it's been with you and all around
you from a very very early age. And you might
(09:15):
not understand what it is because we're always trying to
put it in a context of career or a job,
or how much money we make, or just all of
these outside things or things that come natural to you
that you might not even realize are a part of
your gift. And let me give you an example. For me,
(09:37):
I would say, even though I'm an intuitive life coach,
I wouldn't call that my life purpose. I would call
that a vehicle through which I express my life purpose.
But at any time in my life I could shift
the vehicle that I use to express my soul's purpose
and it could take on a different shape as it
(09:59):
has been in my entire life. But my real purpose,
my inner desire, my inner strength, my inner gift, something
that I came here to evolve into or to master
in some way is communication and communication plus connection. So
(10:22):
those two things have been seen throughout my entire life,
not only as a challenge. But you will see that.
You'll see it in my numerology charts, You'll see it
in my astrology charts. You will see it in how
I my core values, how I express myself. It is
(10:44):
a part of what I came here to evolve into,
and through that evolution of being able to learn and
master that within myself, I have also came to share
it with others. But again it can take on a
different shape. It can become like in my younger years,
(11:10):
communication it had to do with it. Will start off
with your challenges, right, So if you have the gift
of communication, you're going to be challenged with it very
very often and from the very beginning, and you might
be challenged from it in so many different directions that
you won't even realize that. It's because you're going through
(11:31):
some sort of a I don't want to say initiation,
but what I'm trying to say is that it is
something that maybe it is the word mastered. Actually it's
something that you have to be able to go into
the shadow of it on all different levels to get
to a place where you can really really start to
(11:52):
understand it and develop it. So for me, at a
very early age, I went to elementary schoo in Germany.
I came because my dad was in the Air Force.
I came back to the States with a speech problem,
and so I had to take speech class. And it's
very interesting that from a very early age even people
(12:17):
around me said I didn't talk very much. I mostly
just listened. Plus I had a speech thing, and there's
so many other things I can get into. But at
the age thirteen or fourteen is when I started to
understand communication on such a deep level. And my spirit
(12:37):
was also more in observation mode than anything else, because
even though I didn't talk a lot, I listened a
lot when I was very young. But at the age
of thirteen I talked a lot, and in fact almost
ran the negative shadow side of communication. But you have
to understand that you will experience all different angles of
(12:58):
your gift and the thing that you came here to
express or to master in your lifetime so that you
can get to an evolution of it. And so that's
just one example, and throughout time you know that communication
(13:18):
also connection. At a very early age, I wanted to
go to church. At a very early age, I was
praying to God. So the two things of communication and
connection or a part of feeling like at the only
connection I had to understanding myself and the world around
(13:39):
me was through prayer. And it wasn't because I came
from a super religious environment either. It was because that
is just something my spirit naturally gravitated toward. And those
two things became something that I continued to develop a
passion for over my lifetime until I get to this
(14:01):
place now, which those are probably two of the biggest
things that make up my personality is communication and connection.
So I want you to be thinking about what is
the elements that have been with you all your life.
So take out the career piece, set it aside, because
(14:23):
that will show up. When you have the core elements
of the essence of what your soul came here to
share and to develop, it will take on a different shape.
So think about for me, it was communication and connection.
