feed your second soul

like your life depends on it....because maybe it does?

You’re reading the flourishing factory — a newsletter of stories, lessons, and frameworks to help you cultivate a flourishing life.

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I once heard somewhere that artists have second souls.¹

Meaning they have a second part of themselves with their creative hopes, dreams, and wishes. It’s a part of them that needs to be nourished and not ignored lest the creative spirit shrivels.

So the task of the artist is to make room for the second soul.

But really, it’s the task of all of us.

I don’t care if you’re a CPA, math teacher, or CEO. Every single one of us has a second soul. And we each hold creative wisdom to grow it.

My neighbor is an engineer but takes ballet classes. I know someone who owns an executive search firm and is writing a novel. My friend Jaime is a Harvard PhD who studies Alzheimers but has a YouTube channel talking about vintage video games….and has 51,000 subscribers.

I write 3 different newsletters!

But here’s the thing…it doesn’t matter if you’ve put your second soul in a drawer for years or don’t even know where you left it. Just try something, anything. Then keep trying till you find what you’re looking for.

Then give it space, even a sliver.

Soon curiosity wakes up. You begin to feel less like a function and more like a person again.

Then feed it a little each day, and watch what comes alive.

1. For my more theologically inclined readers, I do not literally think we have a second soul. This is purely metaphorical. However, I do think the creative seed in each of us is a function of the Image of God within us, who created all that is. But that’s a post for another day, probably on CrossTalk.