loving on yourself

When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy, care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.

– Jean Shinoda Bolen

This is beautiful.
This is my journey, present moment.
This is so...necessary.

Something that nourishes my soul: writing. Any kind of writing will suffice. Friendly emails are heart warming. Notes thanking my landlord for the amazing house I live in with my rent check is heart nourishing. Past experiences and feelings put into stories to a new friend heals heartache. When writing is discouraged with negative comments and accusations or disrespected by secretly being read, I begin to shy away from the healing properties of writing. I will get discouraged with dreams that seem unobtainable. The writing that nourishes the soul no longer cherishes the heart or encourages the mind when another dismisses it like the weekly trash. But, when the soul finds another soul that ignites the fire, supports the passion, and fuels the desire a long-missed joy enters back into the life. Like a grandmother's blanket found in a forgotten closet, the soul soars and flourishes to begin the amazing healing that is long overdue with writing.

Something that nourishes my soul: old friends. The ones that have known me for so long, seen me at my worst and my best, hugged during pain, hugged during excitement. The ones where distance has been put between and upon reuniting fall back into step as if no time had passed. The old friends that warm my heart when just a thought of them sends warming comfort over the soul with a peace feeding the mind. Expectations are so fluid with old friends. A respect has been nourished and encouraged over so many years. A healing that surpasses all minute-flings or good books and baths. Old friends heal wounds, hearts, and souls like no other.

Something that nourishes my soul: nature. Nature anywhere. Having a physical connection or touch with the earth. Feeling the fresh cut grass under my feet, the fine white sand between my toes, the fragrance of blooming trees in my nose, the warmth of the sun on my face. Nature has a way of bringing me back to reality. It has a way of grounding me in feelings buried and unattended to unnecessarily. A way of restoring the soul back to the core of who I am. Restoring the heart to a place of healing. The rocky and root-filled path of a walk on a hiking trail, the scent of salt as the waves crash in, and the rain pattering on my shoulders all have the soothing effect of a warm memory once forgotten. It is a natural nurturing of the mind, heart, and soul.

So to start this journey where I include these things more often in my life...healing, amazingness, and discovery will follow.