We're going to pause for reflection now, and I want
(14:43):
you to think about what yours is. Think about the
elements that you've been developing throughout your entire life and
how it has taken on different shapes, different careers. Sometimes
(15:03):
you have gone through the shadow side of it and
then you get to a place where it's just something
you're naturally good at or comes to you easily, and
you don't even think of it as your gift. So
go ahead and pause for reflection now and taken a
(15:28):
deep breath and imagine yourself centered, dropping deep into your
heart and ask what has been with me that continues
to take a different shape throughout my entire life. I'm
(16:04):
now going to go to key number two, inner desire
versus outer expectations, So to understand your soul's path something
that was set in the stars before you even came here,
something that your soul came here to develop or express
(16:24):
or share with the world on some level. Think about
your inner desire to find that, or to develop that,
or to utilize that. And I'm going to go back
to my example just for a minute to help you
understand on a deeper level. So the communication and the
(16:48):
connection they started for me with disconnect on both angles
of that, not talking very much, having a speech problem,
you know, not having anyone that never filling her, and
then trying to find a way to actually communicate how
I felt in so many different ways so that I
could get that connection. So the gift was the disconnection
(17:12):
because I had to keep diving deeper to get to
that place where I felt heard or where I could
articulate what it was I needed to articulate. So my
challenge became my greatest gift, and my desire was to
be understood and not misunderstood. So don't think about your
desire in the typical way. Think about your inner desire
(17:36):
as something you're always striving to be, or something that
means something to you, something that maybe didn't come easy
to you, but something that never went away that just
you keep trying to get to that place. That's your
inner desire. Now, think about your outer expectations. That's going
(17:58):
to be your how you are, your success, that's going
to be your career, that's going to be your material desires.
That's going to be maybe even recognition. And see how
those two can sometimes confuse each other. So you can
think that you could think that the outer expectations or
(18:22):
your outer desires is your sole purpose, but it is not.
It will eventually meet in the middle with your inner
desire in some way, but it is not your sole purpose.
So become aware of what your inner desire is. Your
(18:46):
inner desire could be. You have a deep connection with nature.
You have a deep connection with music. You have a
deep connection with expressing yourself through you art. You have
a deep desire to heal yourself on some level, which
(19:09):
then translates into self healing, which then translates into becoming
a healer or a teacher or a counselor. But notice
that no matter what the core element is of the
ener desire, it will always take on a different shape.
(19:30):
And now we're going to look at how it takes
on a different shape and what that means exactly, because
many times your sole purpose or your sole gift will
be expressed in one way. At a very early age,
for me, it was I became a manager, and then
(19:53):
I just kept getting more and more careers that that
challenged my communication ability, which one of them was sales.
And throughout all of those times, I was learning and
growing and evolving and developing something that would eventually lead
me to what I'm doing now. But each and every
(20:14):
single one of them were exactly a part of my
purpose at the time they were presented to me in
my life. So we're always looking outside of ourself thinking
we're supposed to be somewhere else where. Whatever it is
you have been doing up until this point, it will
all come together and you will be able to identify
(20:37):
how this element built off of this part, off of
this strength, which then eventually brought you into something else.
But the key is to be willing to constantly go
to the next level of the something else, to listening
to that inner urge, that inner desire. Here's the thing.
(20:57):
If you're not listening to that energy urge or that
in a desire to take it to the next level
or to evolve a little more, and it's almost like
a death and a rebirth if you're not listening to it.
That's the wake up call energy because your path is
your path, and you'll get there no matter what. So
you don't have to worry about missing the train or
(21:18):
the boat, so to speak. But what you need to
become more aware of and more in tune with is
that when you get to a place where it's time
to express yourself and to take a leap of faith.
And you're not doing that, life becomes very bleak, feeling,
(21:38):
everything starts to fall apart. You know, you feel like
you're in the waiting room of life. Nothing's moving because
spirit's waiting for you to take a leap of faith,
take action, do the next right thing that you are
yearning to express. And it isn't going to be It
doesn't happen all at once. It's an evolution, and so
(22:00):
start where you are. Be grateful for where you are,
But what's the next level from where you are now?
If you're feeling that inner pain and that inner emptiness
or that enner, I don't know what I'm supposed to
do next, that's the call. That's it. So start listening,
start asking the right questions, go into meditation, start becoming
(22:26):
observant of where you have been and what you have
developed or even mastered all the way up until this point.
