Hello Gorgeous Soul.
Welcome to Episode 4 of the SoulFull Way Podcast, drawn from my book Just One Soulful Thing ~ A Simple Adventure in Reclaiming Your Wild Wisdom.
In today’s soulful session, we reflect on who is traipsing that edge with us - considering quality not quantity of those who see, invest and engage in our creative pursuits. And no matter how scary that edge - as we vulnerably put our creative selves out there and follow that voice within - denying who we are and living with the consequence is much scarier.
💬 “Things can fall apart, or threaten to, for many reasons, and then there’s got to be a leap of faith. Ultimately, when you’re at the edge, you have to go forward or backward; if you go forward, you have to jump together.” — Yo-Yo Ma
We can sometimes feel like we are calling, or creating, into a void … but we never know who we’re inspiring and igniting along the way. We must create for creations’ sake, to honour the stirrings of our soul.
“If you have found yourself …
“...teetering, craving answers to the 'what ifs?' of your life, looking for a way to steady your world, clear the clutter of mind, rediscover unwavering hope, learn to listen to yourself, trust yourself ... speak the truth burning within in a way you can be lingeringly proud of, to get back to the joy you once knew, or experience it for the first authentic time of your life or are looking to mingle more with your inner kid and wise sage, savour the life you have been given more ...Then What an Adventure We're About to Embark On ... You and Me ...and those kindreds on the edge with us!"
✨… Soul Seeker Pep Talks included and today’s juuuuuust the Beginning! ✨
Today’s duo-pondering: “Who’s Traipsing that Edge With Me” & a “Soul Seeker Peep Pep Talk”
Grab a cuppa, find a soulful spot, curl up, and let’s wander within and in the world a while, together.
Each Video Podcast POST Invites You To:
Engage - Video and Podcast - Watch or listen along.
Expand - A written reflection on how this all applies to practical, soulful living.
Experience - Make it all your own and allow it to stir your own Wisdom and Way.
This publication is free, but we invite you to dive in further, when you feel a resonance for more, require a boost on your SoulFull Way and want to find solace and connection to kindreds on the adventure. Let me list the ways:
Read and follow along: Get the Book Canada Link / US Link
Click to Join The SoulFull Way Chat (Psst … your people live here).
Adventure with us on a SoulFull Retreat in gorgeous Guatemala, Oct 2025. Fill out the Questionnaire to see if this is a soulful fit for you or let us find one that is ~ https://tally.so/r/wbRvWL.
A NUDGE TO THE EDGE
✨ENGAGE ~ Come along The SoulFull Way via podcast or video
✨EXPAND ~ A Reflection on Those Who’ve Made All the Difference and the Self-Pep Talks Required to Make it So .
We may be at dizzying heights, poised to plunge as we breathe life into our creative visions and callout into the void.
But deliver from The Edge we must, from ache or giddiness, of bliss, to heal, to know for sure …
That we have lived.
✨✨✨
All we can hope is that one life will have found relief, wonder, desire, love …
Because we have lived.
This requires Trust,
A Belief in the Kindreds who cross our path,
And a whoooooole lotta personal, lively, soul-cheering Pep Talks.
🌀When I began all this online sharing biz, it was a lifeline …
for a woman who had enjoyed the buzz and fruits of a career she adored, as speaker and facilitator for people and organizations who seemed to dig what she soulfully delivered - now mama of two busy boys 17 months apart, having moved with hubby and all, from vibrant city to a place in the far north surrounded by family but rich with a requirement to begin again and find niche and groove.
After 35 years of twirling to the beat of my own drum, there I was out of element, adorned with parka, outfitted with stroller, snuggly and doggie in tow. I loved being a mommy and the sweet basking in the every day, but I did miss the surge of purpose I’d found in front of audiences and deep-diving-in work of the soul with movers n’ shakers in healthcare, education and to care and uplift women, single moms and young girls in deep need. My heart fluttered being with my boys; my spirit ached for the dreams I still held, beyond any reach I could imagine.
✨
And so … I began to write
for peace, for perspective, for my life, to hold fast to my wishful belief that I could ‘have it all’, even if not all at once. I could keep my slipper-come-stiletto in the door.
👩💻I started Lifeschoolers Inc: 365 Days in the Life of a Homeschooling Mom. I became a Facebook wizard, rekindled old relationships and spurred on new, all by pouring the inspiration that once filled boardrooms and candlelit retreat spaces through fueled fingers and keyboard to social media spaces.
And then …
🦗Crickets🦗
I kept writing from compulsion, a relentless inkling to simply inspire, share a little hope, a little love even if little response was the result. There were moments, if I’m honest, that I wondered of it all … “To what end”?
And then one day, when out at a party, milling around with other adults as our kids romped through the yard, this dad - also a super cool dude we’d come to admire and love because of how he’d handled his recent divorce and dedication to his daughter throughout - came right over and stood close.
“Jennifer, can I tell you something?”
“Of course.”
“Honestly, I’ve been through the worst time in my life, have been suffering in ways I can’t really describe. I’ve had some really dark thoughts. Every day, I look for your posts … it’s been a life line actually. So, thank you.”
