What Fills Your Soul? (#5 Wisdom Along the Way)

What Fills Your Soul?

Have you considered this question lately? Ever?

It could also be asked, what makes your heart sing?

Why is this even important?

Because, Dear One, You and Your Soul matter!

Sometimes I have needed permission to be good to myself. It has been easy for me to keep a hectic pace, do ‘good’ things for everyone and just be busy.

And some of this ‘serving others’ does fill my soul.

However, only when my soul is already in a filled up, healthy place, to begin with.

I am not saying you shouldn’t serve others if you are not filled up first. If you are human, you probably serve others in some way.

If you are female, you do serve others, usually a lot.

I am saying to sustain serving others requires that you recharge. And even if you don’t think you are in a ‘serving others’ place, we are all required to serve ourselves with good self care.

The best way I know how to do this is a Soul Filling Session!

What is a Soul Filling Session? I actually just made that up… but let’s delve a little deeper.

We all recharge in our own unique ways. When I am talking about Soul Filling, I am not only talking about physically rested, well nourished and healthy. I am talking something spiritual, sacred and soulful.

Whatever your belief system, most of us believe in a higher power, God, Jesus, Source etc…

I belong to a group of believers that agree our souls arrived here in this lifetime pure, perfect and unhindered. I also know that the journey of life has added struggle, lies and light dampening experience to every soul I have ever encountered.

The process of Soul Filling, for me, means to check out of my daily ‘to do’ list and check in to my sacred inner and outer space of being.

I am most Soul Present in:

Nature

Solitude

Beauty and

Quiet

This can look like being anywhere in nature, going for a walk outside, journaling in a peaceful setting, reading the Bible or a soul filling book, doing art in a room with a view, being anywhere in a natural setting  or even being home in a quiet, lovely space I have created for prayer or meditation. These places are where I check in with my soul.

These places may look very different for you. And that is perfectly incredible and awesome that you have found your own Soul Filling experience!

Questions I may ask myself:

1. How am I?
2. Am I operating from love? Or am I operating from duty, fear, people pleasing, need for approval, obligation or guilt?
3. Am I believing a lie (or lies)? What is the truth?
4. How does my body feel? Healthy, energized, rested and well? Or am I tense, sick, in pain, tired or stressed?
5. Is my life currently aligned mostly with love, joy, peace or not? What about my relationships? My work? My home?

The answers to these questions give me clues. Even if I am in good places, but depleted, I know I need some Soul Filling.

My personal criteria for Soul Filling time/activities are:

1. I end up feeling more love, more joy and more peace.
2. I feel very connected to Jesus or my Source.
3. My shoulders relax and my breathing becomes deep and unhindered.
4. Hope increases.
5. Strife leaves.

I urge you to spend some time thinking about what a personal Soul Filling Session might look like for you? Maybe even consider a few different scenarios. What if you only had 15 minutes? Or an hour? Maybe you can carve a weekend or a week to delve deep into filling your very precious Soul with what it most needs and desires.

What do you hear, see, feel when you ask, “What does a Soul Filling Session look like for me? What does my Soul most need?”

Sometimes my Soul desires solitude and nature. Other times my Soul needs to feel heard and understood by me or even someone near and dear to me. Frequently my Soul wants to check out of the daily routine and create, adventure or explore.

There is no right or wrong path to Soul Filling. The only wrong way would be to not do it at all.

This week for my Soul Filling I was able to intentionally carve out a number of time slots and various experiences. They ranged from five minutes to five hours. Here they are:

1. I walked and prayed down a beautiful country road, lined with trees turning colors of Autumn with golden sunshine dripping through the canopy cover.
2. I pondered the leaves gently falling from their Mother Tree to the Forest Floor.
3. I lit a candle – earthy and herbal, turned on some quiet Jazz music and read Richard Rohr’s daily email meditation.
4. I opened up my journal, did a free flowing – no judgement – cleanse of my thoughts, feelings, or observations – writing session. (I may have been bratty, bitchy, even ugly here – but I got it out from the inside of me).
5. I practiced daily gratitude journaling.
6. I lost myself in the creative practice of making art.
7. I played with my dogs – outside, pondered the beauty of crisp fall days and smelled the flowers (literally).
8. I escaped into a beautiful story wrapped in the pages of a book.
9. I spent relational connection time with my wonderful husband.
10. I chatted, at length, with some God girlfriends who fill my Soul.

I encourage YOU, Dear Heart, to discover and regularly visit Your Own Soul Filling Sessions.

And I would love to hear what they are!