When You Do Your Soul's Work, Be Prepared

When you speak up about issues

That most people can’t stomach

You should be prepared

Be prepared to be mocked

Be prepared to be criticized

Ridiculed and ‘hated’

Be prepared for people’s projections

Be prepared to be made ‘wrong’

Be prepared to have

Your heart broken

Be prepared to feel like

You wanna give up

But Also

Be prepared to feel connected

To the heart of God

Be prepared to have

A Life force flowing through you

That is so grounded

So deeply rooted

That absolutely nothing can

Alter your Spirit, at least not

For very long

Be prepared to have passion

Coursing through your veins

Even while you sleep

Be prepared to know

That you are literally

Never alone

You came here for a reason

You came with a deep calling

A purpose, a passion, a ‘why’

You came with a voice

You came with a message

That only you—yes you—can share

In the way that someone else needs to hear

There is a battle going on

On this Earth

I don’t like to use the word battle

But that’s what it is

It’s a battle for your consciousness

A battle for your human-ness

I don’t even think it’s a stretch

To say it’s a battle for your Soul

If you know what I’m talking about

Start speaking, start writing

Start meditating more

Start tapping in

Do it daily

Start drawing, start creating

In whatever way feels true

And aligned for you

Whatever your path may be

Start embodying who you are

Start knowing—versus guessing—why you came

It’s time to remember

To our collective growth,

Tara x

Tara Daylami

Plagued by the kind of sensitivity (and awareness!) you almost wouldn't wish upon your worst enemy, I spent most of my childhood in a state of hyper-vigilance and inability to handle to slightest of criticisms. By my teenage years, this sensitivity had successfully matured to a full-blown rage which nothing -- and I mean NOTHING -- could console until, at 16, I was FINALLY introduced to illicit drugs (the likes of cocaine and ecstasy -- and, if you like, house music) which finally began to ameliorate what by this point could only be described as ACUTE PSYCHIC PAIN. But the story doesn't end there. I continued on. With hallucinogenics. With relationships. With theft. With alcohol. With lies and deceit and betrayal and infidelity for another 10 years. In the meantime, I graduated college (on time) and worked full time. I even met and got engaged to an amazing guy. But absolutely nothing could touch the emptiness I felt inside. And so I did what most people who can hardly stand to be in their own skin do: I sabotaged. I destroyed anything and everything that "threatened" to come close. That threatened to love me. Nothing terrified me more than being "found out" for who I really believed I was inside. Empty. Hollow. While, simultaneously, nothing terrified be more that the thought that no one ever would find out.

Oh and throughout all this, I might mention, I also returned to school to pursue none other that a career as a psychotherapist. It was as illogical then as it probably sounds to you now. But I can tell you this. That decision was made (with the help of my then fiancé) in 2003, and as I (metaphorically) sit before you today, I can hardly recognize that girl. Sure, our Soul may be eternal and never-changing, but for all practical purposes, who I was and the way I showed up in the world in virtually no way resembles the person I am today. I spent my 20s effectively destroying almost everything that crossed my path. And I spent most of my 30's trying to scrape off the last residue of guilt that the previous decade left on my soul. I would be lying to you if I said it hasn't been painful. Because it has. BUT! The thing about it is that everything is different now. All the work I have done over the last several decades. Because -- despite being a spinning ball of chaos for the first 35 years of my life -- I have ALWAYS KNOWN deep down inside that I was destined for more. A LOT MORE. And the thought of that terrified me as well.