And now what's the next yearning, the next desire? What
are the signs that are all around you? A lot
of times in life, you will when it's time for
you to do something or take a leap of faith
(22:47):
or move in a new direction. You're going to start
to see that all the time. You're going to start
to meet people who do that very thing you're meant
to do everywhere. So pay attention to the signs go
then ask the right questions. And that leads me to
key number three, taking a leap of faith. So this
(23:14):
key is about how we resist change and how the
only way we can move into our sole purpose is
to face our fears and release our fears and our
resistance by taking a leap of faith. Very often, your
(23:34):
inner dialogue is going to be I can't do that now,
I can't afford it. Very often your inner dialogue is
going to be like, oh, it's the unknown, it's scary.
What are people going to think? Are you going to fail?
Are people going to think that you are losing your mind?
(23:57):
So all of those things are going to come to
play in your inner dialogue. It's just the way the
human mind works. But when you're listening to the human mind,
you are not in touch with your inner self. You
are not in touch with your soul self. So we
start by saying, everything that's happened up until now is
(24:18):
a part of the plan, So embrace that. Don't feel
like at some point you lost your way. You've never
lost your way. The perfect time is the time when
you decide that's the perfect time. Spirit doesn't have a
time frame for you the way your human mind does.
(24:38):
You're not supposed to do something at this age or
that age. You will know when it is your time
by your inner desire, your inner yearning, or your inner pain,
or by when all of a sudden you start to
experience those wake up calls, and when you say yes
(24:59):
to it, when you embrace it, when you one hundred
percent identify it not related to career or money, but
related to soul energy, related to your inner yearnings and
your inner desire, and you understand that it will take
on a different shape many many times, over and over again,
(25:21):
but it's always been with you. Then you can say, okay,
I'm ready, I'm ready to take a leap of faith,
and you can allow yourself to trust that whatever this
next journey in your life, because everything is a journey
and there is no one destination. When it's time for
(25:43):
you to go to the next part of your journey,
if you're resisting it in any way, that's when everything
starts to go bleak, and your beautiful joyful love for life,
life starts to feel like it's not there anymore. And
(26:06):
when you follow your passion, when you take a leap
of faith, when you surrender with you, when you deal
with your enner worth, your enner self esteem, your interfears
of going into that unknown, and you take a leap
of faith and you say yes, that is when amazing
(26:27):
things start to happen. Nothing will be presented to you
or for you as an opportunity until you have already
accepted it within yourself on some level. And that means
releasing the inner conflict, understanding that if there is something
that you want to do, that next level, that next
(26:50):
shape of expressing a part of who you are. Understand
that when you say yes, that is when all doors
start to open. And that I'm not even kidding when
I say that, that's not even an exaggeration. I've seen
it happen time and time again. And if you think sometimes, well,
(27:14):
I did say yes, and I do accept it and
I do want it, then I want to challenge you
to ask yourself. Are you an inner conflict in any way?
Is there any part of you that is putting up
balls for yourself or getting in your own way out
of fear of resistance, because taking a leap of faith
is very scary at first, but it's also extremely freeing,
(27:39):
and it's a feeling of when you just open your
arms wide open and you say yes, yes, I'm just
gonna do this. There's nowhere else to go from here.
I just have to trust. I have to trust that
this is my path. I have to trust that when
I say yes, that the next part of my path
will unfold for me. So I want you to go ahead.
(28:02):
Now we're gonna pause for reflection. I want you to
take a nice deep breath for me, breathing in through
your nose and out through your mouth. I want you
to put your hand over your heart chakra, if you
would like to feel into the energy of your heart,
(28:27):
and ask the question, what am I yearning to express?
What gift do I have to share with the world.
What is the next level of expressing my unique soul essence?
(28:49):
What is a time for me to change? What is
the next right action for me? And how will I
be contributing to the world around me in a beautiful way?
When I say yes and I surrender, no matter how scary,
(29:14):
no matter how painful, It may be I just say yes,
feel into the energy of that, open your heart, ask
for your inner spirit to guide you, and now I
(29:40):
want you to go ahead and open your eyes. I
want to say thank you all for listening to today's
podcast on understanding your sole Purpose. My name is Kelly T.
