Rx For The Soul: 10 Ways To Nurture Soulful Living
"Whatever satisfies the soul is truth." --Walt Whitman
My new blog/ web site, Rx For The Soul, launches today at www.judithrich.com. I'm still putting the finishing touches on it like baseboards and light switch plates, but heck, we're all friends, so come on over and have a peek. And please be sure to sign the guest book while you're there.
Since the subject of my new blog is matters of the soul, and since its launch was delayed a few weeks with the arrival of Bella Coventina, I thought it best to listen to my own soul regarding the timing of this project, and launch while the dust is still settling. It'll be a work in progress for a bit, as the installation process is completing, but as long as you don't mind the dust, and watch where you step, it'll be fine. Wear old clothes and plan to get dirty. Soul work is anything but tidy!
You might be wondering if you have the luxury to attend to your soul with the kind of demands life is most likely making of you these days. Be assured, tending the soul is not a cyclical job, best reserved for the easy times. For when the soul is left unattended, our lives become dry and dusty, we feel barren and parched. More often than not, in times of great difficulty, at some level, it is the soul seeking to be fed.
When you feel "stuck" and nothing seems to flow in your life, you can bet the soul is seeking your attention. The soul beckons us to see with new eyes, to alter our point of view. When all the lights are red, when doors close and the path ahead becomes obscure, the soul is inviting you to open to new possibilities, ones that lies beyond your ability to see from where you're currently looking.
The way of the soul is often radical as it has its own agenda that doesn't always line up with the desires of the personality. The way of the ego is perfection, as in zero tolerance for error. Its path is a straight and narrow one, and since there's no room for error, there's little room for learning and gaining wisdom.
Ah, but the soul is a whore for learning and wisdom and any mechanism will serve its purpose. It's not fussy about which path we choose, as long as it serves to lead us to the unfolding of our own truth. The soul meanders, rarely following the beaten path, but seeks out the road less traveled.
Say not, "I have found the truth," but rather, "I have found a truth." Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have met the soul walking upon my path." For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals. --Kahlil Gibran, The ProphetOur souls hunger for what's most essential to our survival. It cares not whether its requirements are convenient for these personalities we inhabit. The soul takes on these earthly bodies and personalities in order to gain access to another classroom. It hungers for experiences available to the human part of being as our human journey provides many new portals to wisdom for the soul.
So the question arises: What feeds your soul? What sets your soul on fire? What gets you through the tough times and has you come out even stronger? The answers to these questions are the medicine your soul is seeking. A worthy inquiry, indeed! Search your own soul for the answers. Here are my Top 10:
10 Ways To Nurture The Soul
1. Tell The Truth
We speak in terms of "searching our soul" when we need to find answers for life's deep questions. The soul is the seat of our own truth and is a demand for it. We must seek the truth and tell it. Skate by the truth as your soul knows it, and sooner or later, you'll be back to re-visit the subject you avoided. The soul settles for nothing less than the bare naked truth.
2. Spend Time In Nature
Live close to the earth and you'll know its soul. When you know the soul of nature, you'll know your own. Spend time in the natural world and allow yourself to connect with all living things and you will find your place in the order of life. You will see yourself as a part of nature, no more and no less than the stars and the trees. The soul rests in the natural world.
3. Experience Your Experience
The soul is a junkie for experience. It loves it all! The soul has no preference for pain or joy; just a demand that we experience whatever is true in the moment. When grief or sadness are upon you, feel them, experience them. Through these harder emotions, new doors open and great freedom enters. When joy and passion are present, live them out loud. The soul is a glutton for living with gusto!
4. Live On The Edge
"Man is so made that when anything fires his soul, impossibilities vanish." --Jean De La Fontaine
Live out to the edges of your life. That's where the soul thrives. The soul seeks possibilities that can only be found beyond what is already known, safe and comfortable. It does not understand the meaning of "impossible". What is already known is already known. To the soul, the "juice" lies in the unknown, where all things are possible. The soul calls us to come to the edge, then go beyond.
5. Learn To Dance In The Rain
There will be times in your life when the sun doesn't shine. Dance anyway. There will be times when life is painful. Dance with your pain. The soul is naturally drawn to the dark, tight places inside. Its job is to expand those places so the light can shine into and through them. Dance with whatever cards you're dealt, then tell the truth about it. The soul is nothing if not an excellent dancer. Give it the dance floor and step aside!
6. Uncontrollable Belly Laughter
Laughter is good medicine for the soul. Nothing can uplift the spirit and lighten the soul like a good laugh that starts at your belly and explodes through your whole body. It's orgasmic! The soul needs orgasms as much as the body needs them. Who do you laugh with? Have a "laughter date" at least once a week. It's OK to be silly, hokey, corny, all the things your ego wouldn't deign to be. Get a grip and let her rip!
