Free Conversations with a Soul by Tom McArthur

point out our ineptitude and undermine our confidence.
    Even when praised, some part of us is summoned to whisper that the words weren’t really genuine but subtly constructed to disguise harsh criticism.
    Each of these encounters, and a dozen others, demand an audience and sets the scene for a confrontation. Even when we shy away from meeting them head on, their power is undiminished and we are imprisoned in what William Blake called, the mind-forged manacles.
    It’s usually not very difficult to identify the primary characters who initiate these personal conversations. They may be invisible to everyone else, but they are all there, roaming around inside. Sometimes, alongside the recollection of a voice or a face, we can even assign a place and a date or a period of time to the particular circumstances that have come demanding a hearing; 'If I close my eyes I can still see him and hear his . . . .'
    It is not uncommon for our secret conversations to include characters who engage us from beyond the grave. These secret conversations are particularly powerful, since it’s impossible to change anything. The fact of their death closes the door to any possible changes of heart. Sometimes, it is far more important to resolve our secret conversations with the dead than with the living, although the resolution of this kind of conversation is by no means easy.
    Even the question of why you bought the book, goes way beyond an innocent inquiry, for it has the power to summon the presence of someone who frequently discounted your ability to make sound decisions! At such moments we revert to being a small child yearning for a word of affirmation, which never comes.
    Not all questions seek answers; sometimes they harbor subtle yet cruel judgments.
    Over time some of these seminal moments slowly fade away, others remain clear, while yet others become distorted and shadowy so that the conversation takes on a murky and exaggerated quality, easily leading to a paralysis of nerve.
    Then, some conversations simply happen without prompting or preparation. Spontaneously, at a moment in time, initiated by any number of stimuli they challenge us and a silent engagement happens. Then they are gone, never to return.
    Some of our secret conversations have the ability to undermine our confidence and others help us to journey towards new insights with a greater appreciation of our unique value.
    The most influential of all our internal conversations, although not necessarily the most strident, is the one we have with our Souls, which, interestingly enough, always nudges us away from the negative and towards discovering a new respect and health for ourselves. Soul conversations typically open boundless possibilities and call us to live anew.

    Have you noticed that some powerful words manage to sneak into our vocabulary and we use them without ever bothering to define them, or at least explore their potential? It doesn’t feel as if this is a serious omission and we all seem to get along quite well, even if listening to some conversations is somewhat akin to watching children throw stones at each other; a childish game played without rancor until someone scores as direct hit! Husbands and wives, when they are angry with each other, sometimes toss verbal hand grenades back and forth, and then express surprise when, in a terrible moment of insight, they see the damage they’ve caused.
    Still, to a greater or lesser degree, this unconcerned, laidback attitude to the words we use is part and parcel of our everyday interaction with one other. Engaged in conversation we seldom weigh each word or carefully measure the appropriateness of a given phrase, which may be why we repeatedly say the same things over and over but in different ways.
    However, all this changes when a word is abruptly plucked from merely being a part of the general landscape of life and comes under scrutiny. Such is the dilemma faced by a man or woman who has to find an answer to a