Smith and again I'm super excited about the Intuitive Life
Coaching Oracle print deck. If you'd like to learn more
about that, you can go to my website and you'll
(30:03):
find all the links to pre order. It's actually going
to be available November seventeenth to be shipped out, So
check that out at www dot Intuitive Life Coaching with
Kelly dot com. And stay tuned because I am now
(30:24):
going to be playing the interview that I did with
my friend about following her soul's purpose. Thank you all
so much.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
Thank you for listening to Soul Searching Zone talk radio
and podcasts. Join us at www dot soul Searching Zone
dot com to explore our podcast library, live events, live shows,
and our spiritual coaching blogs.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
See you there. Hello everyone, and welcome to Soulkey's podcast.
My name is Kelly T. Smith. I am so happy
to be talking to you today. Today we're going to
be discussing how to find your life purpose and how
(31:17):
to understand when you're on the right path, because sometimes
we don't understand or even realize that different events in
our life are bringing us to this one pivotal point
in our life. And it's kind of a gravitational pool,
something that many of us have always felt, but we
(31:37):
don't really understand it until we get to that place
where everything starts to align. And so I'm going to
be talking to my friend Marika von Austin, and we're
going to be discussing how she found that inner call
(31:58):
and how she moved moved into finding and understanding what
her purpose was and kind of those subtle, hidden like
beautiful treasures along the road maps, so to speak, that
brought her to her calling, her destiny. And I will
be sharing a little bit about how I felt the
(32:19):
same inner callings that brought me to do the work
that I do today. So welcome, Marika.
Speaker 3 (32:27):
Welcome, Thank you Kelly for having me on your podcast.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
I am so excited to have you here. So you know,
we've talked many times about what you are doing and
this passion project that you've been working on for quite
some time, and I really want to start the show
off by you sharing with the audience what that is
and why you feel called to do that.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
Well. It all started ten years ago when I did
volunteer work at Costrica. I knew that I'm originally from
the Netherlands, and I knew I didn't want to continue
living there, but I didn't know how it had to
involve children and creativity. Lo and behold. Six years later,
I moved to the wonderful, beautiful tropical island of Dominique,
(33:20):
which is not the Dominican Republic but a completely different country.
And when I moved there five months a year later,
a hurricane completely destroyed the islands. And in the aftermath
of that, a lot of international organizations came here and
(33:40):
I got to work with, among other people, International Medical Corn,
UNISE and UNICEF set up child friendly spaces, but they
only stay there as long as UNICEF is here, which
I understand because they have to help other countries. It
sort of sparked my interest. How wonderful would it be
if those spaces could be something permanent on our island,
(34:03):
because there's a lot going on for children, trauma from
natural disaster but also sadly neglect abuse, domestic violence, and
children never have an outlet or a way to express
themselves without using words. But because when you're six, it's
very hard to tell somebody how you feel. And that's
why it sort of evolved from an ID to an
(34:26):
actual website. And now I already did a pilot program here.
That's it in a nutshell.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
So basically, what you're doing is providing a safe space
for children to be able to express their feelings through art.
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (34:42):
Yes, that's absolutely correct. Yes, And we usually also try
to provide a healthy meal because poverty is a big
thing on our island and some children come without food.
So but the main thing is having them in a
safe place and inspiring in place where you can express
themselves to art or dance or something creative.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
And you and I have talked about how this call,
how it just was so pronounced for you, how it
was not something you were necessarily thinking about, but more
something that you were just kind of pulled to and
your heart just expanded when you thought about it. And also, like,
(35:32):
talk to me a little bit about all of the
things that led up to this and how you got
to this space where you finally got to say yes
to this soul call to be able to provide a
safe space for the children.
Speaker 3 (35:53):
Well, like I said, it started ten years ago, but
then I had no clue what I wanted, how I
wanted it, so it just let it go and I
met a logo guy online and we had a long
distance relationship. Because of him, I moved here. I had
been spent time here every year, and in those days
(36:15):
I met an elderly woman who had fostered over sixty
children in her life, and seeing where she lived and
the resources she had, I thought, Wow, if she can
do it, then there's something I can do with her
or I wasn't sure what. But after I moved here, sadly,
(36:37):
the relationship ended, but I felt really strongly that I
had to be here. I can't even tell you how
that felt, but I mean I wanted to give life
here a chance. Sadly, a year later the hurricane hit.
