No one can sell their soul to attain material success; but by engaging in spiritual self-care practices you can nurture it and provide nourishment to it.
Helping others, practicing gratitude, and learning how to say no are all part of a self-care routine. Indulging in activities such as cleaning your home, listening to music that fills you up from within, amusing yourself or having some fun are also ways of staying balanced and staying sane.
1. Spend Time With Others
Feed your soul by spending time with those who make you feel seen and heard. Being around people who truly understand and accept you for who you are is soul food!
Spending time in nature can also provide nourishment for your soul. Spending time outside helps you relax and slow down, which is essential to maintaining spiritual wellbeing. Furthermore, spending time outside provides an excellent way to reconnect with yourself – you might just discover your true calling that way!
Finally, meditation and yoga can nourish your soul. By tapping into your own voice and channeling positive affirmations to fuel gratitude instead of negativity in life, these practices help tune you into what’s truly essential. Negative thinking such as complaining, judging jealousy and scarcity-focused thinking will only poison the wellsprings of joy that lie inside of us all.
2. Do Something You Love
Feed your soul by engaging in activities that make your heart sing – such as engaging in hobbies that bring you pleasure, spending time with loved ones, finding quiet spots for reflection or practicing mindfulness, enjoying nature or art.
When your soul is starving, you will feel pangs similar to when your stomach grumbles for sustenance. Additionally, feelings of discontent or restlessness may arise and lead to anxiety or depression – ultimately negatively affecting both physical health and mental wellness.
Laughter is another effective way to feed your soul. From watching comedies or classic films like Love Jones to tease with your kids or simply laughing out loud yourself, find whatever makes you giggle and find what soothes and upholds your sense of well-being – laughter truly is good medicine for the soul!
3. Listen to Music
Listening to music provides us with so many physical, psychological, and spiritual benefits. It can lift our spirits when we feel down, inspire creativity, motivate physical exercise more consistently, or help ease stress during stressful periods. Furthermore, music brings people together through ceremonies and rituals, transmits cultural knowledge and history, facilitates emotional expression and provides emotional relief.
Studies have demonstrated its ability to reduce cortisol levels, helping reduce stress and improving overall health and life quality. Yoga practice may also strengthen relationships among family and friends as well as initiate new ones.
Be it solo listening, with friends or family, the benefits of music listening are many and varied! From meditations with soothing instrumental music to relaxing to soft melodies before bedtime – its impact on mood, heart health and blood pressure can be immediate!
4. Spend Time in Nature
Studies are increasingly showing the benefits of spending time outdoors to increase creativity, improve concentration, and decrease stress levels. Furthermore, environmental exposure may help lower risks for chronic health conditions like heart disease, diabetes and obesity – regions with longer lifespans tend to spend a great deal of time outdoors as evidenced by Blue Zones regions with high outdoor activity rates.
Forest bathing, ecotherapy, green time or simply walking outdoors – two hours of outdoor activity each week has been associated with improved wellbeing and happiness, whether that means short strolls around your neighborhood or taking a day trip to a park.
Best of all, taking time for yourself doesn’t require embarking on an epic trek or spending all weekend exploring one area; all it takes is walking a different way to work or school or stopping to admire tree-lined roads or waterfalls along your route to reap its many advantages.
5. Practice Meditation
Meditation can be an incredible way to restore and refresh your spirit. Many believe there are specific rules about how to meditate, but in truth it can be done anywhere; you could sit in a chair, on the floor or lie down as long as your focus remains on breathing and when your thoughts wander back onto something other than what was meant for now – gently bring your attention back towards breathing!
Try practicing body scan meditation, which involves concentrating on various parts of your body – toes, feet, legs, pelvis, abdomen, chest shoulders arms hands neck face head). If this practice is new to you then try starting by doing just five minutes daily until it becomes habit.
Some forms of movement such as running or drawing may help facilitate meditation; however, these activities should not be considered meditation in their own right.
6. Read a Book
Reading can help you expand and develop your mind, while at the same time being an entertaining way to pass time when traveling or waiting around. Studies have also indicated that those who regularly read tend to live longer. Make time in your schedule each day for reading – choose something you enjoy reading; join a book club for additional support and discussion of topic discussed by books!
Feeding Your Soul by Carly Schiff is an invaluable read for those embarking on their self healing journey. Honest, insightful and often hilarious, it reveals the truth about your relationship between food and body – making this book an indispensable read and perfect present! Don’t delay! Get it now before someone else does!
7. Go on a Spiritual Journey
Journeying spiritually can help expand your self-awareness and deepen your knowledge of the universe, as well as helping you feel more connected to nature and your surroundings.
Spiritual journeys can be difficult, but there are steps you can take to maintain strong commitment. For instance, try surrounding yourself with positive and supportive people. Also avoid falling prey to “spiritual sharks”, who are incentivized to use you for their own gain.
Staying committed can be made easier through journaling about your journey. Doing this can help identify negative thought patterns, helping to break them and transform them; additionally, this journaling practice can reveal which aspects of life should receive more focus and attention.
8. Create a Journal
When your soul hungers, the symptoms may mirror those experienced when your physical body feels hungry: fatigue from not getting enough rest; burnout at work or home; feeling overcommitted due to weak boundaries.
To revitalize and nourish your soul, it is necessary to spend time immersed in beauty and peace. This could involve spending time outdoors in nature, listening to music that moves your spirit or creating art–such as writing a journal. Set aside a specific time each day for writing–perhaps using an app such as Penzu for privacy–in order to help express yourself freely. This will allow your inner voice to emerge fully.
9. Say “No”
Learning how to take your soul seriously can be challenging. You must stop ignoring or distracting yourself and start feeding it instead – although this takes practice, the rewards will surely make up for the effort!
One of the most essential steps you can take for personal fulfillment is learning to say no when necessary. While this may be hard at times, as humans are wired to conform, saying “no” can help create happier and more fulfilled people overall. To practice saying “no”, write down several people you trust so they’ll feel confident saying “no” when required.
10. Say “Yes”
Without care, your soul could become depleted from trying to please everyone. That isn’t your job (that belongs to God); instead focus on creating for its own joy and recharging your spiritual well.
Explore new experiences, push past fears, and broaden your horizons by saying yes! It will leave you feeling empowered, emboldened, and energized!
Feeding your soul is key to rediscovering the magnificent person God designed you to be. Take some time to get acquainted with yourself better, notice when your soul feels hungry, and start providing it with nourishment that nurtures and upholds you! Even though it may feel selfish or impractical at first glance, feeding your soul will transform your life for the better. I guarantee it. Lesley Goth, Psychologist. All rights are reserved by this publication’s author – any reproduction in whole or in part without written consent by its author cannot be reproduced in whole or part without written authorization by its author.