Who are you? How we answer this question determines everything in life. Too often our culture answers it for us, taking us away from being in touch with who we truly are. The essence of the spiritual life is to reclaim our lost identity. Using a blend of storytelling and interviews, the Soul Search podcast is an up-close look at this journey, taking you below the surface of life to find your deepest and truest
self.

Music: The Onyx by Blue Dot Sessions

https://thesoulsearch.org

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There is a different way to walk through life. A kind of walking not to get anywhere or to accomplish anything. Instead it's a walk to linger and to listen. Kirk Davis, a San Francisco native and community leader in the city's Bayview neighborhood, walks this way through his city. Often taking several hours, he intentionally listens to what the city is saying to him about the past and the future. It's a walk to meditate on the grief about what's changed and the hope that's to come.

As adults we tend to lose that unfiltered amazement of the world we had as children. Our agendas take over instead because we think wonder is a luxury we can no longer afford. But could it be that what we seem to have lost in our adult lives has never left us? And that recapturing wonder can reconnect us with what's always been most essential to us?

Bernie Dickson is a photographer and mother of two special needs boys. Her profession requires her to see the world a bit differently than most of us. Hear the story about how photography and acceptance of her kids came together one beautiful night. And how a community came around to support her.

See photos from her Acceptance Exhibit here.

Nita takes us on a walk through the neighborhood where she grew up. It's more than a nostalgic walk though. There was something to the place that held spiritual significance. It’s where she came to learn about herself and feel at home in the world. There’s something important about holding on to your home, even if it’s now only a sweet childhood memory.

Kris Smiley has had four cancers episodes, twenty plus tumors and multiple invasive surgeries. He knows what it’s like to face that cold calculating part of reality that doesn’t care about your plans or the things you love. Can you hold hands with what’s destroying you? Is there an answer to why it’s happening? This is his story about finding out.

Be advised: This episode contains adult language and graphic descriptions of medical procedures. So if any of this is triggering for you, you might want to skip this one.

Dr. Joyce del Rosario has returned to her hometown of Seattle after being away for a while. She had a career serving under-resourced youth in the city and then at-risk moms in the Bay Area. She also earned a PhD in theology and taught at a prestigious seminary, but things changed and she's come home to find her way again. What can food say about who you are, when the world is making demand of who you're supposed to be? This is her story.

We all get stuck in negative thinking at times. Use this affirmation to reclaim the truth about who you are. You are worthy of love simply because you're human. It's not about how successful you are. And it doesn't go away just because you fail.

Love is never earned. It just IS.

Music Credit:
When the Earth Yelled Back at Me by Alaskan Tapes