No matter where you’ve come from or what brought you here, a warm, warm welcome.
And much appreciation for spending some time with me and checking things out.
Following an Elusive Whiff
Even though starting a blog is becoming more common, it’s a pretty big deal for me. There are lots of people saying a lot of things (600 million blogs as of 2025, not to mention the growing number of podcasts.
Starting a blog is something that I have had an inkling about for many years.
Like when you get a whiff of something, but it is only a whiff.
You might have had the experience of the kind of whiff that I’m talking about.
The kind that stays just out in front of you and is just strong enough to pull you toward it with curiosity; bringing you toward everything that you need to know, understand, and become… one small piece at a time.
That’s what this has been like for me. It’s a whiff that I engaged with and explored over years, ever so slowly gathering each piece, figuring out how they fit together, uncovering my reasons for saying something, and figuring out what I might have to say.
While it’s a continuous exploration, at this point, I’ve landed on three things.
Truly Tired of Simple Solutions and Fast Fixes
I was truly tired of seeing so much simplistic content about complex problems, singular solutions that would supposedly fix most everything, and fast fixes that worked in three to five easy steps. The truth is that most problems have multiple potential causes, some with deep roots, and therefore need more sophisticated solutions that take time and effort to create lasting change.
Recognizing the Complex
I had been sitting, really sitting with understanding how it all works, how it’s related, why it matters, and how I could make a difference over many years.
- There are many people and much of the world that is weighted with problems: problems of health, social interactions, equality and justice, economics, the environment, etc. Some of the problems are getting better over time, but many are getting worse. The disparity is growing. And some of the ‘solutions’ seem to be causing more problems.
So what? Where’s the root? Or roots?
- There are many people who want to become better selves, to create better lives, and to contribute to a better world.
So what? What makes a real difference? And what comes first? Change for the individual or change in the world? The chicken or the egg?
So what? Where’s the change? The real, deep down, sustainable change that shifts the trajectory of things? In ourselves? In our lives? In the world?
I spent several years thinking about these things.
For me, after considering and discarding many things, I don’t think there is one simple answer, far from it. I mean how could there be?
We are complex people, and the world is a complex place.
Do you know what I am talking about? Have you ever tried to solve something but realized that you were approaching it too simply; trying to apply the easiest and most obvious solution because it’s the way you understood the problem, and it was the solution you had?
I have come to believe that there might be a complex answer. And while none of us can ever know the answer for sure, I came to believe that consciousness, or what I call conscious relating and creating seemed to be the key to explaining and understanding it all.
It seemed to me that almost everything is about relating and creating.
Every thought. Every perception. Every belief. Every hope. Every big idea. Every uncertainty. Every intention. Every plan. Every learning. Every feeling. Every family. Every purchase. Every way we honour, disregard, or harm others. Every organization. Every policy. Every expression of power. Every rule. Every decision. Every word expressed. Every action and reaction. Every misstep or mistake. Every regret. Every celebration. Every beginning. Every ending.
Every one of them is about how we relate to and create, whether it’s within ourselves, with others, within our lives, or within the larger world. (And what goes on in our relationships, our families, our organizations, our communities, our governments, our systems, and the larger world is the reflection of how consciously we are currently relating and creating, as well as the historical consequences of our often-lower levels of consciousness).
Now, the fact that we may not be consciously engaged in the process of relating and creating, does not take away from the truth that at the centre of almost everything is relating and creating.
For most of us, the idea that something is complex, like conscious relating and creating can be overwhelming. I find myself there sometimes.
But there’s some important flip sides to complexity that are good news.
- Complexity offers more than one entry point for change.
- Complexity is interrelated. So, change in one place results (and sometimes amplifies) changes in other places.
- Complexity ripples out. So, when we work to better ourselves, it ripples into better lives, and a better world.
So, I wanted to recognize and explore this complexity while developing bite sized content that focused on supporting us (I include myself) to become Better Selves, create Better Lives, and contribute to a Better World.
