First, a quick update
A few weeks ago, I shared a piece about how I was softening and melting. Over the past week, I noticed myself winding up again, lacing my shoes to step back on my mind’s racetrack. I’m reminded again that the process of growth is not linear and requires patience. My awareness of what’s happening feels like progress, and is affording me a chance to return to nourishing voices before I’m off and running.
The piece below is a fun little journey (I think! I hope!), and might challenge you to dive into ideas you’re not used to. I hope you enjoy it, and as always, thank you for your continued support in reading, sharing, and engaging with my writing. It’s a privilege to find the words and to feel safe sharing them with you.
Have a wonderful weekend :)
Have you ever felt quite negative about life after interacting with something or somebody that radiates negativity? (hello “doom scrolling”)
Have you ever felt quite joyful after interacting with something or somebody that radiates joy?
In either case, the way you feel afterward is a reflection of how the thoughts and ideas we feed our minds serve as either nourishment or poison. This is not dissimilar from how your body feels after eating a large bag of Lays potato chips as opposed to a bowl of blueberries.
We celebrate that which nourishes our mind or body–from education and therapy to physical activity and whole foods–because of the social currency they carry. We are fascinated by and strive to be like the most intellectual, innovative, and beautiful (per social standards) among us.
But what if the joy or happiness you hope to cultivate from nourishing your mind and body is dependent on the nourishment of a third element of health that lacks social currency?
Would you invest in that third element?
Note: moving forward, I will use “spirit” to refer to an intangible essence at our core being that makes us who we are from birth into adulthood, regardless of the fact that our physical body and mind evolve over time. If you don’t believe in this core essence, stay with me for a moment. You may benefit from this journey the most. Suspend your belief for the next two minutes and let’s, together, assume there is a core essence.
The spirit.
If we live in a society where our spirit lacks the social currency our mind and appearance hold, we’re understandably quick to neglect our spirit. We are social creatures, so we prioritize enhancing that which supports our likability and as a result, our relationships.
As we search for social approval, we tend to put traffic cones in front of any unpopular paths that pique our curiosity. These less celebrated paths, however, are important. Their uncommonness is a reflection of our unique spirit; the unique collection of paths we’re drawn to gives us our separate identities.
As our spirit becomes surrounded by traffic cones, the world appears more and more dangerous, full of opportunities to misstep. Our spirit retreats into a little box where it is safe from any of the dangerous paths that might lead to excommunication.
In reality, though, the box is a far more dangerous place.
Our spirit’s growth is not only stunted, but it deteriorates like a rotting apple core, withering and shrinking into itself, as it fades from white to yellow to brown.
So, how can your spirit break out of its box?
With the help of nourishing voices: mentors, books, mantras, friends, family, religion, role models.
They puncture a hole in the box, and use loving, inspirational words to invite your spirit out. Like a bee to honey, your spirit can’t resist the invitation for connection. It slurps up the words. Its vibrancy returns. Its spine elongates.
From there, the connection is regenerative. Connection begets connection. Your spirit, feeling rejuvenated, can’t help but dance toward more and more connection. It runs wild over the traffic cones, discovering beautifully paved roads leading to magical hillsides and forests.
But it’s not long before it comes across a crowded path. Not attracted to that path, it questions whether it’s a detriment to your likability and sense of belonging. I’m keeping you away from the party, it thinks.
It puts the traffic cones back, its curious tentacles retract, and it retreats to its box, falling prey, once again, to the box’s “safety,” forgetting that it is the box that threatens its existence far more than the questions of enoughness produced by social currency.
It is in the box where it will, once more, shrivel.
And so the cycle begins anew.
But we can break the cycle by amplifying, seeking, and BEING the nourishing voices that invite our spirits out of their boxes.
These voices are still rare because we do not yet view their benefit–a nourished spirit–as social currency, but they are imperative to our health.
They relieve our spirits of the burden of responsibility to avoid excommunication. They act as permission to set our spirits free, and they give our spirits sunlight, food, and water, which, once ingested, send our spirits running wild, remembering, once again, what lies beyond the traffic cones.
How I’m nourishing myself right now:
Music
Songs to Sing in the Shower playlist on Spotify
Healing Harps playlist on Spotify
Mantras
Let there be peace.
I am healthy.
I can show up as the vision of my best self in any moment.
80% is perfect.
Sending you love and light,
Syd