Emerging Courageous Nourish Your Soul

As I awaken to the musical melody of chimes outside my window, I feel a joyful spirit within. I repeat to myself..."Today I will do everything in my power to nourish my soul."

As we rush around during the holidays making last minute preparations...doing things for others, I question "What are you doing to take care of yourself?" Today, in place of my regular newsletter, I am asking you this question:

Send me your answers to this questioning (50 words or less) and I will share your ideas with Emerging Courageous online Magazine readers...I will mull over my ideas in my mind as I brainstorm as to how I will nourish my soul today.

10-9-04 " In answer to that final question: EVERYTHING. Everything we do either nourishes our soul or makes it wither. Every choice we make either fills it with love and joy or weakens it with anger and indifference. I hope that you always nourish your soul my friend with everything you think, feel, say, and do. Wishing you every joy, Joe Mazzella

10-8-04 "I notice and enjoy the small details of life-the smiles and laughter of my children, the sunrise, the moon in the middle of the night, a hawk flying overhead, the sound of raindrops on my car roof, the peace and quiet of night, being in the presence of a friend, the leaves changing color, stars against the blackness of night, etc., and I try not to take anything about my life for granted." Sam

1-17-2004 Per my request, my husband bought me a bath pillow which cradles my head( fancier than I requested) and bath salts, bubble bath etc. for my Christmas present. Scented candles.....soft Yanni playing in the background and with deep breathing, I let all my tension melt away. Focusing on my blessings and my Lord causes refreshment to permeate my being. Ginnylynn [email protected]

I think we nourish our souls when we stay open to love from all sources. God's love flows through all life and people. It is not limited to just a few special relationships, but is there to be enjoyed in many ways. Small patterns in nature, a beautiful sunset, a smile from a stranger, an act of charity witnessed, a hug from a loved one--all these and more wait to enrich our days and nourish soul and spirit.
Mary-Ellen Grisham "meg" [email protected]

I enjoy quiet time after my family has gone to bed for the evening. Mornings are hectic, and evenings are full of homework assignments, cooking meals and catching up on housework. Late evenings, I sit in my rocking chair by the open window. I hold a cup of hot tea and listen to the night sounds. Bible reading is always soothing at this time, too. Pamela Jenkins [email protected]

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1-5-2003

I listen to life to nourish my soul. It is a practice I began when I was just 7 years old. It is basically meditating. When I get stressed, or down, I simply go outside and sit. I then close my eyes and "listen to life". The goal is to listen only for the sounds around me, blocking out the thoughts in my mind. I try to focus on smaller and smaller sounds. When a thought about anything other than the sounds comes into my mind, I just refocus. Once I feel calm and relaxed and don't have to push those thoughts away anymore, I know I am finished and ready to face my life once again. Renfaerie [email protected]

To Nourish My Soul I will lay back and relax while I listen to bible scripture along with music about how Jesus is always with me and how he helps and heals me. I will rejoice in our Lord. I will sit and watch a beautiful sunset. I will appreciate all the beauty around me, and I will cherish my family. Terry Varvaro [email protected]

Today, to nourish my soul, I am emailing friends and family to wish them peace and blessings and planning my next trip to the Trappist monastery at Gethsemani. I will greet the new year at the monestery.

Just thinking about being back there soon with the monks nourishes my soul. Memories of times past in that beatific place appease my soul until I receive the satiating repast of a full retreat in that temple of peace....the days filled with chanting monks, shared coffee, walks in the woods, working silently side-by-side in the kitchen. Late at night, I make a raid on the kitchen and retire to my room with a book for the night. At three fifteen in the morning, I stumble sleepily into the balcony to join in the chant of the monks. They begin their day; I return to bed until daybreak.

Little changes at Gethsemani. In a world filled with chaos, with technology that is obsolete by the time it reaches the masses, Gethsemani is comforting in its timeless sameness. Its very monotony feeds the soul that hungers for stillness in a fast-paced world.