"The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire." --Ferdinand Foch
7. Meditation
To meditate is to enter the soul's inner temple. Here, you'll hear the soul's whisper. See Living page blogger Anne Naylor's post for 12 simple and easy steps on how to incorporate a meditation practice into your life. Meditation is like drinking water after crawling through the desert. It quenches the soul's thirst for silence and stillness.
8. Keep A Journal
Having kept a journal for over thirty years, looking back, I see than many of the same questions are with me today as thirty years ago, I'm just on a different turn of the wheel. I'm taking a deeper cut. I'm more surrendered to the wisdom unfolding as my life. All of this comes through my writing as I see my soul's process over the long arc of time expressed on the pages of my journal. It's a living document that you were here, you lived a life, you loved, you lost, you learned. Be sure to record your dreams, which are the language of the soul.
9. Love Fully
At the end of the day, how much did you love? Were you a lover of life, the world? Did you love with a big, wide, open, generous heart? Did you love without conditions? This is what will matter when you come to the finish line. The soul is here to learn to love it all, even and perhaps especially, those things the ego thinks are unlovable. Love the unlovable parts of yourself and others and your soul will find peace.
10. Bring A Sense Of The Sacred
To the soul, it's all holy. It's all sacred. Every moment, every experience, every blade of grass, every bug that crawls, every baby that cries, every tear that's shed, every gesture of love, every act of kindness..... it's all sacred. To bring a sense of the sacred to every moment is to live out the mission of the soul.
"To live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory." --Howard Zinn
You've read a few of my favorite ways to feed the soul, how about yours? What constitutes good soul medicine for you? Please drop by the comment section below and share your ideas.
Don't forget to drop by my personal blog and web site, Rx For The Soul, where I'll be blogging and updating regularly with new material and offerings. You might just find some other familiar names and faces there from time to time. You can leave comments and personal messages for me there as well.
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Judith, you are something! Beautiful blog!
Yes, yes and yes. There are so many great jewels of wisdom here. You and I are so on the same page. Even through the most difficult of circumstances to our personalities, the soul has the perspective that it’s all love, all God, and all good. Yes, even in our darkest moments our souls urge is to hold both our pain and our pleasure…our greatness and our smallness. Following our souls yearning to live in our truth allows for the possibility of relaxing, if only for a moment, into who we truly are.
P.S. Your health is in my thoughts and prayers
Warmly,
Dr. Jennifer Howard
http://www.DrJenniferHoward.com
Dear Jennifer,
Dittos! I love your site as well. I've been there frequently to check it out and you're up to some amazing things. You're out there in front of me on the path in terms of accessing the media. I could stand to learn a thing or two from you. You interested in letting me pick your brain? I'm come visit your site and leave a message. Have been meaning to do that for some time now.
Thanks so much for your good wishes on the health front. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers.
Blessings to you,
Judith
Dr. Rich,
This is the mother of all List!!! Love it . The first on your list is my daily message, especially to the young. Speak truth, speak truth to life. Live in your truth.
Perhaps the only one I would add is to Live in the Now, which is the only place where the Soul truly resides.
Amazing. I too hope a lot of people choose at least one.
Peace to you. (your new tweety bud :)
Dear New Tweety Bud,
I love it! Welcome! Come and let's play at the new site too, Rx For the Soul. I'll look for you there.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, next week, we're taking on '''#1, Telling The Truth, in capital letters. Hope you'll come visit both places and become a subscriber at each.
All the best new bud,
Judith
I posted this quoted the other day and thought I would get a little more "mileage" out of it...
"Today's world is rampant with injustice because young and old alike have made pleasure and gain the primary aim of life...Consumerism urges everyone to pursue satisfaction of personal wants, and not general welfare...."RB
I signed up for Rx for the soul website and can't wait to see what comes of it, a comments section and no annoying advertisements, the non annoying advertisements that pertain to the subject matter would be alright.
Pleasure and gain, pain and fame, it's all the same; forgot who said it first ;-)
Hello AngieMom57,
So nice to see you back here and thanks for coming to Rx For the Soul. Come on back there tomorrow and read what's new. Something new going on there most days. Be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed for automatic updates when you're there. It's not the same as the newsletter. Just thought I'd mention that for you and other readers too.
As for annoying and non-annoying ads on the site, well, we shall see. Hopefully, I can attract some tasteful, on topic things that actually benefit readers, right? Let's just say that's my intention.
Pleasure/pain/gain/fame/loss- it's all the same for the soul! Seriously! The soul has no preference for pleasure over pain. Whatever works to drive home it's agenda, that being its own evolution and learning. The sooner our personalities can get that, the easier things become. We can actually work in tandem with the soul.
