5 Signs You Might Be a Lost Soul (and How to Find Your Way Home)

In a world that values logic and rational thinking above all else, it is little wonder that there are many who feel they are a lost soul.

A lost soul has become out of touch with their intuition and inner guidance. In a world where anything that cannot be measured or tested is dismissed as fake or delusional, this is hardly surprising. We have lost faith in our own abilities to know what we need.

With this disregard of our inner selves, we become too focused on the ego’s desires. We look to the material world to fulfill our needs and solve our problems. But the answers to life’s big question do not lie outside in the world – they lie within.

There are several ways you can tell if you are a lost soul. More importantly, there are also many ways to get back in touch with your intuition, receive guidance from your higher self or soul, and find a way to live your life more joyously.

1. Low mood

Low mood can be a sign of many things from health problems to grief and loss. However, experiencing a persistent low mood for no apparent reason can be a sign that you are a lost soul. When we are not living our lives in a way that is meaningful to us, we lose energy and enthusiasm.

Our senses become dull and deadened and we feel like there is a heavy cloud above our heads. Serious depression will need professional help, but we can lift our mood with a change of perspective.

When our days feel dark and heavy, a good place to start is just by thinking about the things that bring us joy or used to bring us joy. When we can shift our attention to something light and joyful, even something very small, our perspective is often transformed. We can then build on these light-giving sources.

At first, it might be very hard to focus on what brings us joy, but with practice, it gets easier. The important thing with this exercise is to choose something that genuinely brings you joy and lights you up. Doing something that you feel ‘should’ make you feel happy will not work.

Many people find that picking up a half-forgotten hobby works, others find reading something inspirational does the trick. For some people taking care of a houseplant or pet lifts their mood.

Starting a gratitude or joy journal and writing down three things each day that bring you joy can also be wonderfully effective. This is a very personal exercise though so experiment to find out what genuinely lifts your mood.

2. Anxiety

Fear is a clear sign that we are not in alignment with our higher selves and are functioning from the ego. The ego is full of fears – fear of not being good enough and fear of not having enough being two that stifle our every move. The ego does not like change; it likes things to stay the same. The ego likes to be in control. The ego wants everything to be exactly as it has decided it should be or it goes into a meltdown.

This is what causes much of our anxiety. When we upset by circumstances or other people’s behavior, this is the ego trying to control everything. The ego has decided that this ‘shouldn’t’ happen to me, or that a person ‘shouldn’t behave that way.

Our anxiety comes because we cannot control outside circumstances and predict everything that will happen. We do not trust that we can cope with the things that might happen to us and this makes us afraid.

Anxiety is not easy to deal with and as with low mood, it will sometimes require professional help. However, understanding that we can cope with the things that happen to us is a key factor. Our ego is afraid of the world, but our soul is not.

Our higher self understands that nothing out there in the world can really touch our soul or do it any harm. Using techniques to develop our connection with our intuition or higher self can strengthen our feeling of safety in the world. Yoga, meditation, prayer, journaling or painting helps many people.

For others, walking in nature or gardening seems right. Again you might need to experiment with the ways that help you to rebuild the connection with your soul. Avoiding negative people, situations, and news stories as much as possible can also help to calm our fears and anxieties.

3. Defensiveness

When we live our lives from the place or ego rather than the soul, we find it very hard to take criticism. Any criticism, even the most minor, feels like an attack on the ego. The ego will defend itself against this kind of attack. Our soul does not get defensive. It does not feel the need to defend itself because it is secure in knowing that it is all that it should be.

The higher self or soul knows that we are not separate entities on earth fighting to get a fair share of the pie. The soul knows that we are all part of creation, both the creator and the created. Therefore, seeing another person as an enemy is just a form of self-hate.

If you find yourself very sensitive to criticism or defending yourself often, ask yourself what it is you are defending. Is it your need to be right? Could there be a different way of looking at the situation? Can you see it from the other person’s point of view?

This doesn’t mean that we have to put up with others behaving badly towards us. But we can deal with any problems that arise without letting the ego get defensive. Instead, we can ask for what we need from a place of love rather than fear.

4. Closed-mindedness

If we are stuck in one way of thinking and are not open to any other possibility, this can be a sign of being a lost soul. Again, the ego is often responsible for this kind of narrow mindedness. The ego hates to be wrong and hates having to change its mind. It will, therefore, put a lot of energy into proving its opinions are right and will not even consider alternatives.

Unfortunately, much of what the ego believes is not conducive to living a joyful, soulful life. Our education or upbringing may mean we believe in a clockwork universe, or a vengeful God, neither of which will help us be happy.

Learning to be more open-minded can allow all kinds of possibilities in our lives. There are many ways to practice being more open-minded. Choosing different types of books and articles to read or different kinds of people to talk to can begin to help us be more open.

We don’t necessarily have to change our minds, but we need to open them a crack and look around at other possible ways of being and of viewing the world.

5. Feeling stuck

Sometimes, when we are stuck in following the desires of the ego, it can feel like we are running in circles and not getting anywhere. It can feel like no matter how hard we try, we can’t seem to make progress in our lives.

It can also seem like we keep making the same mistakes over and over again. For example, we might try repeatedly to start an exercise regime but never manage to keep it going. Or we may find we embark on the same sort of relationships time and time again, only for them to fail for the same reasons.

When we feel stuck, it can be because of our fear, anxiety, depression, or inability to open our minds, so addressing these issues might naturally lead us to become unstuck.

Some people change their whole lives overnight and that can work, but most of us need to start slowly, making tiny changes and building our confidence. Learning to listen to our intuition and acting on it can help us find the right path to help us become unstuck.

Closing thoughts

Being a lost soul can be terrifying. Many of us have known deep down that something is wrong for years. However, we bury it because we can’t face the changes it indicates we need to make in our lives.

But realizing that we are not living soulful lives is the first step towards creating soulful lives and it’s a journey well worth undertaking. There are many resources to help guide a lost soul back home.

And there are many ways to achieve this, from prayer to shamanism from yoga, to meditation. And we never have to be alone on our journey. There are others that have trodden the path before us and can guide our way.

If you have any recommendations for lost souls trying to find their way home, please share them with us in the comments section.