The anticipation of my spiritual feast moves me to spread love and good tidings amongst others. The generosity of a well fed soul ripples throughout the world.

So that is how I nourish my soul today. With memories and hopeful anticipation and actions triggered by them..

12-23-2002Today I will nourish my soul by standing squarely in the moment,pausing to reflect on all I am grateful for receiving
and giving love without condition to all beings I encounter. Julie Jordon Scott [email protected]

I was just thinking of sending this affirmation/prayer to you and today I get this e-mail from you. This attachment is among the prayers I wrote into my affirmations book. Like setting goals, but more like "ask and you shall receive." I am a firm believer that this is universal law. The real magic in life. I believe this affirmation was a derivation I put it together some time ago from The Writings of Florence Scovel-Shinn and how I wanted my life to be. But I still read it almost daily along with the others that I put in it.

Affirmations...

Thank you for helping me daily to overcome all my fears and doubts.
Thank you for guiding me to people and opportunities that lead me to find peace, love, abundance and prosperity.
Infinite Spirit, open the way for the Divine Design of my life to manifest.
That miracle shall follow miracle and wonders never cease.
That I shall see clearly the perfect plan for my life.
What God has done for others, he now does for me.
Devine Love floods my consciousness and every cell in my body.
Tony DeLiso 12-22-2002

Well I guess I would have to say that I already am nourishing my soul, and I do this mostly by writing my innermost thoughts in the form of a poem or a short story, and by doing do, hope to share my philosophy with the world...begging them to stop and take a look at themselves and realize that once all is said and done, in the end, all we have in this world is the peace we find in it, the friends we make, and the family

who loves us. [email protected]

This is a good question, and one that I ignored for many years. I would have my hair cut, and I would get a manicure when the nails began to look like I had been in a shredder, or I would go out and buy a new color lipstick, all of this making me think that somehow I would feel better.

But as I hit mid-age I began to look in the mirror and notice that the hair, nails and lipstick did not make one bit of difference as to how I really felt about myself. I began to look into my heart and my soul and I found a whole lot of blank spaces that could not be covered by a surface job!! No more vacuuming my carpet as I say, it was time for a deep steam cleaning.

I began by giving to others, I began by adopting a family that was in need, I made sure that they had food on the table and toys under the tree. I even learned to get on the floor again and play with the kids. And this was a wonderful experience for me and I know that I made them very happy. They were unconditionally loved and taken care of for maybe the first time in their lives. But then demands were being made on me for things that I had not offered. I was asked to go beyond what I was comfortable with. I was asked legal questions and was asked if I had other friends that could contribute just a bit more than had. I was asked for money that would never be returned, but worse of all I did not feel like I had been loved back. I had again vacuumed the carpet and made things look nice but I had not done a deep cleaning and did not teach my adopted family to give as well as take. And so I had to look deeper into my heart and my soul to make sure that I was not just feeling sorry for myself that I did not feel loved in return. I had to make sure it was unconditional love that I gave. It was not, the condition I had imposed was that they love me back.

So I had to look father into my heart and soul to see what the problem was and I finally found it.The hair ,nails and make-up did not do it ,giving to others did not do it either. I had to love myself in order for others to love me. So I began to finally nourish my self. I take time to exercise each day, even if it's only for ten minuets I do it. I meditate for a short period each morning and a longer period each night. Each day I begin by making a mental list of the things to be done (writing them down make a huge difference in remembering them). Each night I try to review the day, and I try to write that down in my journal to see what I have done for myself, others and what impact I have make in the world… My world or the whole world.

I get a massage as often as I can because that helps to reduce stress and negative feelings in my body, but again, I realized I was asking the massage therapist to do a surface cleaning and it was up to me to do the deep cleaning. So I practice my yoga more often to stretch my own body and I do Reiki to stretch my mind, body and my spirit.

I have come a long way, but the one thing I have learned from all this is that I have to review what it takes to nourish myself. I can't take it for granted that I have arrived with a clean house. There is always more to be done. Mary Jean Fink [email protected]
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