You could have blown me over with a feather. All I could do as he wavered, tears in his eyes, was give him a hug. He held on tight. We never talked of it again.
Had I not gone to that party where we shared space, had he not been courageous enough to put words to his pain, I never would have known.
In this pivotal thought I realized … we’re not meant to know.
Our role is to follow where that whisper of knowing, creative calling, leads and where it winds and stirs and how it holds and ignites another …
Actually, is simply, none of our business.
We never know who’s traipsing that razor’s edge with us, so we just keep on keeping on.
And how do we keep on keeping on, chin up, eyes on the soulful prize, unperturbed by the heights, the silence before the accolades?
✨✨✨
We speak aloud, from soul’s encouragement to heartfelt cheer, the words we need to hear - weaving into thought the recognition of the beauty and miracle we are personified, letting stream forth all the dialogue we wish we could engage in over tea or cognac, acknowledging the pain and the triumph, the tenacity and the honouring of all we continue to work with (not through). We hold ourselves in tenderness, asking what is needed to soothe and heal, uplift and revive, radiate love inward instead of ever outward … and then we do what rises from the question.
And with this spark we shift to the …
✨EXPERIENCE ~ Your Turn to Take it All Out For a Spin.
😌 Breathe, still, linger in the silence and let thoughts float away like clouds across a blue sky. Breathe.
💜 Take Your Questions into the Stillness. Use these or (I encourage you) to create your own.
Who is wandering the edge of passionate life with you?
How can you acknowledge what they mean to you?
What if there is a host of people who are reading and listening every day to what you spill onto page, voice into the world - what if they are being moved, cradled, graced? What if you knew this to be true? Would you write more, write about different subjects, deliver more of the raw, bare more of your soul?
Do you need a pep talk? (Really truly - I mean, who doesn’t right?)
What do you need to acknowledge, to stop denying and start honouring, to hear to know you are treasured and a treasure to all?
I feel the tingle to encourage you to …
Make a list of those who have inspired you along the way. Tell them in a letter or at a gathering.
Write a preemptive letter of wild gratitude to the silent ones, those you’re stirring who may say nothing but who are the very spark that lights your fire on The Way.
Write your mad-glorious self a Pep Talk and post it for YOU to read each and every morning and night. See how this teases out your divine self to emerge more often, more keenly.
Look within to your wild, innate wisdom, that whisper and Friend that knows all … listen and follow wherever it leads. The best of your life, IS happening in this very moment.
And if you need tools, a cheerleader, a mentor on The Way, I might know a little somethin’ somethin’ about that. If you feel the tingle from within to learn more … you know where to find me. I answer every message and offer a free 33 min calls to suss out where the soulful wander way may take us, together.
To your extraordinary adventure along the ever-soul-expanding way.
💜 ~ jenni
More SoulFull Connection? We’ve Got You Covered!
✨EVENTS:
SoulFull Retreat Guatemala ~ October 2025
After 20+ years of offering retreats and workshops in Canada and online ~ for those looking to listen within, consciously create the soulful life of which they’ve dreamed, in relationship with self and others, looking to heal through tender self care, and gleefully skip through life as if a one-time adventure ~ I’m taking them to the world. Rio Dulce (Sweet River) in Guatemala, to be precise.
October 3-10, 2025 A week spent:
✨flowing in stillness, meditative flow, wandering and in awe of our surroundings,
✨diving deeper into life Just One Soulful Thing at a time,
✨immersing in the wonder, culture and beauty of the Guatemalan people and mystical place - from Mayan Ruins and stories to stir the spirit to boat rides through the rainforest canyon
✨tapping your innate inner wisdom and flow to make 2025-26 your most glorious and soulful year yet.
☀️✨We will emerge rejuvenated and enriched.
🦋Spots are limited to ensure an intimate gathering between kindreds.
If this tingles you through, fill out our Questionnaire and we’ll follow up with a contact call (for free). We’re all about aligning you with a SoulFull Retreat experience that will enrich you for the moments and a lifetime. Connect here.
✨A Glimpse into Jennifer M. Maki
Jennifer has a background in psychology and communications and spent the last 20+ years canvasing the human spirit, across business and non-profit sectors in Canada, the US, Europe and British West Indies, working with and gleaning from dynamic people, seekers, leaders and community members.
An author, soulpreneur coach, renowned speaker and workshop facilitator, she has been privileged to design workshops, coaching programs and keynotes, addressing:
values/action alignment,
soulful communications, service and living, and
cultivating and celebrating heroism in the workplace, for myriad clients.
She is also a sought-after public relations, marketing and crisis communications specialist, empowering organizations to align brand integrity with powerful, purposeful messaging.
On the home front, Jennifer had the privilege of LifeSchooling her two boys, with a keen desire to instill and apply the values she shared in the world with her precious family.
Together they launched The Mad Hero Project, engaging in Missions of the Me and We kind - practices in - mindfulness, soulful communication, social responsibility, and community building.
Jennifer is president of Maolog Communications Inc., owner of Project Yes! Life, founder of The Mad Hero Project and author of The Mad Hero’s Manifesto and Just One Soulful Thing: A Simple Adventure in Reclaiming Your Wild Wisdom.
Share this post