Soul Food

The alternative title for this post could be “The Care and Feeding of Your Soul.”

Bodies need care and feeding, as we are well aware.  Our soul part has needs as well, on just as regular a basis as our body part.  Not to say that soul care and feeding requires participation in a religion.  Or a belief, beyond recognizing that humans are comprised of two parts.  And possibly not that; the offerings for soul care and feeding I make here may look very unlike what one would imagine nourishment of a soul to be.

• Find things that make you laugh.  Belly laughs have especially high nourishment content.
• Like yourself, warts and all.
• Assume that everyone, including yourself, is doing the best they can at the moment.
• Look for the good.
• Engage in enough exercise to cause heavy breathing.  Soul nourishment gets in the oxygen line behind the brain, the heart, all other organs.
• Do something for someone.  Size does not count.  Egos measure, souls do not.
• Take your soul out for a walk, enjoying the view, the sweet air, the sun, the rain, the snow, the wind, the stars.
• Show your soul a good time with caring company–friends, family, lovers, pets.
• Treat your soul to some beauty–art, dance, music.
•  Give your soul a little quiet, unbusy time, listening to your breath, feeling your heart.  Your body is its temple.

Just as bodies do not do well with toxins, there are things that are toxic to souls as well.  I mention this because an undernourished, poisoned soul will not leave us.  It will just not be able to offer us those experiences that give life its richness.

To give you an idea of soul toxins: anger, jealousy, holding grudges, violence, retaliation.  In short, anything we do that shuts us down, cuts us off from others.

And so, here’s to a robust, well cared-for, exuberant soul, no matter the circumstance or the challenge life here on earth may bring.