Written by: Juliette Marhofer-Dugger, Senior Level Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
As odd as it may sound, my two defining words for 2022 were, “Welcome Home.” In 2023 my defining word is, “Harmony.” In this article I wrote for BRAINZ, which was inspired by a fortune cookie, I share why ‘home’ is best. In the context of home, I’m not referring to a physical environment. Since a physical home may or may not reflect comfort, I’m referencing home as the condition of our soul.
Enter harmony. When love and belonging become the culture of our lives, we create a future from a place of peace and harmony. We cannot deny the reality of our situation, but we can seek wellness for our souls in the middle of chaos. In the middle of my own tragedy that I share in my new book, Watershed Warrior, love and fear taught me that pain and power coexist beautifully, they are not mutually exclusive. Peace is our umpire in the storm; the welcome mat at the door of our heart to help us live in harmony and breathe.
At 4:50 p.m., New Year’s day, my oldest son ran to Starbucks for a coffee. He pulled over in the parking lot to call me. “Mom, I was just sitting here for a few minutes thinking about you and how you have every reason to hate men. You’ve fought through so much. You of all people have every reason to hate us and yet, you still desire to give another man a chance in your life in the near future. I just wanted to say thank you for not hating men. I know you’ve been fighting this since you were a kid,” he said. We exchanged some beautiful words and then hung up. I sat at this moment with tears rolling down my face and was reminded of the words in 3 John 1:2, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and that you may keep well, even as I know your soul keeps well and prospers.” My personal experience in life is that all rises and falls on the condition of my soul. I considered how every moment we choose to fight for our soul care is worth every second of our time.
I don’t enjoy loathing myself. I mean, who does? The times we wander off in our mind, we become lost under the piles of rubble and unworthiness attempts to eerily creep in to set up camp. Desolation is the record playing and the needle of shame keeps skipping over the good parts. Is the record player broken, or is there a crack in the record? This can feel just like life — we are sifted through many hands hoping to eventually find our way into the home of another soul that appreciates all the notes we play and the moments we skip. But, what about asking God’s perfect love to tend to places in us before we reach again for the hands of imperfect humans? What if we choose to be still and ask Him to help us trust that He is who He says He is? Then, on the other side, those baby steps will lead you to a new hope and a new future!
Begin with this truth — God doesn’t hold your questions or distrust against you. Love doesn’t keep a record of wrong, but humans do. The longest record is against our own soul. To show up in love is our gateway to power and harmony. Love is the Source to which all power is held. Choosing to live a life of love towards God, ourselves, and others rescue us from a life we were never intended to live. As far as the eye can see God longs to rescue you and me.
Dear soul, I believe this about you too — that under the rubble you may find me flat on my back with my eyes clenched shut, but the grip around my sword can only be pried away when I stop breathing. We are resilient warriors of love. We are capable of war, but we are made for love and when we find out what we love we will go to war. Love is not passive, it is active!
Since it’s a new year, I love shifting my perspective — that I’m building onto what I already started as opposed to thinking that I’m at ground zero. I’m inviting you to gather the beautiful pieces of your life with me this year, even what appears as waste, as a continuum of the mosaic of your resilience that began long ago. You are worthy of a soul, your home, filled with harmony and rest.
Until next time, cheers friend!
Order my new book Watershed Warrior here (available on iTunes, Amazon, Audible, & Kindle)
Subscribe to my podcast Yellow Soul on Apple & Spotify.
Juliette Marhofer-Dugger, Senior Level Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Juliette Dugger is a Life Coach, Speaker, Entrepreneur, and Thought Leader, whose obsession with Soul Care points others to rewrite their story and not to relive history. After childhood and adulthood trauma caused a collision of abandonment and a longing for intimate belonging in her soul, she created dialogue to radically transform her narrative. Juliette has committed her life to helping others recover their breath in the middle of the war in their soul, not after it ends! She is the founder of WildWell Company—a movement of freeing the mind and healing the body through Soul Care for females affected by systemic cycles and patterns of mental, emotional, and spiritual abuse and betrayal trauma. Juliette is passionate about reframing soul hygiene to disrupt the view of how we connect to faith, ourselves, and others to create a life of wonder!
