The Beauty of A Well Nourished Soul!

Your soul – your mind, will, and emotions – is what makes you you! How are you nourishing your soul?

The last couple of weeks have been interesting for me. A loss of someone in my life with Lyme disease which brought up so many emotions having suffered from the complex disease myself. Immense gratitude for my healing and health, and overwhelming sadness for this young woman’s family.

Attending the funeral a few hours away meant rearranging my clients and my work. The next week my Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were extra full because I served as a coach for a virtual retreat for global women workers Thursday, Friday, and Saturday

To add to the extra, I woke up Saturday morning to no electricity and no indication that it would come on any time soon. That meant quickly getting my laptop up and running and ready to spend the day on Zoom. Something that should have been simple except that I’d never used Zoom or the camera on my laptop and it turns out my camera didn’t work.

It was a scramble, but I was able to figure out a temporary fix and I spent the day coaching from a private room at Dunkin Donuts of all place.

Here’s the thing – if I wasn’t operating from a place of a well-nourished soul, those couple of weeks would have really done me in!

And even though I had a whole lot going on, I drove home from Dunkin Donuts with a very full heart!

And then I rested, really rested, on Sunday!

Feeding Your Soul

How are you feeding your soul – that part of you that makes you you?

Is your soul bogged down and burdened? Do you take on the troubles of the world and consume a junk food diet consisting of TV, social media, web surfing, or the news? Don’t worry – I am not saying TV, Facebook, YouTube, or the news is off limits, but they rarely energize your soul.

Perhaps you’re surrounded by many unhealthy by negative people, work pressures, anxiety, depression, unmet needs, clutter, overzealous to do lists, or unrealistic expectations that are taking a toll on your soul. All of those are very real struggles and exhausting! Without proactive attention they take a toll on your soul.

Maybe your soul is starving because you aren’t consuming what would nourish, energize, and revive it.

A Well-Nourished Soul

Nourish: To feed for growth and health; a means of cherishing.

In order to accomplish all that God’s created you to be and do, you need a well-nourished soul! If you are going to make a difference in the Kingdom, it requires a healthy soul. If you have big goals, you won’t be able to reach them if your soul is empty and drained. To face life’s challenges – you need a soul that’s thriving and well-nourished!

Here’s what’s really interesting, when you make nourishing your soul a priority, you are not only able to accomplish more, but the work and activities that you do are that much more fulfilling and effective!

An Empty Soul

Beware! When your soul is starving, it’s tough to function.

An undernourished soul has you searching for something to revive it. Sadly, we often resort to “junk food” for a quick fix – mindlessly eating or keeping yourself endlessly busy, striving at work, or engaged in some other equally unhealthy behavior.

Healthy Soul Nutrition

Just like food is medicine for your body, what your soul feasts on matters too! You need healthy soul nutrition. Consuming quality soul nutrition leaves you feeling energized, whole, and vibrant. Who doesn’t want that?

Here’s what I want my soul to feast on:

1. Energizing Activities

For me, time with family and friends fills me up. It’s not something I need every day, but when too much time goes by without connecting, I notice it!

Allowing myself space for creative outlets like painting, crafting, putting together a workshop, creating a webinar, or decorating – those are activities that I naturally get lost in and energize me.

Being physically active is a necessity for me! It’s something I do nearly every day because it is a part of my morning routine.

Other activities that nourish my soul: reading, journaling, or putting a puzzle together.

When I allow my life to be one task after another and ignore filling up my soul, not only does my soul seriously suffer but so do all the other parts of my life.

How About You?

Do you know what energizes you? What would it look like to give yourself permission to actually enjoy energizing activities regularly?

Maybe for you nourishing your soul is being in nature: hiking, gardening, or sailing. Perhaps you are more of a mover and a shaker, so exercising, dancing, or engaging in an adrenaline producing activity is more your speed. Is it music, teaching, writing? Perhaps volunteering? I know some are energized by solving math problems – whatever it is for you, make sure you have space in your life to regularly engage in the activities that nourish your soul!

What fuels your soul?

2. My Values

Values are what is of the utmost importance to you! When you are operating out of your values, they drive everything. And when you aren’t doing life guided by your values there is sure to be friction in your life!

My Top 5 Values are:

• • • Relationships (God, Family & Friends)
    • Communication
    • Stewardship (Health, Time, Money, etc)
    • Creativity
    • Practicality

You may notice that my values showing up in some of the activities that fuel me! I bet that’s true for you too!

When my life is in alignment with my values, my soul is invigorated. When my life is out of alignment with my values, everything requires more effort and results suffer

What are your Top 5 Values? Where in your life are you feeling the drain of being out of sync with your values?

3. Happy Thoughts

Scripture tells us to focus on the good stuff. It also tells us to take our thoughts captive. No matter what your circumstances are you get to choose your thoughts.

Nothing zaps your energy more than riding the merry-go-round-of-negative thoughts!

Some simple ways to keep your mind on what’s positive:

• • • Practice gratitude!
    • Refuse to gossip
    • Listen to worship music
    • Choose positive entertainment
    • Forgive

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Philippians 4:8 (NIV)

…we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

4. God & His Word

I’ve saved the best for last! The number one way for me to nourish my soul is to spend time with God and to read His Word every day! In that space, He reminds me of how deeply He loves me and how He is always in control no matter how out of control my life might feel.

It’s a chance for me to lay all my worries and cares and frustrations at His feet. To let Him carry my burdens – the things in life that weigh me down. And to listen as He whispers words of life to me.

Meditating on Truth – who God is and what He says – that’s nourishing! That’s why my time with God and reading His word is a vital part of my morning routine.

He refreshes my soul. Psalm 23:3a (NIV)

No one knows me more intimately than God does. And no one knows what I need more than He does!

What keeps you from connecting with Him?

A diet that regularly includes junk food, processed food, or too many sweets eventually leads to disease. And so does a diet lacking in fruits and veggies. You need just enough of the right nutrients to thrive physically.

Your soul diet is no different. If you are stingy and don’t give your soul the nutrients it craves you will be skinny and weak. Overindulging in soul filling activities without an outlet for all that energy keeps you from making a difference.

Urging you to fill up your soul is not an invitation to ditch your responsibilities or divert attention from your purpose. Heavens no! The motivation behind filling up your soul is to increase your energy so that you able to pour out.

Invest in nourishing your soul and just see how it pays off! Pay attention to how it enables you to come up with solutions to problems, new ideas, and enhances your relationships, and that’s just the beginning! And that’s the beauty of a well-nourished soul!

How are you nourishing your soul?