Soul Food

Peace by aotaro

This month I’m doing quite a bit of teaching around Leading Yourself, what we used to call Personal Management in LEAD 365. We work with a lot of successful, growing leaders, some of whom have great boundaries and limits, and some of whom struggle to do anything but work. I tend to fall into the second camp. I like to achieve—to a fault—so even if I’m not working toward something in my career, you can be sure that I’m working toward something, even if that something is simply all the laundry washed, dried, and put away.

This is a great trait, right? Except when it’s not. What is often missing for me is time to nurture my spirit—time for a different kind of soul food. I believe that all of us need time to connect to something greater than ourselves in order to be our best selves. For me, it’s the Christian God. For others, it might be nature, or art, or philosophy, or another religion or worldview. Whatever it is, exercising our spirit is just as important as exercising our mind and body. Sometimes work provides that exercise, but it often does not. Often, in fact, time for spiritual pursuits is perpetually on the back burner unless we bring some intentionality to it. I so admire people who take daily time to connect with God, who start their day with a time of devotion and prayer. I am much more likely to start my day with a dog that needs to go out, a child demanding breakfast, and a husband yelling that I forgot to turn off the alarm clock once again. Mornings are not such a natural time for spiritual nourishment for me and for many of the parents of young children who I work with. So instead, I nourish my spirit in the cracks of time that open up in my day.

I spend a lot of time in my car, and podcasts have gone a long way to help me connect to God. It’s one of the only times in my life that I am truly alone, and so on that half hour drive from Grand Rapids to Zeeland, I use the Pray as You Go app. If you are a Christian, it’s a really peaceful way to nurture your soul while driving, running, or in whatever other cracks of time you might have (it has bells! and English accents!). I also love to keep a mindset of minimalism and simplicity in my life, which is really hard to do in our consumer culture. I love the Becoming Minimalist blog and The Simple Show podcast. I also try to get outside as much as possible, because that’s a great way for me to connect with God while also getting some physical exercise. A two-for-one, which this achiever loves.

What about you? How do you take time to nurture your spirit and care for yourself in your busy life? How do you model this for the people you lead? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Meredith

Image by aotaro. Used under CC BY 2.0 license.

Posted in Leading Yourself and tagged , , , .

80 Comments

  1. Pingback: 1workshop

  2. Pingback: 1holders

  3. Pingback: viagra for sale on line

  4. Pingback: cheap essay help

  5. Pingback: professional essay writers for hire

  6. Pingback: who can help me write an essay

  7. Pingback: college application essay service

  8. Pingback: giant eagle pharmacy simvastatin

  9. Pingback: buy tadalafil online no prescription

  10. Pingback: online drugstore viagra

  11. Pingback: best reviewed tadalafil site

  12. Pingback: levitra generic name

  13. Pingback: viagra cost

  14. Pingback: farmacias similares precios vardenafil

  15. Pingback: how much does oxycodone cost in the pharmacy

  16. Pingback: cialis professional (sublingual) (tadalafil)

  17. Pingback: sildenafil for premature ejaculation reviews

  18. Pingback: sildenafil cream

  19. Pingback: sildenafil otc

  20. Pingback: sildenafil dosage for ed

  21. Pingback: online tramadol pharmacy review

  22. Pingback: levitra pills online

  23. Pingback: is sildenafil better than tadalafil

  24. Pingback: cialis and viagra together forum

  25. Pingback: levitra for sale online

  26. Pingback: tadalafil dosage bodybuilding

  27. Pingback: sildenafil brand name

  28. Pingback: rite aid online pharmacy

  29. Pingback: what question should the nurse ask when assessing for therapeutic effects of vardenafil?

  30. Pingback: what is sildenafil used for

  31. Pingback: diflucan target pharmacy

  32. Pingback: where can i buy sildenafil

  33. Pingback: who makes cialis

  34. Pingback: us cialis online pharmacy

  35. Pingback: cheapest pharmacy to get concerta

  36. Pingback: what's better sildenafil or tadalafil

  37. Pingback: hydrocodone mexico pharmacy

  38. Pingback: levitra vardenafil hcl tablets

  39. Pingback: wedgewood pharmacy gabapentin

  40. Pingback: can tadalafil lower blood pressure

  41. Pingback: accurate rx pharmacy columbia mo

  42. Pingback: target pharmacy

  43. Pingback: side effects of tadalafil

  44. Pingback: vardenafil vs sildenafil vs tadalafil

  45. Pingback: carbamazepine for mood swings

  46. Pingback: celecoxib interações medicamentosas

  47. Pingback: taking etodolac and ibuprofen

  48. Pingback: sulfasalazine sperm count

  49. Pingback: can you alternate tylenol and motrin every 2 hours

  50. Pingback: taking ibuprofen and advil

  51. Pingback: celebrex assistance programs

  52. Pingback: how long does it take for neurontin to work

  53. Pingback: gabapentin español

  54. Pingback: pra que serve o medicamento tegretol

  55. Pingback: different types of imitrex

  56. Pingback: mebeverine hydrochloride bcs

  57. Pingback: can you buy pyridostigmine without a prescription

  58. Pingback: indomethacin and preterm labor

  59. Pingback: mestinon medication side effects

  60. Pingback: amitriptyline adverse effects

  61. Pingback: elavil methadone interaction

  62. Pingback: cilostazol claudication

  63. Pingback: diclofenac usa

  64. Pingback: can you take meloxicam with high blood pressure

  65. Pingback: drinking alcohol while taking mobic

  66. Pingback: can i take tylenol with imuran

  67. Pingback: piroxicam 20 mg nebenwirkungen

  68. Pingback: lioresal efeitos colaterais

  69. Pingback: effets secondaires du sumatriptan

  70. Pingback: imdur daily dose

  71. Pingback: rizatriptan benzoate addiction

  72. Pingback: side effects maxalt 10

  73. Pingback: intrathecal to oral baclofen conversion

  74. Pingback: azathioprine dog side effects

  75. Pingback: maximum single dose of tizanidine

  76. Pingback: cost generic ketorolac prices

  77. Pingback: cyproheptadine appetite pills

  78. Pingback: zanaflex is a combination of flexeril and xanax

  79. Pingback: does periactin really work

  80. Pingback: houses rent artane dublin 5

Comments are closed.