Have you ever wondered what your purpose in life is? Arehn McCarty is a life coach who can guide you in that journey. She has an extensive background and is well-qualified to offer guidance on life’s journey. She shares her story and some tips in this episode. Contact her through her website or YouTube channel.
Emmalou Penrod 0:00
I’m talking to Arehn McCarty today. And she is a spiritual life coach. Arehn, welcome. And I love your title, Soul Print Journeys. Now I know there’s a story there. So tell me your experiences. Tell how you came to the point that you are supporting soul print journies?
Arehn McCarty 0:29
Yeah, well, probably more than 13 years ago, I was in school and I’ve always been a spiritual seeker. I’ve always explored all kinds of different paths that lead up the mountain. And I was in a deep meditation; it was a long retreat that I had been doing. And part of it was to write our purpose for life. And in that I came up with, and it’s carried me my life, to inspire the love of God in people. And it has, it’s taken on depth in many different forms. I’ve been in education. And I really feel like inspiring the love of life in people and the wonder that’s all kind of included in that. And so, as I’ve become a life coach and moved into this aspect of my life, I really want to help people discover what their soul print is. And the idea of a soul print is that you are a unique individual. That you were created in the image and the likeness of a creator. That we have this power to create our dreams, and whatever it is that we design here. But you individually, are the only person in the whole history of human beings and in the whole future of human beings that have your unique soul print. You are your interests, your history, your experiences, all add up to being who you really are. And what can you bring that’s unique using those unique aspects of you as a human being? How are you representing that in the world? What are you doing with your soul prints? So the idea of creating this journey to explore this journey. What is it that I am meant to do? So in the 12th century, there was a Persian poet named Rumi, and he said, “If a king has sent you into a country, to carry out one special, specific task, if you go to that country, and you can perform 100 other tasks, but if you have not performed the task you were sent for, it’s as if you’ve done nothing at all.” So people have come into the world for particular tasks. And that’s our purpose. And if we don’t perform it, we have done nothing. And I think that’s really the essence of the soul print. That we can do all kinds of things. We can make a lot of money. We can have all the things that people desire in the world, and we’re supposed to want, but if we’re not being true to who we really are, and honoring what we’re here to do, it’s as if we’re not, we’re not living our life, we’re not living the life that we are meant to be doing.
Emmalou Penrod 3:28
And the soul print, so is that like a fingerprint?
Arehn McCarty 3:33
Yeah, your fingerprints are completely unique, right? And so your soul print, too is completely unique. It’s a representation of you in the world.
Emmalou Penrod 3:44
I like that. I like that. So how do you do this? What are you doing now?
Arehn McCarty 3:50
Well, as a coach, what I do is I have a bunch of different classes. I have five different classes that I offer that really can help people discover who they are meant to be, like, what’s really calling them. I think most of us dream really small. We look at what our circumstances are, what kind of education we have, how old we are, whatever, and we base what we think we can do on that. And so I help people to open themselves up to the really big dreams that are calling them into being. And one of the biggest things, I think, is a sense of worthiness. Most of us walk through life with a sense of lack, like we’re not worthy of these big dreams. Who am I to want this? And thinking about the song Amazing Grace, and I think no matter what your spiritual path, you’ve heard that song and it gives you chills or it makes you cry. And it’s about how much God loves you. I mean, God has created you or the universal energy, however you want to look at it. The universe has crafted all of history, all of your mother’s, mother’s, mother’s, mother’s, but it goes back forever. Those people lived so that you right now can be in this world. And so, really developing a sense of worth to feel that amazing grace in your life. So we do a lot of work with helping us and exercises and tricks to get through to build our sense of of worthiness, so that we can really embrace that purpose in our lives.
Emmalou Penrod 5:36
I totally agree with that. That was my experience as a high school teacher is that most people underestimate themselves. Most people are capable of far more than they believe. Yeah, I love it. What you’re doing, this is great. So how does this work support families?
