How to Feed a Hungry Soul
When was the last time you were intentional about feeding your soul? Did you ever feel like you have let your spiritual growth fall by the wayside while you are busy with “daily life”…a job, homemaking, committee meetings, family, and emergencies?
These are all good and necessary components of a full life, but not necessarily nourishing to your soul.
They could be, but soul-care requires an intention to be present in ways that most of us don’t think about as we try to get our to-do lists checked off. I thought about the different ways I nourish my soul. Here are the first five.
Prioritize Soul Care
Most important is to prioritize soul care. Don’t leave the care and feeding of your soul to chance, giving it only leftovers after everything else is finished. Some signs that I may have done this are
- dissatisfaction in general, with no explanation
- fatigue that isn’t eased by rest
- sleep that is insufficient for my day’s plans
I experience a lack of patience, grace, forgiveness, peace, or hope when I fail to feed my soul.
A hungry soul can be as life-threatening as a starving body.
Take Tiny Steps
If you recognize yourself in any of these lacks it is important to commit to tiny steps.
Sometimes we can get so inspired to make needed changes that we go overboard with our enthusiasm.
One good example is with weight loss.
I have been known to give up junk food, avoid dessert, leave the wine in the bottle, eliminate carbs, and go to the gym. All in the same week!
Because the process is not incremental, I get overwhelmed.
It never works!
The same principle holds for spiritual growth. Wisdom doesn’t come in huge packages wrapped in bright foil.
It comes in tiny actions, deep reflection, many failures and beginning again.
Some of my favorite nourishing things for soul care include journaling, prayer, nature walks, spiritual reading and volunteering.
But not all at the same time!!
I like to keep things simple. Really simple!
Breathe
One of the simplest things I do is go outside and listen to the birds as I feel the air filling my lungs.
That’s it.
Breathing with intention and awareness. Inhale. Exhale. Feel the pause in between. It has been said by some that God lives in this pause.
In this tiny action I can feel a reset button, I remember the importance of nourishing more than my body, and I forgive myself for all my busyness and lack of self-care.
My personal understanding of breath is noted on my license plate.It reads “RUAH” which is a loose spelling of a Hebrew word that mean the ‘the breath of God’.
Connect with Nature
Sometimes, especially after a long winter, I find I need to reconnect with nature. (Ah…the gift of seasons!). What the trees and birds have to teach far surpasses anything we might find in a book— if we have ears to hear.
By ears, I am not talking about our physical ear drums, but about ‘inner ears’ that attune to the vibrations of life everywhere.
When I stand in the middle of a forest I am filled with awe at the complexity of relationships of the trees with the mosses and lichens, the root systems that connect every one of them, the birds who find their homes in the branches and the entire ecosystem that manages to thrive without human intervention.
We are much more inclined to exert destruction in the forest than we are to change any habits that would nourish this great part of creation. When I spend time in nature…and that could be a garden, a river path, or sitting on a bench in a park, I am relieved of my self-centeredness, if only for a few moments. And it is in this place of openness that I can say with confidence “I am no longer hungry.”
Embrace Community
One of the best places to feed our spirit is in community with others. This could be a church or synagogue, a garden club, a pottery class, or a bridge group. When we are with others we learn patience, forgiveness, kindness, and love.
Don’t ask me how, but I know it is the perfect place to learn humility!
When I stay secluded all by myself I want you to know I think I am pretty close to perfect!
A Morning Routine – Entering Kairos Time
The next tip to prevent becoming famished on the inside is to begin, or return to, a morning routine. I know some people are “owls” and their morning routine is to sleep. For them, an evening practice works just as well.
With my farmer’s genes I am always up before the sun and it is the holiest part of the day for me. I am filled with peace and hope from sitting in the silence. “Not a creature is stirring, not even a mouse.”
From this place of peace I turn to reading, journaling and prayer. It is during the early morning that I experience kairos time.
The rest of my day is driven by a calendar (Thank you, Gregory), but for those early morning sessions there is no clock, no calendar, nothing digital, and I am unaware how long I have been in this mystical place…until Dekker (my faithful black lab) reminds me that it is time for him to eat.
A morning (or evening) spiritual practice can begin by simply setting aside five minutes to sit in silence. Or, if there are inner voices that won’t shut up (that happens sometimes!) I might take a notebook and write my responses to them. I don’t know how I would cope with some of the stresses in my life without these few moments to nourish my soul.
What nourishes your soul?
Won’t you join a growing number
of readers of TheReflectivePen
every Sunday Morning?