Ah, but that's another post.
Take good care, AngieMom57. See you at the well
Judith
I would like to place a small ad for my vegan organic sustainable harvested chocolates; only for California delivery.
I think this speaks to the question of why women today are apparently far less happy than their counterparts 45+ years ago, at least according to a study by several economists picked up by Ross Douthot in Tuesday's NYT. His column got him in a whole heap of trouble but I worked up a post for my own blog about it, and several commenters added some very insightful thoughts to it.
In sum, it would seem that because so many women are working so hard at their jobs -- and not just for the money -- and working so hard at home, they don't have the time or energy to nurture their soul through close friendships with other women. This is a huge loss, and I imagine many women feel trapped in their grind, unable -- they think -- to find a way out. I'm not sure the solution is simply that men do more vacuuming -- women may need to look at themselves and shift some priorities to keep their soul in balance.
If you're interested, here is my humble blog:
http://rebeccaclayhaynes.blogspot.com/
Dear rhaynes,
Humble blog, indeed! It's fabulous! I encourage my readers to check it out.
I couldn't agree more with your point of view that what we long for is that deeper connection with ourselves at the level of spirit and soul. I call it a "loneliness for spirit". It is hard to articulate the feeling of emptiness and loneliness for something we can't see or touch, yet it's almost a universal phenomenon.
I believe that part of the soul's job is to bring us into contact with spirit. The soul takes us deep so we can reach high. That's putting it in very simple terms, but i think that's what it comes down to.
God bless Betty Friedan! Reading her Feminine Mystique in the 70's changed my life and started me down a path I'm still traveling. I wrote my doctoral dissertation on The Future of Feminism and came to the conclusion that the issues women face will not be resolved until we approach the human condition as a whole.
I'm not so sure men are happier. It may appear that way on the surface, but I wonder how happy Bernie Madeoff is right now? Perhaps women are just better at expressing their deep well of discontent and men are better at playing the power game. But at what price to the soul?
Many thanks for stopping by,
Judith
Thank you, Judith! I'm looking forward to more of your posts and to visiting your new website. Very best wishes with all, Rebecca
I would add - Help someone. Nothing breaks the trance of being lost in the story of how bad life has treated you than helping someone less fortunate. Go beyond it being all about you and uncover some understanding of the great truth that we are all connected.
Dear NearlyNormal,
Your name makes my soul laugh! So let me ask: are you working towards being "normal"? I hope not! What passes for normal in our society is death to the soul. The soul wants anything but normal, so dear Warren, keep that little touch of "not quite normal". It adds spice to the mix!
And of course, helping others is a good way to nurture the soul.
Thanks for checking in. Hope you'll be back.
Best to you,
Judith
The living on the edge is my next step in my life process. I actually have gone out on Tagged and found a nice guy who is 4 years older than me..I never imagined I would ever do this in my life-although I am nervous as anything about this. I hope one thing, that he has a great sense of humor....I love to laugh...and gardening is my lifelong passion. I have been gardening for 42 years..starting with my late grandfather...This article is great.
Dear faithmarie,
Here's a little generational issue: I'm assuming Tagged is an online dating site, right? Assuming I'm correct, then why not step out and initiate the possibility of connecting with someone, if this is what you want?
The days are long over when women are relegated to sitting home and waiting for Prince Charming to show up at their door. So good for you and keep on exploring those edges. They are endless! This is how you'll discover what's right for you and who's the right one. If this guy doesn't have a sense of humor and that's important to you, there's someone out there who does, so keep looking.
The soul doesn't settle, even if the personality does.
Best wishes with your new friend. Let's hope he likes the edges too!
Judith
Thanks Judith!
I'm working on number one and as an alcoholic in recovery it's a big priority! It's getting easier just being honest and laying my cards on the table. It ain't always pretty but at least it's real!
Dear peaches,
I applaud you! Telling the truth is the basis for everything. And yes, the truth often isn't pretty, that's why we shy away. We're more concerned about how we appear to others so we deny the truth to ourselves as well. This comes at a great cost, as you already know.
Keep up working your recovery program. It's a matter of life and death, at least to the soul it is.
Best wishes on your path,
Judith
I agree it's so important to love fully and be yourself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_GnbY7nJl0
There is so much much misery and brutality in our world that it is difficult to believe that nurturing the soul would make a difference in the lives of people living on the fringes. They need food, medicine,shelter, education and jobs.
Dear Cogs,
Oddly enough, people living on the fringes may have more connection to soul than the rest of us. I remember being in India several years ago. It was my first trip there and I was in culture shock to see so much poverty and suffering. At the same time, I experienced a level of peace there I'd never witnessed anywhere else.
