Soul Force Politics
Courageous Conversations are the Heart of Democracy
Our souls desire to bring forth goodness in the world. Why do we let politics divide us? When we are at our best, we are able to come together in the spirit of democracy, “We, the People,” to work for the benefit of all.
Our Soul Force Politics programming helps us bridge the polarization that is our greatest national security threat. Explore our tools for courageous conversations, honorable leadership, wise civic engagement, and mindful social action rooted in compassion, non-judgement, and belonging.
Our best defense of democracy is to love humanity.
Our Soul Force Politics programming helps us bridge the polarization that is our greatest national security threat. Explore our tools for courageous conversations, honorable leadership, wise civic engagement, and mindful social action rooted in compassion, non-judgement, and belonging.
Our best defense of democracy is to love humanity.
Let’s be clear from the get-go:
Our work here is non-partisan and not about religion. Our work is about the spirit of humanity when it is at its best.
When it is not distorted, the human spirit empowers us, connects us, and stokes the passions of our hearts. Our spirit speaks to us and through us, encouraging community engagement from a place of kindness, compassion, and love. Our political discourse desperately needs the guidance, strength, and clarity of our soul’s force for goodness in the world.
When it is not distorted, the human spirit empowers us, connects us, and stokes the passions of our hearts. Our spirit speaks to us and through us, encouraging community engagement from a place of kindness, compassion, and love. Our political discourse desperately needs the guidance, strength, and clarity of our soul’s force for goodness in the world.
Soul Force Politics is the art of using inner wisdom to guide social action, which helps restore faith in the heart of humanity, one connection at a time.
I haven’t always had faith in humanity.
We have all seen the ugly and messy side of humans. But we have also witnessed our enduring spirit, our generosity, our courage, and our deep love of each other in striking moments of national or even global unity during times of crisis and great need.
How do we make this more of the rule rather than the exception? And how do we more consistently summon our best selves even when faced with challenging dialogue, circumstances, and personalities who seem to bring out our worst behaviors?
That’s what Soul Force Politics is here to help you with!
We have all seen the ugly and messy side of humans. But we have also witnessed our enduring spirit, our generosity, our courage, and our deep love of each other in striking moments of national or even global unity during times of crisis and great need.
How do we make this more of the rule rather than the exception? And how do we more consistently summon our best selves even when faced with challenging dialogue, circumstances, and personalities who seem to bring out our worst behaviors?
That’s what Soul Force Politics is here to help you with!
Our Work Builds Uncommon Connections
“We didn’t, and still don’t, agree on all the issues, but what I find most appealing about Heather’s approach is that she listens. She asks questions to better understand where I am coming from, always with the goal of finding where we might have areas of agreement. Because of our relationship and the respect we have for each other, we have learned important things we would have missed if we were not being curious about each other and our world views.”
- The late former Republican Maryland Delegate Michael Smigiel
(R-Cecil County)
Your friendship has meant the world to me. We may not see eye to eye on the political spectrum but that isn’t important. What is important is that we are humans struggling to make it through. Between you and my precious dog and wife, I’ve been taught to love through the hatred. If we can’t be here for each other then why are we here? A dog’s love is unconditional. Ours should be, too. We can’t give without receiving something so much more in return than we could ever expect. Life is about love and just because you may not agree with someone doesn’t mean you can’t be friends. After all, opposites attract because it means we are all missing something in our own lives and I think God put us each together to meet our needs and theirs. I am so grateful for your friendship. Hatred kills joy and a desire for goodness, but love can build a bridge.”
Robert Smith, Veteran and Republican voter, sharing insights on his friendship and lessons learned with Heather and WeAreOne Alliance / Soul Force Politics
Let’s forget that in Washington we would sit on opposite sides of the aisle due to our affiliations and differences. Let’s erase the aisle by focusing on the similar ideals we share. If unity is important to each of us we will build from those shared ideals and learn to compromise on our differences.
Ralph Grant, Veteran and Trump voter, sharing insights on his friendship and lessons learned with Heather and WeAreOne Alliance / Soul Force Politics
Free Lecture
Gain access to a free lecture and Q&A from Heather Mizeur on core teachings from the WeAreOne Alliance and the art of Soul Force Politics.
In this video, Heather shares wisdom from challenging but ultimately inspiring moments of heart-centered connection with people who strongly disagreed with her during her political campaigns and service in the legislature.
You will find yourself laughing and crying with the audience, all while gaining incredible inspiration for how to love yourself and your neighbor with a more RESPECTFUL approach.
In this video, Heather shares wisdom from challenging but ultimately inspiring moments of heart-centered connection with people who strongly disagreed with her during her political campaigns and service in the legislature.
You will find yourself laughing and crying with the audience, all while gaining incredible inspiration for how to love yourself and your neighbor with a more RESPECTFUL approach.
