For most of my life, I thought I had a soul—like a treasured possession I carried around inside me, tucked somewhere between my heart and my gut. But what if that’s backward? What if I don’t have a soul… what if my soul has me?
What if, in this incarnation, my body is simply the caretaker—the humble steward—of something far older and wiser? The soul is not mine to own. It’s mine to serve.
When I see myself this way, something shifts. I’m no longer obsessed with my accomplishments, my status, or even my legacy. I’m focused on presence. On alignment. On listening to what my soul needs—not just what my ego wants.
This frame flips the midlife narrative. Instead of chasing youth or clinging to identities, we begin to ask: Am I tending to the soul that entrusted me with its time on Earth? It’s possible that I won’t live again, but I do believe this soul inside me will incarnate in someone else once I leave the planet.
Our soul doesn’t need optimizing. It needs honoring. It needs moments of silence, awe, grief, joy, connection. It needs us to slow down enough to actually hear it speak. This is why I go for long walks by myself on Sundays. I no longer think of this as a solo walker…I’m strolling with my soul.
So each morning, I ask myself—not “what do I want today?” but rather, “what does my soul need today?”
In that sacred question, I move from ownership to devotion. From striving to surrender. From “having” a soul to being had—beautifully, mysteriously—by something eternal that chose me, just for now.
And that is a responsibility I don’t take lightly.
-Chip
P.S. This week’s MIDLIFE CHRYSALIS podcast is available with me interviewing my mentee, Burning Man CEO Marian Goodell. Ironically, we talked less about psychedelics this week than I did with Whole Foods Market’s founder John Mackey last week. And, here’s a post I wrote a dozen years ago that went viral, An Emotional Survival Guide to Burning Man, for those of you going this year.