Arehn McCarty 5:56
So you know, I believe that even as a parent, you know, there are no manuals. I’m sure everyone has heard that before. And we kind of stumbled through the best we can. We’ve researched and we talked to people, and we try to learn the best parenting methods, but it really all comes down to who you are as a person, and as a parent, and as a person in the world. So the more you feel good about who you are, the more loving and supportive and patient you can be. I mean, if you’re feeling that divine love, that’s gentle with you, as you learn to walk in the world, as you’re developing skills and taking risks and stepping out into a calling, you know. As children where we all learn to walk, and we will stand and then we’ll plop down on our bottoms, and we’ll get up again. And children don’t quit. There’s not been a child that decides, I guess I’m not a walker. But we as adults, somewhere along the line, lose the idea that, if we have a desire, we can fulfill it, we can achieve it. We can and it’s God’s will to bring us the kingdom. So to help parents by really supporting them through the process of walking, learning how to walk in whatever way that is for them. And then as a parent with that, as they step into, who they’re really meant to be. Oh my gosh, the sense of, of self confidence and love and patience. And also as an example, we all want our children to look up to us and admire us and think fondly of us, we want them to see us as a respectable person in the world, and that other people respect and admire us. So as we begin to do that with our eyes, you know, it lifts the children up and it changes their trajectory in life. They then can become something more than they might have thought they could be. A lot of times the abuse cycles, or the difficulties in families are generational. They go down every generation and until there is someone who stops that pattern, takes the effort and the drive to get the support to change that path. Then from then on, every generation following is changed.
Emmalou Penrod 8:45
That is huge. And I totally understand what you mean, the generational patterns and breaking that pattern. So do you have a few tips or tricks that parents can use right now?
Arehn McCarty 8:59 Yeah, sure. So one of the big things is to notice what you’re noticing, and you know, like what does that mean? So what I want to do a little quick experiment with you for 10 seconds. What I would like you to do is to look around the room for the color blue. Look and see for 10 seconds, everything you can see that is the color blue. Everything that’s blue. Okay, now close your eyes. Now, think of everything in your room that is the color red. How many things can you think about that are the color red in your room? Now you can open your eyes and look around the room. How many more things do you see that are red that you didn’t come up with?
Emmalou Penrod 9:52 I was all ready to report on the blue, right? I had mentally made a list I was ready to tell you.
Arehn McCarty 9:58
So there is a part in the back of our brain called the Reticular Activating System, the RAS. And what it does is it looks for what you’re looking for. So when you focus on something, when you first hear a song, or someone tells you about a book, and then you hear it everywhere, like, how does that happen, or you learn a new word. So that part of your brain is constantly looking for the things you see that you think are important. So, if you’re constantly surrounding yourself with really negative news, and people who are constantly discussing things that are horrible, then that’s what you’re going to find. But if you instead shift to the positive, well, obviously, we’re still going to get some of the other. So it’s not like a black and white thing. It’s really more of, how much more am I exposing myself to this? Or just to be noticing, “Wow, I’m really thinking these negative thoughts all the time.” If you instead shift to gratitude, it’s been really big, of course, with Thanksgiving, and now that everybody’s online with everything, you know, that we’re thinking a lot about gratitude, but shifting to a sense of gratitude, you will see more and more things to be grateful for in your life. Emerson said, “Stand guard at the portal of your mind.” And it’s our job to really notice what we’re thinking about all the time. So my second tip is to make conscious decisions about your life. So I believe that we are co-creators with the universe, with God. And that we bring into creation what it is that we are focusing on, what we’re desiring, and that we can really create anything that we feel passionate about and we want to create in the world. And it’s a struggle; we might not know how to do it all, but the universe will support us. we’ll find things will come our way as soon as we make that decision. But I think most of us actually spend more time planning dinner or planning a vacation than we do planning our whole life. To be conscious creators, to really think what is it that you would love in your life? What is it that you want to do more of? And even making like a quick bucket list of these are the things that I want, because as soon as you say this is something you want, then you can start to make it happen. We, as a family, decided that we really wanted to go to Hawaii. It was one of those things that we didn’t know how that was going to happen, how we were going to afford it and all those things. And, and it turned out that, as soon as we decided this is what we wanted to do, we had friends that had extra air miles. They’re like, “Oh, my husband does business all the time.” And we had these miles and so we had free airfare. And then we had a friend who lived on the island and wasn’t using their house. They had this really beautiful house. And so as soon as you really decide, this is what we want, the universe will come and support you in making that happen. And then the third thing is to imagine the life that you want to be living as if you were already living it. So you know, closing your eyes and putting in a picture of the life that you would love to live and really getting in detail about it. Not like, “I want a big house,” but what’s that house look like? What’s in the kitchen? How many bedrooms are there? Or if it’s a love or, you know, whatever it is, you want a new job to put on that. And to really feel it, to step into the feeling of what that feels like. You know, anytime you’re wanting a thing in your life, what you’re really wanting is the feeling that you think you’re going to get when you get that thing. So the middle-aged sports car, what they’re really wanting is a sense of usefulness and power and sexiness. And so looking at if you can start stepping into those feelings, even before you have that thing. It makes it so much easier. It’s like a magnet and you have one end that’s just drawing you to that vision, if you could put it on energetically.