An Inner Rebellion
Truthfully, there was an inner rebellion growing in me. It wasn’t my first inner rebellion. I’ve gone through several of them while overhauling myself and my life at different points. But it was different somehow, and it took some years to move through and determine the right form that it was supposed to take.
The rebellion was about a lot of things:
- stepping into the public space when I had deliberately stayed very private,
- vulnerably risking to share my knowledge, experience, flaws and mistakes,
- trying to hold and speak to the micro, meso, and macro simultaneously,
- stretching to learn about things that were outside of my capabilities and comfort zone,
- stepping up to humbly expand my own conscious relating and creating,
- serving interested others (REBEL SOULs) and joining them in the rebellion(both inner and outer).
A “REBEL SOUL” is obviously the coming together of a “Rebel” with the “Soul” in some way.
I think of a REBEL SOUL as someone who’s SEARCHING. They are SEARCHING to become Better Selves, create Better Lives, and contribute to a Better World.
And, in that SEARCH they are challenging that which is not, and cultivating that which is conscious relating and creating in themselves, in their lives, and/or in the world. They can be at any place along this journey. They fall and get back up, gaining a little more consciousness as they do. However slowly they are moving, they are trying to animate their consciousness and the soul one bit at a time. (For more on what I mean by “Soul”).
No matter how messy or how clouded the searching becomes with fear and survival, or ego, they are reaching for growth (recovery, learning, change, transformation), empowerment for themselves and all others, knowing (which includes wisdom), responsiveness, connectedness, cooperativeness, wholeness, and wonder.
The Content and the Conversation
Without digging in, conscious relating and creating might sound simple enough.
Lots of us might even say, we’re already doing that—relating and creating consciously.
And perhaps we are, in some ways, some of the time.
But do we live there? Within ourselves? Within our lives? Within the world?
I for one, have a way to go before getting there. (Maybe I’m the only one?)
What I most want to create for myself and others:
A response to my deep longing (that started with a whiff).
“Sometime you have to create what you want to be a part of”.
I have seen this quote attributed to about half a dozen different people so cannot with any confidence reference it.
I want to be a part of something that at least tries to understand the complexity and holds it even when its hard and there are no easy answers and quick solutions. Without this, there is no real hope for change in ourselves or in the world.
- Bite sized posts that are real and in the deep end (most of the time). This includes a personal commitment to humbly explore and expand my own conscious relating and creating, and to share that journey more openly. This means sharing the places I have or am in the process of falling down and finding my way. Not because it’s easy. It’s vulnerable and risky. As I am an introvert, this is no small commitment. And I believe it is important to make this internal growth and healing process more visible, more common, and more accessible. Without this, I am bypassing (something we’ll talk about), rather than consciously relating and creating.
The plan is to post 2-3 times a month (with some breaks) typically on a Monday so we can lean into the week. There will sometimes be a grouping or series of posts as part of a larger theme (because change doesn’t usually stick after a single pass and we are better able to make change when things are chunked down).
- Offerings to understand, inspire, and support changes related to all parts of conscious relating and creating and its many underpinnings. That’s what I’ll be writing about and investing in. What it looks like? What contributes to it? How it plays out in our lives and in the world? What happens when its missing? What are the little changes that move us in its direction?
- A place for REBEL SOULS people like me, who are finding their way to more conscious relating and creating (although I don’t think they would call it that), and becoming better selves, creating better lives, and contributing to a better world.
- A contribution to a more conscious world, at least in my small corner of the world, and ideally yours as well.
I am hopeful that we can move forward to the next places together, and that you will check back often or Join the List. (There are signups spots throughout the soulchange.com).
I trust we’ll learn some things, share some things, and change some things.
And I hope that as we increase our level of conscious relating and creating it ripples out into our lives and into the world.
With Humility, Hope, and Heart,
