Old Soul

Watching yet another commercial about the miracles of an anti-aging cream, I was relieved that no one has tried to erase whatever contributes to the miraculous creation of an “old soul.”

I wondered if old souls start out as toddler souls, learning to walk by falling down and getting back up and sometimes having a tantrum when things don’t go their way. 

Do they grow into young child souls that keep asking, “Why?” “Why is the grass green?” “Why do worms wiggle?” “Why, why, why?”

Would there be adolescent souls, confused and struggling to discover who they are, and eventually growing into confident young adult souls?

Well, that’s just life, isn’t it?! We each learn to get up when we fall down and sometimes have a come-apart. We learn the importance of questioning. We struggle to discover who we are and gain confidence.

That’s also divorce. We lose our balance, feel like we are falling, and work desperately to find our footing, again with the occasional come-apart.  We keep asking why, why, why.  We are changing and need to rediscover ourselves in order to regain our confidence, though the change may be that we are simply discovering more of our authentic self.

I read that when someone is described as an “old soul,” it means, among other things, there’s a spiritual aspect to them that gives them wisdom beyond their years, and that they listen deeply to their intuition and act on the guidance they are given.

Interestingly enough, divorce does teach us to trust our intuition more than we ever have before, helps us connect more deeply to our spirituality, and if we choose to learn from our experience and search for meaning, we develop a deeper wisdom and understanding of ourselves and compassion for others who struggle though painful situations.

I wonder if our divorce has given us gifts and knowings to develop into an old soul.

An old soul transforms pain and grief into light. This is what we each strive to do, and this is always a miracle.