The soul doesn't feed on the same things as the personality. Yes, of course, we need those essential things you named or the body doesn't thrive. But feeding the soul is not a luxury saved for the well off. One can live in material simplicity or even lack and have a happy soul. Don't be fooled by appearances.
I appreciate your comment, Cogs. Thanks for stopping by. Come by the well at Rx For the Soul, my new web site and let's discover more.
Best to you
Judith
This is just great, Dr. Judith! Telling the truth is the one that I find myself working on the most right now - finding it, speaking it.
Planting a garden can contain so many of these. I think I will let out a huge belly laugh when those plants start poking out of the ground. It's all a new adventure for me.
Thanks for being there.
Usedtobequiet
Dear Usedtobe,
Indeed, telling the truth is such a big one, I'm devoting my next post to it. Telling the truth to ourselves and having the courage to speak it. It's easy when it's easy and it isn't when it isn't and yet........ the soul demands it. So we best get on board with the truth and get comfortable being uncomfortable.
I thought about planting a garden while writing this time. It always brings me home to what's so. Many people have commented the same.
Get those belly laughs going, my dear! And come visit me at the well on the new blog.
Many blessings your way,
Judith
"Dancing in the rain." When the world seems to be at it's darkest, I play my guitar. I don't play songs or melodies that anyone else would recognize. I let go and allow my soul to create the music. It is hard for me to express the effect this has on me other than the sense of peace I have when I am done.
Dear GF,
I'm right with you on the music track. I play my harp or the piano and let all my cares drain away. I understand the experience of getting lost in the music, and becoming one with the instrument.
Doesn't the soul love this?
Thanks for stopping by here and come see me at the well on the Rx site too.
Blessings,
Judith
See Dr. Cara Barker's Profile
Dear Judith,
What a beautiful, beautiful launch this is. Many, many congrats on this new baby, and wonderful site. What feeds my soul is all that you have said, and let me add your wonderous Sisterhood. Although I am 'on the road,' know that my thoughts and prayers are with you for the unfolding of this very dream that comes from your heart.
So many prayers and blessings to you. And, the banner featuring your work is just too perfect. What a great sign of healing coming your way.
Love,
Cara
Dear Cara,
I realized today that I started this journey exactly 9 months ago, just the amount of time to create a new life and here it is.
Sending loving, empowering thoughts to as you "rock the house" in LA! Knock em alive!
Love,
Judith
Dear Judith:
This is truly beautifully written. I especially like Live On The Edge and Tell The Truth. Pushing yourself out of comfort zone, standing tall to speak your truth, or going after something that you're so passionate about that lights your soul on fire, are all exhilarating and nurturing for the soul.
For me, I'd like to add living in the moment, and practice loving kindness toward myself. Most people are way too unkind toward themselves, and they are living either in the past or in the future, which causes stress and prevents them from living life fully. I advocate Intensive Self-Care, which includes physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and financial self-care. I've found that even I have to remind myself to be kinder and more patient toward myself from time to time. I think loving, honoring and accepting yourself is definitely nurturing for the soul.
Thank you for such a great reminder to nurture my soul every day.
Blessings,
Hueina
http://www.RxForBalance.com
http://www.IntensiveSelfCare.com
Yip
De
Dooooooodles!
I love my Judith!
If anyone
did
any
one
of your wonderful suggestions their life would be more soulful.
My life is more soulful just from meeting you and reading your wonderful posts!
Loving Fully,
Eli Davidson
Oh boy! You are the BEST!!
You
make
my
belly
laugh
with
delight!
Seriously! I love your spunk and spirit. You got soul, woman! You got soul!
Thanks for sharing it here. Much love,
Judith
What a wonderful blog.
I really love that you included getting out in nature. If I may add, taking your children out in nature is especially rewarding. Our little guy loves the outdoors, everything is new and wonderful and awesome to him, and we get to experience the beauty of nature through his eyes. The fresh air sure is wonderful for the soul, as well!
This is wonderful, thank you. I'm going to dust off that journal of mine and get back to recording all the experiences( good, not so comfortable, joyous, sad, loving) of my life!
Since you have access to the rewarding experience of nature with your children, I very strongly recommend that you dust off that journal. It's only if the 'not so comfortable' overwhelms that you need to think about it twice.
Dear jillsond,
Yes, fire up that journal, my dear. It's invaluable!
Isn't it just fabulous to see the world through the eyes of a child? How lucky you are to have such a powerful teacher to remind you of what's really important. Think of how your own soul is reaching out to the future through your son. Being a parent is such an honor and sometimes it's hard to remember that when the going is tough. They grow up all too soon and then you'll pine for them. So good that you cherish these times now.
My soul is smiling!
Judith
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