R Reciprocity (Mutual regard, especially in disagreement. We give and receive together)
E Engagement (Leaning in, even when it feels uncomfortable)
S Sovereignty (Standing in our agency without overpowering others)
P Pause (Creating space before reacting so we can respond with intention)
E Equanimity (Cultivating calm, even in the storm, to take effective action)
C Curiosity (Choosing inquiry over judgment, every time), Courage (Speaking the truth from the heart, even when it’s hard), Compassion (Seeing the humanity in the "other"), Connection (Finding common ground, even in uncommon places)
T Trust (Building sacred connections takes time, but it is the gold that alchemizes relationships)
F Forgiveness (Making space for growth - for ourselves and for others)
U Ubuntu (The recognition that "I am because we are." Humanity is interconnected)
L Listening (Not just with our ears, but with our hearts and souls)
Our Courses
June 30
Reimagining Resistance: Compassionate action in a polarized world
This transformational course is for those who feel the weight of our political, social, and spiritual divides and are ready to respond with presence, not burnout. Rather than fueling the cycle of outrage, this experience offers a new path: one rooted in embodied leadership, conscious choice, and the fierce clarity that comes from inner alignment.
Explore how to move beyond reactive struggle and step into compassionate and effective action that protects your energy, honors your values, and transforms conflict from the inside out.
Join the Course
Explore how to move beyond reactive struggle and step into compassionate and effective action that protects your energy, honors your values, and transforms conflict from the inside out.
July 31
Civic Grace: Practices for RESPECTFUL connection to disrupt division
In a time of deep polarization, Civic Grace offers a new way forward - one rooted in values, vulnerability, and relational strength. Built around the acronym RESPECTFUL, this course explores the inner qualities that can transform how we engage in public discourse and civic life. Led by Heather Mizeur, it’s an invitation to show up with integrity, stay grounded when tensions rise, and lead with compassion in every conversation.
This course helps us build the muscles of brave, shame-free connection. Whether you're an activist, a public servant, or a concerned neighbor, this course helps you restore trust in your voice, your community, and the heart of democracy itself - one conversation at a time.
Join the Course
This course helps us build the muscles of brave, shame-free connection. Whether you're an activist, a public servant, or a concerned neighbor, this course helps you restore trust in your voice, your community, and the heart of democracy itself - one conversation at a time.
September 24
Sacred Tension: The practice of holding paradox and transcending limiting beliefs
Sacred Tension is an invitation to grow in the spaces where life feels most complex. Rather than forcing resolution, this course teaches us to be present with paradox - those sacred spaces where truth lives in the “both/and.” Each week we explore a different tension point - like Power & Surrender or Conviction & Openness - while uncovering the limiting beliefs that keep us stuck in fear, control, or perfectionism. This course is for those who want to become more effective and heart-centered leaders by first transforming their inner terrain. With practices in embodied resilience, compassionate self-inquiry, and deep listening, we learn to navigate uncertainty with grace - and find freedom in the very places we once resisted. It’s not about choosing sides. It’s about choosing presence.
Join the Course
In the News
WeAreOne in the public eye
Our work at Soul Force Politics has been highlighted as an alternative to the cynical approaches that often gain the most attention in the public arena. The more we connect and learn together, the more our approach will become the new way of being in the world.
Gain additional skills and insights by listening to our podcast and joining our online community.
Gain additional skills and insights by listening to our podcast and joining our online community.
The Fire of Soul Force
Fire is an alchemy of transformation. A Phoenix rises from the ashes. Fiery stars are born from chaos. The flames of our heart's wisdom can always light our way through darkness. Be a steward of your sacred flame, a light unto the world.
What burns inside of you?
What does fire need to release in you?
What new growth will emerge when you let your fire light shine?
What does your rising Phoenix have to say?
Join us
What burns inside of you?
What does fire need to release in you?
What new growth will emerge when you let your fire light shine?
What does your rising Phoenix have to say?
One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these - to be fierce and to show mercy toward others; both are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity.
- Clarissa Pinkola Estés, “Do Not Lose Heart, We Were Made for These Times”
Masterful Soul Force Teachers
Mahatma Gandhi
He is known the world over for his successful use of non-violent resistance to create social change in India. He coined the term, “Satyagraha,” to describe his approach. Satya is a Sanskrit word that means “truth,” while Graha means “insistence.”
Satyagraha’s translation is “Soul Force.
Satyagraha’s translation is “Soul Force.
Satyagraha is the weapon of the strong. It admits of no violence under any circumstances whatsoever, and it ever insists upon truth. Its foundation is empathy and compassion. The Satyagrahi’s object is to convert, not coerce the wrongdoer.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
King adopted Gandhi's organizing principles to govern the civil rights movement he led in the 1960’s in the United States. He also spoke of Soul Force. In his famous, “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963, he said:
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to denigrate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with Soul Force.
Dr. Tererai Trent
She is global humanitarian, author, and voice for women's empowerment and quality education
Our stories have magic they give shape and purpose to communities and even nations. Storytelling has depth that brings collective empathy, reminding us of the essence of our humanity. Our stories have power because through them we embrace our collective vulnerability and worthiness - when you share your pain and resilience, I share mine, we become one.
The choices we make to honor our belief in ourselves is a sacred thread that ties us to the most profound aspect of humanity: to a connected oneness that heals the wrongs of the world.
