Please share!

Today I took a bike ride.

How long I've neglected my body and pretended it didn't exist. I hid it and was ashamed of it. I put it behind closed doors and fed it garbage and didn't move it. I pumped it full of pharmaceuticals and acted like it wasn't part of me. My spirit was dying and I didn't care.

I didn't understand that my body and my spirit are connected. Until I began to care for my body and heal it, I had no interest in healing my spirit. I only cared about how I felt at any given moment. If I felt nervous, I had to fix my nervousness. If I felt happy, I had to pump up my happiness so it wouldn't end. I didn't understand that these reactive impulses were not benefiting me. They were survival techniques but I didn't know I was merely surviving from one feeling to another.

Today I look at and care for and watch and pamper and plan for and decorate and embrace my body. I find myself wanting to do the same for my spirit. I'm understanding that they go together.

It's not a task on a check off list. It's a change in perception and awareness. How many times have I said that nothing will change unless everything changes? I know it in my head. Now I feel it in my body, and I sense it in my spirit.

How do you feed your soul?

Edited September 1, 201412 yr by JustWatchMe

So many things feed my soul; listening to a first grader read, being with my loved ones, singing at the top of my lungs in the car where only I can hear, prayer, meditation, yoga especially the hot sweaty kind, reading, many moments of quiet gratitude, trying something new, taking a moment to acknowledge that in spite of my many imperfections and failings I am doing it! I am living a healthier fuller life than I have in years!!! Namaste my friends!

Raising plants from seed for butterflies and hummingbirds, visiting Baiting Hollow Hummingbird Sanctuary, playing with my dog, whistling back and forth with my parrot, playing and singing music, teasing my family

Edited September 1, 201412 yr by BeagleLover

Wow, your post is inspiring! I feel the same way...I was just surviving day to day. I've learned to start scheduling me time. I allow myself to enjoy things I used to years ago. Favorite music, bubble bath with candles, coffee while sitting outside in the morning, getting hair and nails done, yard sales and thrift store shopping... I love finding treasures :-) Baking Cookies with my little girl, dancing/singing like no one is watching, laying down looking at the night sky with the hubby while we laugh and talk, Just living life instead of watching it :-)

One key thing I have found to help is getting up early, and keeping the TV off.

I feed my spirit by not taking the easy way out, not being lazy, pushing myself, taking on new challenges and being disciplined. Those things make me prouder to look myself in the eye.

Believe or not, It is my job! What I do for a living.

I work in pediatrics, with some very sick kids....depending on the Dx, some will never live past their teenage years and everyone knows it.

To go through a day, no matter how long or busy, and make a positive contribution that impacts and changes peoples lives...not just the kids, but the parents whose entire world has crashed around them....

It's a high like no other...

And yes, the Body, Soul and Spirit are all connected...and I have found that when the body can perform better, from loosing weight and getting healthier and in shape, then it only increases the performance that feeds the spirit...

Your soul is an outward expression of the two....

Negativity is such a downer, it makes me angry...not at people personally, but their action and choice to do so.

What a great thread! I almost got on my bike today -- that is a major goal (and apparently a little source of procrastination). We have the most gorgeous weather right now. So a goal for tomorrow! I'm doing well in so many areas but I get bogged down. Overwhelmed. You are so right that we need to be able to reach within sometimes. So I'm thinking about this, the feeding of my soul. Reading -- I have become so much more addicted to media and what I really love is turning the pages of good books. So more of that. I feel inspired when I walk outdoors. We live in a beautiful area and when the snow begins it will be harder to be outside. I want to access the outdoors every moment I can right now as autumn arrives in New England. Making art is something that feeds my soul. I slip into another realm and get lost. I love that. Travel. Definitely travel. Writing in my journal anchors me and gives me the time and space to just let whatever is on my mind come forward. Lately I've been spending a lot of time with my dad, who has dementia. I like. The way I feel stapled to the moment. He can't project or remember, so we are right there in the moment. That feeds my soul. And music, dancing -- any of the getting lost activities of the other parts of myself. Allowing that, creating opportunity for it......beautiful. I am looking at resistance in my life. Noticing that. And clinging. Eliminating clinging and resistances opens up so much possibility.

Please share!

Today I took a bike ride.

How long I've neglected my body and pretended it didn't exist. I hid it and was ashamed of it. I put it behind closed doors and fed it garbage and didn't move it. I pumped it full of pharmaceuticals and acted like it wasn't part of me. My spirit was dying and I didn't care.

I didn't understand that my body and my spirit are connected. Until I began to care for my body and heal it, I had no interest in healing my spirit. I only cared about how I felt at any given moment. If I felt nervous, I had to fix my nervousness. If I felt happy, I had to pump up my happiness so it wouldn't end. I didn't understand that these reactive impulses were not benefiting me. They were survival techniques but I didn't know I was merely surviving from one feeling to another.

Today I look at and care for and watch and pamper and plan for and decorate and embrace my body. I find myself wanting to do the same for my spirit. I'm understanding that they go together.

It's not a task on a check off list. It's a change in perception and awareness. How many times have I said that nothing will change unless everything changes? I know it in my head. Now I feel it in my body, and I sense it in my spirit.

How do you feed your soul?

Seriously, I feed my soul, the same way I have all my life, by doing for others. I am never happy unless I am doing something for so many people. I am so blessed and I have so much love to give. I have a good husband who does rein me in from time to time.

@@Bandista, my dad had dementia too. I remember the feeling of being in the moment with him. As heartbreaking as it was, there was something utterly pure about our relationship near the end.

I also love to read, good naps on my days off, long baths, time with my kids & my pets. Just being at home with no rushing. Feeds my soul!

The scripture says that jesus is the bread of life. I have found that reading and studying the bible feeds my soul more and more. I am finding that reaching for the bread of life is more satisfying than reaching for natural food!

yoga!

music, singing, dancing, being with good friends, walks in nature, going to the library or watching nerdy TV with my son, doing art with my daughter. gardening (no garden right now though).

I love to garden and feel more connected with my soul there than anywhere else. Here are some pictures -- raised beds for veggies and a flower garden that is pretty wild right now. My refuge.