I wasn't here. I was in a Netherlands at that time,
(36:58):
but I felt homesick, I felt survivor skuilled. I needed
to be on my island, and I was thinking about
all the children, how horrible it must have been going
through that ordeal of the hurricane for five hours in
the middle of the night. So I can't even put
into words, but it sort of made my feeling, my
(37:23):
soul feeling bigger and bigger that I needed to do
something to help those children, even though I still wasn't
completely show what. But after seeing the un the unise
child friendly spaces, I thought, Yes, that's it, this is
this is something I can do. I'm not a therapist
(37:47):
or anything, but I have a big heart and I
know that once you open up the children, they'll open
up to you. You don't have to be uh schooled
or anything. And when I returned after her three months
after the hurricane, that was the first flight, and I
was on it because I needed to be here. Small
(38:09):
things sort of fell into place. Because I worked with
the International Corps. I met so many local people and
I talked about my ideas and they all said, oh, yes,
we need something like that. They were very enthusiastic, and
after I International Medical Corps introduced me to UNICEF. So
(38:32):
it sort of evolved in really tiny steps and looking back,
it's obvious, yeah, it led me here, but in those
days it was like, Okay, be sure, but I think
I'm still going in the right direction because small pieces
start to fall into place, and then eventually, for example,
I met somebody who lives in Columbia and did my
(38:54):
website for free because she was so passionate about my project.
She said, yes, of course I'll help you, so she
built my entire website. My previous boss in the Netherland said, oh,
I have a big party coming on. Everybody's donating money
for your foundation. So small steps, but it all confirmed
(39:17):
to me that I was going in the right direction.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
Wow. So it's like, as you said yes and allowed
yourself to really start to move toward that vision, then
it's like all of the resources and people and just
like tiny miracles just started to show up for you
to help make that possible.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
Right. Yes, absolutely, it's amazing to realize that that's what happened.
But yeah, and it's still happening now. To be honest,
I'm still seeing small steps to get my foundation more
known in the world, like this spot for example. So
(40:02):
it's still happening. So that makes me even more sure
that I am on the right bath and that I
really have to do this.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
So talk to me. That's one of the most amazing
things that happen when we do follow the call of
our soul, because what I think happens is a lot
of times there's confusion and then we second guess it.
But usually the call of your soul starts with like
this overpowering desire, and at first you don't have the resources,
(40:30):
you have no idea how you're going to do it.
But it's almost like Source or God or the universe
is filling a need through you and utilizing your gifts
and your compassionate heart energy to provide a space. So
it's like the children are calling this forward and then
(40:51):
you get to be, you know, kind of a vehicle
through which Source aligns you with providing that gift. Does
that make sense?
Speaker 3 (41:01):
Yeah, it does a lot. Exactly. I couldn't have said
it better. It's like, yeah, they work through me. I'm
the one doing it like really physically in Dominica. But yes, exactly,
I couldn't have said it better.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
So talk to me kind of like, what are some
of the things that you have experienced since you started
working with the children in a way that you know
tells you that, yes, this is helping them, this is
what they need, you know, and how is it providing
just talk to me about the art program and kind
(41:40):
of your experience overall with it since you started.
Speaker 3 (41:45):
Well, it's in the beginning. I was really like, Okay,
I'm going to have ten children, all different ages. How
am I going to do that? But it's sort of evolved.
It's fun. I like to see they're looking forward to it.
So when I take out all the glitter and glue
(42:06):
and whatever, they're like jumping for joy at the desk. Yes, miss,
when you when can we start? And usually I usually
work with a theme. They can do whatever they want,
but there's always a theme. And at a certain point
in time, the theme was I am happy because and
I was a little ten year old boy and he said, Miss,
I'm not happy. So I tried to talk to him.
