Seven Soul-Nurturing Suggestions for Busy Women

Looking for some ways to feed your soul in the midst of all you do? Try one or more of these great ideas!

1.) Body Work/Movement: Tai Ji, massage, Feldenkrais, Reflexology ? there are tons of modalities which contribute to healing in soulful ways. Try one today!

2.) Connections with Others: Support networks/groups, accountability groups, on-line chats/boards, spiritual direction, soul mates and soul friends all offer you healthy interconnections if these relationships help you maintain a fluid balance while you protect and defend your interpersonal boundaries.

3.) Daily Rituals: Setting quiet time aside for your soul daily both refreshes and empowers you. Experiment with meditation and visualizations. Journal your thoughts, feelings, blessings and conversations with your soul. Discover aromatherapy. Use music to affect your mood, energy and creative output. Take a self-discovery walk, a luxurious bath or a nurturing nap. Make time and space for personal expression every day.

4.) Create Mini-Retreats: When you go on a retreat you create conscious cocooning space in your life, which allows you to nurture your woolyworm nature into the butterfly you know you are supposed to be. Set aside time in your lunch hour for things that enliven you. Every few weeks take off 2-4 hours if you can, just to spend with your soul. Try to attend a weekend retreat seasonally if possible. Retreat time need not be complex - it can be as simple as making homemade bread or simmering soup just for you.

5.) Express Your Natural Creative Heritage: From cooking to music to writing to crafts, there are hundreds of ways to express your creativity daily. Here are a few new ways to think about: Play daydreaming games with yourself to discover who you long to be. Scrapbook your dreams, your work life or your dialogue with your soul. Journal your night dreams, then draw or write poems about the images you dreamt. Learn about feng shui, the Chinese art of placement, which teaches you how to create a soulful atmosphere in your home or workplace. Experiment with expressive arts, which involve artistic, fun techniques for relating with your own unconscious through metaphors. Make an inner child play date with yourself weekly to keep life from becoming too serious and foreboding.

6.) Dialogue With Yourself and With Your Higher Power (whatever you conceive It to be): Take classes or read self-help books which enable you to identify, explore and live out your life's purpose. Write your spiritual autobiography. Try new ways to pray. Find a spiritual director. Journal your personal conversations with your Higher Power.

7.) Create a Personal Wellness Calendar: All of the great ideas above will fail to serve you unless and until they become firm, scheduled habits in your life. So create a personal wellness calendar to enable you to do just that.

Schedule the elements above that you choose to begin experimenting with, remembering that it generally takes 21 days to establish a new habit. Set firm boundaries around these activities to protect them while you learn to integrate them into your life. Try incorporating no more than 10 new habits into your life at any one time. Consciously downshift at key points throughout your day and week and use the activities above to help you do so. Be flexible in your scheduling and your thinking - it is your soul that matters, not your planner!

Cheryl Lynch Simpson is a Spiritual Director and Solutions Coach who helps women discover and create the life they've always wanted to live. Cheryl is the author of more than 30 print/Internet articles and the founder of Coaching Solutions for Women, a coaching website that showcases and produces career, business, and life coaching solutions to help today's busy women balance work with the rest of their lives. For a complimentary copy of her latest e-book, Ten-Minute Stress Zappers For Women Service Business Owners, visit http://www.coachingsolutionsforwomen.com.

---

Spirituality: Impersonating Jed McKenna

"No man is a prophet in his own country."That line... Read More

Selfishness is a True Declaration of Lifes Purpose

In your quest for enlightenment, always ask what's in it... Read More

10 Interesting Facts about Archangel Michael

1. The name Michael means, "Who is like God". In... Read More

Psychotherapy and Spiritual Growth

The teacher of the future.... will be a master of... Read More

Connect With the Moon Phases to Manifest Your Desires

Connecting with the Moon phases, the Full and New Moon... Read More

A Crash Course in Tarot #3: Card Spreads

Most Tarot decks consist of 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana,... Read More

The Emptiness That Binds The Universe

What is the opportunity here? What is the benefit of... Read More

Who is God?

Since the beginning of time mankind has pondered, who God... Read More

A Meaningful Relationship That is Not Yukky

Good morning Roy, good morning JosethWhat about me, were do... Read More

Two Halves Dont Always Make A Whole

... Read More

The Terminus of Existence

Setting boundaries is a common expression that we hear almost... Read More

God Versus the Gods

Aristotle referred to happiness as the most we can achieve.... Read More

Solitons and Wavelets

Everything in the entire universe, big and small, visible and... Read More

10 Interesting Facts about Archangel Raphael

1. Raphael means "God heals." Raphael heals physical, emotional and... Read More

Affirmations for Emotional Hygiene

Last week I talked about the need to practice emotional... Read More

Recovering In The Water

It was in the middle of the night and the... Read More

Authentic Prayers

Do you go to God seeking His will for your... Read More

A People in Exile (Part 2)

Mother Nature has this uncanny tendency to turn upon herself... Read More

Buddha Never Bowed Before a Statue, and Jesus Never Kneeled Before a Cross, From Divine Source

Far to many people have become "followers" rather than BEING... Read More

A Broken and Contrite Heart

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken... Read More

Basic Tarot for Beginners

If you would like to learn to read tarot cards,... Read More

The Power of Angels - An Interview With Rose Ann Schwab - Part 1

Rose Ann Schwab is an internationally and world renowned professional... Read More

Undercover Investigation

It is important and necessary that we regularly spend time... Read More

Shallow Victories

How many of you out there have ever wondered if... Read More

You Are a Person of Abundance

Heaven is a place of abundance and earth is a... Read More

Go Forward!

There is no incident in the life of Moses which... Read More

Surviving the Tsunami--Animals and Their Connection with the Spiritual World

When the Tsunami struck Asia and East Africa on December... Read More

Angel Connection ? How the Angelic Realm is Interacting with Humanity at this Historic Time

Angels, those divine beings of love and light, are here... Read More

Your Gift and Talent is Not for YOU!

Although your creative ability and talent is something that God... Read More

The One Who Heals

It's late. But it's usually those words that you cannot... Read More

I Saw An Angel At Work

Sometimes you have to see something to believe it. Like... Read More

Masculine Energy versus Feminine Energy

I have been reading a lot lately about the concepts... Read More

Getting Results

We desire to understand the world by giving names to... Read More