What do you long for in your current life? How well-nourished are you? What would it look like, feel like, sound like if you were living a well-nourished life?
The dictionary defines nourished in three ways:
- supplied with what is necessary for life, health, and growth.
- cherish, foster, keep alive
- strengthen, build up, or promote
I think all three of these definitions play a part in looking at how you begin the journey to a more nourished life.
1) Supply Yourself with What is Necessary for Life, Health and Growth
As you start your journey towards a well-nourished life, take inventory.
What is feeding your life right now and getting or keeping you healthy?
For starters, examine your eating habits. Nutrition plays a big part in how we feel – both physically and emotionally about ourselves. Many websites, like Mayo Clinic, give suggestions on what to eat, how much to eat, to have a healthy lifestyle. Eating nutritionally is more about health than a diet. My Fitness Pal and Fitbit have ways to record what you eat so you know how balanced you are.
Your body also needs exercise, water and rest. How would you rate yourself in these areas to nourish your life? For me personally, exercise and water are my bugaboos. I have been able to incorporate yoga in my life, but I hate to sweat. Still working on how to get more exercise into my life to nourish my whole body.
Rest is an easy one for me. I love naps! Also sleeping at the same time each night is important if you have difficulty with Seasonal Affect Disorder in the winter, as routine plays a big part of keeping circadian rhythms in place for balancing your serotonin and have less depression.
You may find different requirements for your own life, health and growth. The main encouragement here is that you know what you need or you begin the discovery of what you need. Ask yourself the following questions:
- What eating gives me the best energy? (i.e. no sugar, carbs, chocolate, grains, what makes you feel your best self?)
- What habits do I need to establish to better nourish my body? (exercise, drinking water, etc.)
- How is my sleep and rest? What changes might I want to initiate?
2) Cherish, Foster and Listen to Your Heart
Nourishing yourself also has to do with altitudes. How you approach your day-to-day living plays a big part in whether you feel you are living a nourished life or not.
In the book, Switch, by Chip and Dan Heath, they use the Rider and the Elephant metaphor to encourage us to foster and nourish our daily decisions and changes we may want to make.
The Rider is the one who sees the path, makes the logical plans and knows the direction and the changes she wants to make. The Elephant is the one who is the emotive self, the part to be cherished and reached to make a change, even a small one.
The Rider, without an Elephant, is like a woman standing in the middle of a jungle, without the umph needed to go anywhere. How often have we made plans and discover our inner Elephant is lying down in the dust, rolling all over our best intentions and not wanting to go anywhere?
The key is to have us listening to our inner Elephant – the cherished emotions and heart when making our plans and decisions. I know I have often made my “Ideal Week” plans one week and the next week those plans are out the window because of being too ambitious or unrealistic or…..
I had to listen to what was working for me in pieces- my inner Elephant.
I have been able to get closer to what my “Ideal Week” looks like now but it’s because I built it in chunks with a morning routine, and an evening routine.
3) Strengthen, Build up or Promote Your Well-Nourished Life
When you finally find a rhythm or something that is working well, celebrate. What is it in your life currently that is nourishing to you? Look at your day, or in your week. What can you already strengthen or build upon that with even a small tweak will bring bigger dividends?
For example, my husband and I already had a good relationship with my son and daughter-in-law and their daughters. However, I realized that their daughters were growing up so fast. In order to strengthen and build up our relationship with them, we offered to care for their newest daughter twice a month while they are getting child care arrangements set up.
What a nourishment it is to us to be able to be with the family twice a month and hear the stories of the 6 year old, the 4 year old and take care of the 7 month old as well as catch up with my son and daughter-in-law.
The Take Away
What about you? What can you begin to tweak to add nourishment to your life? Will you start with your health? Or look at how you make decisions? Or decide to see what is already in place and strengthen those connections?
Please comment below how you want to add nourishment to your own life. We are all on a journey together. If you would like someone to accompany you on that journey and support you in sorting out how to go further faster in growing a nourishing life, be sure to contact me..
You can have a well-nourished life.
Nancy Booth is a certified life coach. I love creating safe spaces for you as you go through life’s transitions to discover and support your vision for health and well-being in an overwhelming world, explore possibilities for next steps and find hope. I write about taming the overwhelm and finding ways to find life balance, looking for ways to motivate, energize and inspire you! You can sign up to receive my weekly blog or contact me to find out ways you can begin to shed overwhelm stress and enjoy a nourishing life . It’s time to explore possibilities of new relationships, better life pacing and gain hope and peace.