Ways To Nourish Your Spiritual Self
Before we get into the simple, yet invaluable, ways to nourish your spiritual self, let’s go over a question that often comes up.
What does it mean to be spiritual? This is a question that can easily go beyond the scope of this article. Simply put, to be spiritual means you know and are aware that you are more than your physical body and more than your mind. It means you’re aware of yourself as having a soul. More importantly, being spiritual means recognizing that your soul needs to express itself. It’s way too easy to confuse spirituality and religion. They are two different things. Again, that topic goes far beyond the scope of this article. 🙂
Often, there is an experience we have that makes us aware that there is more to life than just the mundane, everyday existence we all have. After this happens, you realize how important it is to nurture this side of yourself.
If you want to include some kind of spiritual practice into your life, the options are many. Here are my favorite enriching spiritual practices you can do to nurture your soul and allow it to speak to you.
Get Out Into Nature
This is, by far, the most important and healing way to strengthen your spiritual practice. Nature was created for us to enjoy. Humans need nature. To look at a green, natural vista filled with trees, sky, water, and plants is very calming, grounding, and centering.
Try going for a walk outside every day to decompress and enjoy the sounds, sights, and smells of the natural world. When you do this, you will notice a difference in your peace of mind. Even a short ten-minute walk can help. If you live in an urban area, seek out a local park for your daily nature fix.
Breathe. Pray. Be grateful for all that you have, the people you love, and the blessings in life.
Try Journaling
Journaling can be a pathway into the deepest parts of yourself. A nightly journaling practice helps you process the day’s events. After a challenging day or interaction, letting your thoughts and emotions flow onto the page can be cathartic.
It can also help you understand what kind of interactions, conversations, and situations might be emotional triggers. This gives you insight into recognizing these triggers and enables you to prioritize your concerns and fears.
Here are some journaling prompts to get you started:
Unplug From Tech
This is a universally healthy practice to adopt, not just for spiritual development. It’s important to allow your soul to speak to you and for you to be able to hear your own inner wisdom. You can’t do this if you’re always checking your emails, texts, social media, or watching YouTube videos.
When you unplug from these daily distractions, you allow yourself the space to tune into your own guidance and to have the silence necessary to actually hear what it offers you. It doesn’t mean you have to ditch your devices completely. Even thirty minutes to an hour every day can make a difference.
Meditate
Meditation doesn’t have to be intimidating or complicated. It can be as simple as setting aside 15-20 minutes a day for silence, emptying your mind of intrusive thoughts, and allowing your soul and higher self to communicate with you. There are an infinite variety of meditations out there, so finding a few that fit with what you want to gain in your spiritual practice should be easy.
Meditation helps us reconnect our body and our mind. So many of us are so out-of-touch with what's really going on holistically within ourselves. This is the perfect way to be quiet and listen.
Remember that as you meditate, your brain will still create thoughts. The important thing is to not attach to or engage with them. Allow them to pass through your mind but remain detached from them.
Exercise
Exercise as a spiritual practice? Most definitely! Hear me out. As a spiritually aware person, you know that your body is your soul’s home while you’re here. And I know you want to take the best possible care of your soul’s home, so movement and exercise are vital to that. Keeping yourself in good physical shape also has practical benefits, as we all know. Better quality of sleep, weight loss, and mood improvement are just a few.
If you prefer a type of activity that allows for more creative expression, you can’t go wrong with dance. There are so many dance workouts available that you’ll probably have a hard time deciding which to try. Ballroom, hip hop, belly dance, Latin, the list goes on. Try a few classes, either online or in person, and you’ll find your favorite.
Create New Beliefs with Affirmations
An affirmation is a phrase that is designed specifically to target the subconscious mind and reprogram it so that it doesn’t sabotage your progress on your spiritual path. These statements can be very powerful if you choose one that fits with your personal goals, and if you say it with feeling and presence.
It’s also important to do it for enough time to allow your subconscious to adopt it as truth. A general rule of thumb is to repeat a particular affirmation for at least twenty-one days in a row. That way, a new belief is created and becomes true for you.
Here are some examples of affirmations to get you started.
Your Own Path
As you move along in your spiritual practice, again not talking about religion here, you’ll probably outgrow the rituals and disciplines you started out with. This is very good! Keep expanding and keep seeking out the things that help you feel fulfilled and allow you to express yourself at the soul level.
Health isn't just about what you eat. It's about how you nourish yourself, mind, body, soul, and spirit.
What new spiritual practice have you started recently? Will you continue with it?
Be Well & Thrive!
With Love & In Health,
Sarah Outlaw, MH, MSACN
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