How to Nourish Your Mind and Soul

“What you nourish, blossoms; what you neglect, withers.”

It was at age forty, that I realised what self-nourishment is.

Before that too, I was surviving. Surviving well, though life was just plain busy.

Occupied with professional work, household chores, managing daily to-do lists while raising two children, and taking care of my home and family.

I didn’t think much about how to nurture myself so I would feel content, peaceful, and centered. So I could fulfill all my roles to the best of my capacity.

Have you ever wondered what gives you a sense of nourishment and fulfillment?

When it comes to nourishment, the first thing most of us think of is nurturing our body.

Taking care that we treat our body with nutritious food, keep it hydrated, exercise regularly, and release the toxins that we’ve accumulated.

Well, Do you think about nourishing your mind and soul? On a daily basis?

If we feed our body and release the unwanted toxins out from our body daily, why don’t we think that our mind needs the same too?

Maybe because it is not that visible to us.

Reality is, we can very well feel what’s going on within our minds every moment and others can feel it too through your energy.

Our internal state determines our quality of life.

Here are a few ways to nurture your mind and soul –

1. Stop Self-sabotage:

Notice what kind of thoughts you entertain throughout the day.
What kind of emotions do you feel throughout the day?

Are there thoughts of apathy, anger, hate, jealousy, comparison, self-loathing, self-pity, guilt, not doing enough, not being or having enough, not living the life you wish to live etc. etc.

If your answer is yes, then you’re constantly abusing your mind and soul.

Nourishment begins when you stop the self-sabotage.

Exactly the same way as the junk and fried food is harmful to your body, the waste and negative thoughts damage your mind and well-being.

Negative and comparison thoughts which make you feel bad, are a form of self-abuse and opposite of self-nourishment.

2. Food for your mind and soul:

What do you feed your mind?

News, WhatsApp forwards, Facebook noise, advertisements and more junk… all of this impact your conscious as well as subconscious mind and disturbs your inner world.

Choose what and how much you allow to enter into your conscious and subconscious mind. Create a filter for yourself.

Give your mind nourishing food of positive, uplifting thoughts to think about.

Read positive, uplifting books and articles and reflect on them.

Listen to positive, inspirational talks and videos and take some action relevant to you.

Watch and interact more with Inspiring and positive things like nature, animals, other positive people, not mobiles and digital gadgets which give radiations and negativity.

3. Journal:

Write down your thoughts, negative or positive, your life lessons, your vision, your reflection and introspection about yourself, your thoughts and feelings.

Writing down on a paper releases a lot of stuck energy of past and negative emotions.

Write down as much as you can. Every day.

As you throw last day’s stale food, release yesterday’s negative thoughts & energy by simple cleansing or grounding meditation.

4. Practice Mindfulness:

Awareness is pure energy which fuels your mind and soul.”

Practice awareness, be mindful.

Be mindful of what you’re eating.

Be mindful of what you’re thinking while doing any kind of work or talking to someone.

Be mindful of your assumptions or mind chatter when you’re listening to others.

Be mindful of your body and breath while walking and exercising.

Mindful of your whole self, especially your emotions and energy while cooking or driving or any other such activity.

5. Build deeper relationships:

“Nothing can nurture you as well as your close relationships can. Your relationships are food for your soul. Take good care of them.”

Nurture all your relationships with kindness and love. Listen to others, practice patience and empathy.

Try to understand them first, before you expect anything from others.

Know that everyone is suffering in their own way, whether they share this or not.

Connect and make friends with positive people who would uplift you.

Once you realise that happy and kind thoughts, happy and kind words and happy and kind actions nurture your mind and soul, start practicing them. You’ll become happier, more content, and fulfilled in life.

You know life will throw good and bad, comfortable and difficult situations on your way to handle; once you know and make the way to keep your mind and soul nourished, you can deal with it all with much ease, comfort, and acceptance.

Do not forget to ask yourself every night did I nourish my mind and soul today?

Much love.