Giving yourself permission to seek your purpose in this world is a sacred, social act. When you are tapped into a spiritual force for good, you have all the permission you need to follow that path.
The choices we make to honor our belief in ourselves is a sacred thread that ties us to the most profound aspect of humanity: to a connected oneness that heals the wrongs of the world.
Giving yourself permission to seek your purpose in this world is a sacred, social act. When you are tapped into a spiritual force for good, you have all the permission you need to follow that path.
Harriet Tubman
On her Underground Railroad missions, abolitionist and freedom fighter Harriet Tubman relied on her faith, her intellect, and her deep intuitive skills to guide her through the most perilous situations.
Tubman’s faith anchored her. Alone in the woods at night, Tubman was comforted by what she called a ‘Mysterious Unseen Presence.’ She used her intuition and knowledge of the human and physical landscape to protect herself. Facing danger and uncertainty, she believed [that unseen mysterious force] would show her the way.” - Museum installation at Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park in Church Creek, Maryland
Tubman’s faith anchored her. Alone in the woods at night, Tubman was comforted by what she called a ‘Mysterious Unseen Presence.’ She used her intuition and knowledge of the human and physical landscape to protect herself. Facing danger and uncertainty, she believed [that unseen mysterious force] would show her the way.” - Museum installation at Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park in Church Creek, Maryland
Malala Yousafzai
Malala is a 2014 Nobel Prize laureate and a passionate advocate for girls' education and global equality. After surviving a violent attack for her advocacy, Malala has dedicated her life to spreading more light in the world by empowering young girls to dream, learn, and lead.
I truly believe the only way we can create global peace is through not only educating our minds, but our hearts and souls.
When the whole world is silent, even one voices becomes powerful.
I raise up my voice - not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard.
When the whole world is silent, even one voices becomes powerful.
I raise up my voice - not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard.
Nelson Mandela
In South Africa, after twenty-eight years of imprisonment for leading the non-violent resistance against his country’s oppression of the black majority, Nelson Mandela was awarded the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize for his work to bring about the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime and for laying the foundations for a new, democratic South Africa. Carrying no bitterness from his harsh experience, Mandela became known throughout the world as a moral authority on what could be described as the strength of Soul Force:
I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
Amanda Gorman
Amanda is the youngest poet to read at the inauguration of a President of the United States. These are excerpts from her poem, "The Hill We Climb," which speaks to the themes of hope, resilience, and collective action to overcome division and unify our nation.
So we lift our gazes not to what stands between us, but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside.
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true: that even as we grieved, we grew, even as we hurt, we hoped, that even as we tired, we tried, that we'll forever be tied together victorious, not because we will never again know defeat but because we will never again sow division.
...when the day comes we step out of the shade aflame and unafraid, the new dawn blooms as we free it, for there is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.
Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true: that even as we grieved, we grew, even as we hurt, we hoped, that even as we tired, we tried, that we'll forever be tied together victorious, not because we will never again know defeat but because we will never again sow division.
...when the day comes we step out of the shade aflame and unafraid, the new dawn blooms as we free it, for there is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.
Abraham Lincoln
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln showed a profound understanding of the human condition – its struggles, imperfections, potential, and the need for empathy, unity and moral action. He recognized the challenges of the human spirit but also believed deeply in its capacity for growth, redemption and transformation.
We know well in our history books of his famous words, “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” or “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.”
What might be lesser known is his belief that, “The better part of one’s life consists of his friendships,” or “It is not the years in your life that count, it is the life in your years.” These words speak to the idea that true wisdom comes from a life led by deep connections, inner convictions, moral clarity, and heartfelt action.
We know well in our history books of his famous words, “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” or “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.”
What might be lesser known is his belief that, “The better part of one’s life consists of his friendships,” or “It is not the years in your life that count, it is the life in your years.” These words speak to the idea that true wisdom comes from a life led by deep connections, inner convictions, moral clarity, and heartfelt action.
Teddy Roosevelt
The essence of Soul Force Politics was also practiced regularly by another great Republican President, Teddy Roosevelt.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Will you dare greatly to join us in our worthy cause at Soul Force Politics?
Additional Resources
The Honorable Heather Mizeur on Substack
Politics and elected office gave me the title of “The Honorable.” Integrity and love made me worthy of it. Though I am no longer an elected official, I feel deeply called to write, teach, and share what I have learned from thirty years of cultivating dialogue for courageous conversations, soulful leadership, and mindful social action that brings us closer to our honorable hearts.
Read
Soul Force Politics Podcast
Celebrities, political figures, humanitarians, artists, authors, and activists join Heather Mizeur in thought-provoking, animated, fun, and insightful conversations that teach heart-centered wisdom to strengthen our connections and soften our political divides.
Listen
FAQ
Is this religious work?
Is this political work?
Then what is meant by combining Soul Force and Politics?
How do I engage with this work?
Do you have plans to record new podcast episodes?
When is Heather Mizeur writing a book about all of her experiences and wisdom guidance?
Let's Join Our Hearts and Voices Together
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