Truth is a tricky thing.
In some cases it is a law-based term, but in my world it is one that directly impacts the experience of every soul. It seems everything that is on the news these days relates to whether or not someone is telling the truth, defending the truth or trying to find the real truth, which could relate to anything from politicians and criminals to aliens and what happens after death. Just last night the national news reported a study about what happens to the brain after we pass. Researchers now recognize that cerebral activity ceases after the heart stops beating, not before as once thought. This indicates that consciousness is now a verifiable thing. But still, what is the truth behind what that actually means?
Years ago, a client asked me what I thought the main goal was for every human on this planet. Without hesitation, I answered, “To find our truth and keep it.”
With 8.6 billion people on this planet, it is impossible to have a universal truth. In my world, that is a good thing. To me, each soul is on its own journey to find, heal and restore itself so we can return to source. This takes many lifetimes because there is so much work to do to unify the many aspects of who we are enough to understand the largest concepts—conscious evolution, ultimate love for others and probably most difficult, ultimate love of self—which is the only energy that unlocks the doors to the next dimensions. Self-love is directly related to consciousness and our ability to see beyond our human condition.
I’ve had many conversations with others about truth and consciousness. I’ve also read many essays from philosophers who pondered the topic, a few of which mentioned or even emphasized the soul as part of our search for truth. And yet there are no universal conclusions.
This is where the soul comes in. Our job is not necessarily to find or determine the truth of others or the world at large. Instead, it is far more important to find and live our own.
A long-term client came to me about 12 years ago during a tumultuous time in his marriage. He was a pushover, pleaser and “obedient” person but a miserable soul. He’d grown up with a highly narcissistic father and an overly compliant mother. He was never allowed to have his own truth. He was a hard worker and very responsible adult, but he thought his role was to endure much of the behavior his wife showed rather than express his own needs within the marriage. Eventually, the marriage ended, he moved closer to his family of origin and began a new life. He told me just a few years ago that I had used the phrase “live his truth” as I encouraged him to redesign his life as he healed and moved on. He admitted that he had no idea what I meant at the time I said it, but didn’t have the confidence to ask. As we worked together and he heard me use various words, including soul, he came to understand what it means. As a result, his misery of how he once lived faded and he now lives a very rich and aligned life.
He is true to himself, can express himself much more honestly and deeply and has built a very nice life.
Soul health is all about learning about our truth. It is an individual journey, one that no one else can live but can, however, share. The beauty of the journey happens when you find others along the way whose truth compliments your own so you can add them to your forest. Even then, the individuals involved continue to learn about themselves as they learn about the others and how they intermingle. When everyone can respectfully live in their own truth among the other “trees”, the forest thrives.
While interviewing healthcare providers for my book, The Healer’s Path to Post-COVID Recovery, a colleague sent me a text saying he thought of me as he read something about truth. I asked him to elaborate and he said, “Starting with ‘truth’ as ultimately unknowable in its whole manifestation. We learn bits and pieces along the journey only to discover that the more we know, the more we realize that we do not know, cannot know, and don’t know that we don’t know.” He went on to say more about the teachers who have come to this conclusion and described what he thought the process must be like. He ended by saying, “… for truth as experienced must penetrate below the bedrock of language and enter the body, the soul and nourish all of the branches (referring to my Soul Health Model). We know by the fruits of the tree.”
He didn’t realize it at the time, but he described my mission in working with others to create soul health.
My entire process of working with people, whether either of us are aware of it or not, is to bring to light the light within. Until a person illuminates their own truth in every moment of life they aren’t really living. And the human condition often sees to it that we stay shrouded in darkness.
Tragedy and difficult experiences are often what cracks the seal to what is buried beneath. As I write this, I now realize that my own truth of knowing I needed to be a psychologist as a junior in high school was somehow the start of working with the soul. When tired, broken or devastated humans come to me for help, what they are really doing is presenting their soul to me because they don’t know what else to do with it. What a privilege and honor to help others rebirth to a higher understanding of themselves!
Truth. It is not the dictionary definition that counts, it is the process of discovering who you really are and living it that allows us to live in ultimate truth. Discovering our truth is the product of conscious evolution.
Ultimately, understanding the soul is the path to your perfect reality.
Katherine T. Kelly Ph.D., M.S.P.H.
With 35+ years of direct clinical experience, Dr. Kelly doesn’t just believe in helping others to heal; instead, her mission is to help them to evolve. Using her own integrative and trademarked framework—the Soul Health Model—Dr. Kelly approaches her work with clients from a “whole person” or “whole organization” perspective. She provides a uniquely progressive, yet down-to-earth approach and is well-known in therapeutic, medical and corporate communities. She thrives as she helps clients and organizations to reach what she calls “conscious evolution” through a variety of self-designed strategies. Her dedication to healing has been widely recognized as she was the recipient of the Provider of the Year Award by the regional Mental Health Association and was nominated as an Incredible Woman for a local community television network, which spotlights role models to inspire young women to pursue their own passions.