(42:28):
Did you know your poppy this morning? Did you have breakfast? No?
He was not happy. I said, well, see what happened?
So he started working and I think ten minutes into
the session, he started humming to himself and I felt
so happy. It was like, you see, he is happy,
because otherwise he wouldn't be humming. And I had a
(42:48):
conversation with the deputy principal because I used a classroom
a in a local primary school, and she told me
that he always asks for a lot of negative attention
because of his situation, but since the program started, he
spent less time in her office than before. It's a
small step, but to me, that's huge because it means
(43:10):
he benefits from being there. And another little boy is very,
very introvert and very and I make an effort to
when they're doing their work. I to stop at every
little desk and talk to them and see what they're doing.
And he's slowly coming out of his shell a little
less shy. And yes, it's amazing. I mean I ended
(43:33):
the program like four weeks ago and it felt really
bittersweet to not be seeing them for a very long time.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
Are you going to be starting that again?
Speaker 3 (43:45):
Like, that's the idea I'm hot. My AIG for twenty
twenty is to find a suitable building and it's safe
in a good area where I can also live to
save on rent. But if that hasn't materialized before mid September,
I already talked to the school and we're going to
(44:05):
continue in the school. The school has around three hundred
and forty students and about eighty five percent of the
children qualify for the program. So and that's only one school.
There's over six thousand children in Dominica, so there's a
lot that still can be done, and hopefully if we
(44:26):
find a building, we can do more than just one
session a week. But I'm grateful that the school offered
it and that they hosted it, that I could start
and learn from the program what works and what doesn't work.
Speaker 1 (44:41):
So I want to talk a little bit about just
this concept of being able to help the children, you know,
express their feelings and their emotions through art and in
a program at school, because I think it is so
important and it's so rare that you get that kind
(45:03):
of nurturing or you know, even in our world today,
just feeling that you have to hold your emotions in
that you're not allowed to feel a certain way. So
for children to be able to find an outlet, to
be able to express how they're feeling in any given
moment with everything that's going on, and just have a
(45:24):
complete creative way of releasing those emotions or understanding those
emotions is absolutely to me one of the most powerful
tools we could give children for self healing and self
love and self understanding.
Speaker 3 (45:45):
An empowerment I think enpowerment. Yes, yeah, I think the
main part what I get from being with the children
is that they feel seen and heard. Is so important
and understand why schools here focus on academic skills because
(46:05):
of hurricanes and storms. They're always behind in their educational program,
so they have to because children need to learn how
to read and write. Because of poverty and all sorts
of other reasons. At home, there usually is no time,
no money, no place to do that. So I have
to agree with you. I think it's very important for
(46:27):
children to be able to express themselves without words, because
sometimes even adults cannot explain how they feel, let alone
a six year old. The hurricane is almost three years
ago now and still people have not told their story
because it's too horrible to talk about. So if you
can catch that at an early age and have children
(46:52):
find an outlet in being creative and whatever that is,
writ poem, dance, do arts and crafts, whatever, it helps
them so much in the rest of their life. So
that's why I think it's. Yeah, it's amazing to be
able to do this.
Speaker 1 (47:09):
It is amazing, and I just want to say that
it's such a good example of how spirit, source and
God will utilize the person who has, you know, the
open heart and the compassion and the ability to actually
fill a need that is for the highest and best
good of the people and the community around them, which
(47:31):
is exactly what's happening with you. And so as we
wrap this up, I'm going to talk to everyone to
send them to your website, to tell them how they
can support the program, and also to learn a little
bit more about this amazing project that you're doing and
how important it really is. But before I introduce your
(47:52):
website and tell people where to go, I just kind
of want to end the podcast with just a deeper
understand of what happens after you have accepted the call,
Like how has your life changed, and how do you
feel differently and do you still feel daily guidance? Talk
(48:13):
to me about that.
Speaker 3 (48:16):
It has changed my life massively. I mean I literally
moved from the Netherlands to a small topical island. But
I've never felt more at home than I am here
than in the Netherlands. I felt I feel at home here.
