Everyone is doing the best they can with the body, mind, and spirit they have.
Our best performance depends on how healthy our body is, how healthy our mind is, and how healthy our spirit is. The nourishment we give each of these parts will determine how well we can perform.
How are you feeding your spirit?
Our spirit needs nourishment, just like our body and mind. Our spiritual strength is essential to have a balanced and fulfilled life. Many people get spiritual food from their religious practices. Others find it in nature, and still others find it on their own.
John Muir famously said, ‘when one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.’ Our spirit is connected to powers outside of us and all of humanity. How will we strengthen those connections?
Here are four ways to nourish your spirit.
FAITH
The definition of faith is the complete trust or confidence in someone or something. People also refer to beliefs, a conviction, reliance, and dependence.
I won’t tell you who or what to have faith in, but I will say you DO have faith. It could be in yourself, an institution, your community, your spouse, children, siblings, parents, co-workers, or friends. Many people have faith in a theology or belief system. Some have faith in science, some have faith in God, and some have faith in both. When we use our faith, we nourish our spirit.
It’s important to know that over time, our faith can increase and grow. The more we practice it, the bigger it becomes. I see it as two hands that hold me when I don’t know the answer to one of life’s questions. It supports and holds me. It can also serve as a flashlight, guiding me. Although faith may seem mysterious, it tangibly determines how we act.
Having faith, understanding it, embracing it, and practicing it are ways to nourish your spirit.
Gratitude
When we focus on what we’re grateful for, we nourish our spirit. Viewing life through a grateful lens is easier than through a skeptical one. Our spirit, and its connection to others, thrives when nourished by what we have versus what we don’t.
Gratitude is looking at the positive side of the coin. It is a way of life that happy people embrace. You can get better at gratitude by practicing it. Gratitude will put a smile on your face and feed your spirit.
Hope
Hope is another thing that nourishes our spirit. It generates ideas, motivates us to act, and keeps us going when inevitable failures arrive. Without hope, our spirit withers.
In times of uncertainty, it’s important to be both realistic and hopeful. It feeds our spirit during difficult times. Although hope is not a strategy, it’s imperative to have. Hope is positive anticipation of future events. It’s where our dreams live. It’s a lifeline, our rocket fuel, and a choice.
None of us know the future, so why wouldn’t we be hopeful? Why wouldn’t we believe all things will work out for our benefit? It’s a strong and healthy place for our spirit.
Love
The fourth way we nourish our spirit is through love. We are created for love and feed ourselves both when we give it and receive it.
Receiving love from others and giving it to ourselves is called self-love. Our spirit needs at least as much love as we give our best friend. You must love yourself enough to know that you are capable and resilient. You must care for yourself so that you can care for others. Loving yourself means believing your thoughts, opinions, and values matter. When you love yourself, you don’t fear rejection because people’s approval isn’t necessary for you to feel valuable.
We also nourish our spirit by loving others. When we give them grace, we feed our spirit. Loving others in a healthy way is to love who they are, not what they do. We can easily be patient when we love others. We accept their differing opinions and values, as important pieces of who they are. Loving others means we give them respect even when we don’t agree with them. We can have compassion for people’s struggles and weaknesses when we love them. And we nourish our own spirit when we are courageous enough to tell others our truth.
Faith, gratitude, hope, and love are four ways to nourish your spirit. The strength of your spirit will determine how well you perform.
How will you nourish your spirit today?