Nourishing Your Soul

23/08/2021 by emberemergeempowered

Nourishing your soul in a variety of ways can boost your mood and help you feel more fulfilled. In your busy life do you take the time to nourish your soul?  So often we actually “take a break” by doing things that don’t actually nourish our souls.  I give you some specific ways that you can nourish your soul this week and beyond! 

Nourishing Your Soul

Last weekend, I got to spend some time with family over the long weekend. And we had a wonderful time and I also got to go on a beautiful hike in nature and it nourished my soul. And I got thinking back to the times when my kids were a lot littler than they are now and how hard it was to carve out moments to nourish myself.

The struggle is real, especially as busy moms, busy professionals, we wear many hats and the more we can prioritize taking care of ourselves, the better we are able to perform at work or in our relationships be more present in, um, in our family outings and, and relationships there too. So what nourishes your soul?

What does that for you? Do you know, I want you to really think about that. What are the things that actually help you to feel better and give you the energy that you need to go throughout? Our crazy busy lives? What nourishes you? I know, as I have really tried to prioritize my own self-care and really tried to say, I am going to nourish my soul.

Try New Things

I have found that I like trying new things. And so many of us are afraid to try new things because we may fail. And that is true. We may not be really good at it at first, but I like to try new things. And in that process, I have found some things that I really love and that nourish my soul. Okay. So often we need a break from all of life’s stressors.

All of the inputs that we have are crazy busy, go, go, go lives. And so often we turn to scrolling social media for a little quick break or surfing the internet or a Netflix binge, whatever it may be. We seem to turn to some of those things first. And I want you to really ask yourself, is that nourishing your soul?

For most of us, it is not. It actually depletes our energy further because it increases our inputs and doesn’t actually give us time to rest and fill ourselves and nourish our souls. So I want you to consider a few alternatives of nourishing your soul. Here are some things that I have found some tried and true recipes for filling your cup and making sure that you are nourishing your soul.

Move to Something Different

I know that sometimes our self-care. Requires turning off the screen and moving my body towards something different. And as simple as that sounds, it’s true. I simply need to turn off the screen and move my body toward something different. So we’ve talked a lot about, um, that our physiology. Affects our psychology.

And if you haven’t listened to those episodes, please go back and listen to those episodes. All about how our taking care of our physical body helps take care of our, our mind and our soul.

Time with God

Number one for most of us that are Christian or religious in some way is probably some time with God and Jesus Christ in the scriptures.

And that time nourishes my soul. And even if it’s just a few verses, even if it’s just a few minutes, it really does. Nourish my soul and my spirit so that I can take on the day or finish up the day in a really great way. I know that another thing is limiting my social media use, I definitely have limits on my kids’ phones and things like that.

And I have set my own limit on social media, on my own phone. And my kids laughed at me. They laughed hard when they found out that I had my own limit and they’re like, mom, you can just do the code and bypass it. And I said, yeah, I can. And it’s a reminder to me that that is not where I choose to spend my time.

I encourage you to do the same. And do you find yourself turning to social media? Um, for a quick break, you think it’s a break and really it’s a numbing mechanism. It helps you numb out. Another thing that nourishes my soul that I really enjoy doing is. I love to read and it feeds my soul.

What do you have in your life? Do you like to listen to podcasts? I do. I’m a huge podcast fan. I love free knowledge. And obviously you do too, because you’re here to, um, that helps feed myself. As I’m accomplishing tasks that need to be done. Usually mundane ones. I like to turn to podcasts or to audio books and it helps nourish my soul.

Surround Yourself with Good People

Nourishing your soul is as easy as considering the people that you surround yourself with. I love to be around people. And I have found that if I surround myself with good uplifting friends and people that that helps me to nourish my soul and be the kind of person that I want to be.

And I try to cultivate those types of friendships. I make time for it because I’m worth it. And you are too. Another aspect of nourishing your soul is sometimes we don’t think about is creativity. We are creative beings. We were designed to be creative. Why? Because we are sons and daughters of a creative being.

Tap into Your Creativity

God is a creation. And so are we so tapping into our creativity is really a great way to nourish our soul and help us to replenish the energy that we, we lose in living in the modern society that we do. Some ways that I have found. That are creative. I have always been a sower. I love to, so that helps me be creative.

A new thing that I have tried in the last four or five years, I learned to play the ukulele and it has. Nourished my soul. I tell people it has just brought a little bit of joy into my life. I love to play and seeing the ukulele. It’s so fun and it’s so portable. People will gather and people will seam and it is fun.

It is just fun. So what kind of creative outlet do you have? That can nourish your soul. And where does your creativity shine, which is so fun. So just think about what really nourishes you and what nourishes your soul. Now we have talked about those, um, really he things like eating and sleeping and moving your body, even breathing.

Conscious & Intentional Breathing

Conscious breathing can really help yourself to ground and center and be able to nourish your soul, even just in a few conscious deliberate breaths, you can nourish your soul.

Spend Time in Nature

Another thing that I like to do is spend time in nature. I mentioned our hike that we went on, we went hiking there, Cedar breaks, national monument, and it’s the wildflower festival.

And we got to see all the different types of wild flowers. They were all in bloom. It was gorgeous as we hiked to the Alpine pond that was there. And then we got to see the overlook of Cedar breaks, which if you haven’t been, you should totally go the spending time in nature. I have found nourishes my soul.

Anytime I am outdoors and I am moving my body and just feeling sitting in gratitude. It nourishes my soul. Um, you don’t have to, if you’re hiking set your thing, maybe it’s gardening or outdoor sports or watching the wildlife. Some of those things, just spending time in nature is rejuvenating for our souls rather than depleting, um, screen time, right?

Eat, Sleep & Move

Depleting that just depletes our energy further, um, eating real foods. And exercising regularly of course are key as well. And another thing that I have recently started within the last year or so is meditation and meditation is really like a workout. For your brain, it helps you be able to focus and helps you in so many other aspects of your life.

My meditation is usually spiritual in nature and, um, but sometimes it’s not, but it does help you to be able to. Really be more present in the other moments of your life and being able to, um, develop your self-control, your self-mastery and keep your focus where it really should be.

Journaling

Another practice you might want to try is journaling. Journaling is something that really can nourish your soul, and there’s lots of different ways to journal you. Don’t just have to journal what’s happening in your life. You can use journaling to help you with your goal setting. You can use journaling to help you record special or sacred experiences. I know I have.

Several different journaling practices that I use daily that include goal setting and my, um, my values where I’m headed, who I want to be. Um, my intention for the day, I have an, I am journaling practice, all about affirmations of who I want to be, and that nourishes my soul. So you might want to consider some type of journaling practice and there’s all sorts of journaling prompts online that can help you get started.

Service and Volunteer Work

Another thing that will nourish your soul is service and volunteer work. Find some way to look outside of yourself, um, in our selfish society. Sometimes we think that the world revolves around us or that it should, and giving back to others is a great way to nourish your soul. And there are so many ways that you can give back, especially with your unique time, energy and talents, and find a charity that you.

Are really passionate about, or just be cognizant and observant of some needs that are right in your own neighborhood, right on your street, how you can be helpful to those around you. And by looking outside of ourselves, it actually nourishes our own soul. Okay. I want you to really think about how you can nourish your soul.

And the next time you sit down in front of Netflix or your computer or scroll social media on your phone, I want you to really think about, am I being wise and am I nourishing my soul or am I numbing and thinking it’s a break and really it’s not. That’s a powerful question. Thanks for joining me on emerge empowered this week, and I want you to choose one thing.

What is one thing that you can do to work on nourishing your soul as you go throughout your week?