Emmalou Penrod 14:33
Wow. I love that. I love that. And you were talking about thinking about what you want. But don’t you also work with clients on helping them identify what they want in alignment with their purpose.
Arehn McCarty 14:52 So in the process that we’ll do, and I have a four class master series coming up, I’m sure we can link on to have that available. It’ll be on YouTube, too. So it’ll be on my YouTube channel. In that we’ll look at, so, it’s not just like what you want. And I think that we also often get into like, it feels greedy to say, “Well, this is what I want.” It’s not really about that. It’s really what is your calling? What is it that, just when you talk about it, or you think about it, you have this, “Yes!” Like, “Oh my gosh, that’s exactly what I want to do.” I was listening to Oprah the other day, and she was talking about being in service and that service in whatever area, it doesn’t have to be volunteering at the soup kitchen. It’s how am I making a difference in the world? And that is our sole purpose. So, it’s not about making a lot of money, because that will never really satisfy you. And money really is only good to support you, so that you can do the work that you are here to do. We need our needs met. We do need money. And and it has a great purpose. It helps us to live that life and we can support us in living our our soul prints.
Emmalou Penrod 16:16 And money can do a lot of good. Now tell me more about this masterclass.
Arehn McCarty 16:21
So it’s a four part series where we will really be looking at what is calling you. Where do you feel this drive towards something that’s calling? And where in your life are you feeling discontent? So, looking at the areas of our life, I look at four different areas. So we have our health and well being. So that’s everything to do with your body. We have love and relationships, which is any relationship in your life. And is there something that is calling you? And is there something that’s calling for help? Like, is there a relationship that you really need some healing on? And then your vocation and creative expression. And that’s really your soul print. That’s where are you expressing your uniqueness in the world? And what’s calling you to more? And then the last is freedom, which is time and money. Are you working so hard that you don’t have time for your family? Or are you having so much struggle to pay the bills at the end of the month that you don’t get to go on vacation with your family? So we’ll look at those four areas and evaluate them, and then come up with a dream. And then there are a five questions. Is this dream really worthy of you? Not are you worthy of the dream? Because if you’re dreaming, this dream is worthy of your time and your life and your energy. And then some steps to help us move forward into making that happen.
Emmalou Penrod 17:54
You know, that sounds so powerful, because we can get caught up in what we want right now. And sometimes what we think we want, as soon as we get it, we realize it really wasn’t what we wanted. So I love this. Tapping in, digging deep, and connecting with our higher power. I think this is so powerful. So how do people contact you?
Arehn McCarty 18:19
You can just email me to arehn@soulprintjourneys.com the website, which I have right here, https://www.soulprintjourneys.com/. And then of course, YouTube would be a good place.
Emmalou Penrod 18:53
Is that under your name?
Arehn McCarty 18:54
That is under my name, yeah.
Emmalou Penrod 18:57
Arehn McCarty? Awesome. Well, all right. I love what you’re doing. You’re gonna help a lot of people, bringing them to a much happier and more rewarding level.
Arehn McCarty 19:13
Thank you. Yeah, it’s always been a passion of mine to really help people see how wonderful they really are, and the potential that we have as human beings to expand and love.
Emmalou Penrod 19:26
Yes, yes. And sorely needed now. Thank you so much. Thank you for your time and for telling us about it.
Arehn McCarty 19:34
It’s my pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Emmalou Penrod 19:37
And you have a great day!
Arehn McCarty 19:39
Thanks. You, too.