There's something about life here that suits me. Is it's
(48:39):
an easy life, No, because there's a lot going on
on this island, but it's beautiful and it's simple. I
think I feel guided every well, not every day, but
when I tune in, I know there's more things coming,
and step by step I'm getting where I want to be.
And I mean I have a huge and very detailed
(49:01):
vision how I want the center to look. It's not
there yet, but I know it won't come. And I
think the main part in that is trust and have
your vision as clear as possible. So God, the universe,
however you want to call it, knows what you are
looking for and what has to be in your path
(49:22):
in the right time, because you can't take ten steps
at a time if you're not ready for the ten steps.
Speaker 1 (49:28):
And also, I think the path of the soul, in
the calling from the soul, it always has to do
with more than our own personal agenda. It always has
to do with the greater good, and in some way
when we align with it, it not only changes our lives,
but it changes the lives of other people around us.
(49:49):
It's the difference between having like a career goal versus
following the call of your soul, you know, understanding and
going into the depth of who am I and how
can I serve? Because I think once you get past
a certain age that becomes so it can for a
lot of people, especially when you've had any kind of
(50:11):
a deeper understanding or spiritual connection. It gets to a
point where you are like, how can I serve? Where
can I be of service? And that becomes that energy
which opens you up for God's spirit source to utilize
your strengths, to utilize your gifts and your talents to
(50:38):
serve the highest and best goot of people around you,
whether it's children or community. But also what I think
is beautiful is that sometimes it just feels destiny like
set in, like like pre like it was written in
the stars before we even got here, Like it just
feels like a almost like a soul call tracts so
(51:01):
that when it shows up, there is no doubt in
your mind that this is one hundred percent where you're
supposed to be and what you're supposed to be doing.
Does that resonate?
Speaker 3 (51:13):
Yes, I couldn't agree with you more. It does feel
like I have to be here and it's so not
about me. I mean, it's not in my honor of
my glory. No, it's because of my skills and my
network or however you want to call it. I am
able to do this for the children here. And even
(51:34):
if it serves one hundred children in total, that's a
hundred children that benefited from the program. I'm sure it
will be more, but I'm taking I'm trying not to
be overwhelmed by the thought of six thousand children on
the island. But yes, it feels like it's predestined. I
(51:55):
have to be here, and that's why I stayed. And
in the beginning he was not easy because all of
a sudden, you're on yellow on your own. Well you
think it will be in a relationship in a completely
foreign country, but every little step I take is sort
of guided. Yes, you're on the right track. Don't worry,
you're on the right track. Trust thing will happen. So yes,
(52:18):
I totally agree with you.
Speaker 1 (52:20):
Well, your story is amazing and the project and the
work that you're doing with the children is amazing and beautiful,
and so I'm so happy to have you on the
show today to talk about that. Can you tell us
where we can go so that we can support you
more learn about your project, and even you have a
(52:42):
go fundme page, I think that people can find if
they want to support the project, they can find it
on your website, So would you like to share your website?
Speaker 3 (52:52):
Yes, the website is ww dot Breadfruithouse Dominica dot com.
Speaker 1 (53:00):
Say it one more time, sorry, bread? Did you say bread? Food?
Speaker 3 (53:05):
Fruit? Okay, it's a fruit. Ww dot Breadfruithouse Dominica dot com.
Speaker 1 (53:13):
Okay. And I'll also be providing a link anywhere you
found this podcast. It will be in the description for
you to click on the link so you can go
to her website and you can find more information about
this podcast and the description at www dot Soul Searching
Zone dot com. So I want to thank you Marquis
(53:35):
for coming on the show today and sharing with us
this beautiful journey. And I'm just sending you so much
love and blessings on your journey and hoping that everything
that you need will continue to just find you as
you become of service for this beautiful journey you're on.
Speaker 3 (53:57):
Thank you so much for having me Kelly very much
Speaker 1 (53:59):
Appreciate, thank you, and thank you all for listening.
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