As I continue to really develop the ideas of Soul Care, I think about how you can take care of the essence of who you are… your soul. Taking care of the outer self is easy. The soul is much much much harder. This week I have spent hours talking to members at the studio who have completed the first week of a 28 day fitness challenge, and I realized something. Talking to members and coaching is something that brings me incredible amounts of joy. I love to hear how people are finding success. I love to help people problem solve or give tips to help push past barriers and learn how to make their goals obtainable. As I am doing something that I am really passionate about, I feel refreshed. My soul feels complete. It is being taken care of. As I coach, I have come up with 3 interesting ways to make your soul feel fulfilled.
1.) Finding small wins, even through tough challenges, builds success.
We rarely set our soul up for success. However, life is full of adversity, challenges, and failure. In the midst of struggle, we need to find something that is a positive. Our soul’s crave success and positive reinforcement. However, when we lose sight of the good, our soul feels lost, scared, unfulfilled, bitter, depressed. In order to take care of your soul, you must train your brain to find the good, no matter how small it is. Over time, one small good morsel will duplicate. Think about this as a staircase. With each small positive win, you take another step up higher and higher… and before you know it, you are building momentum toward your success. And as you success, your soul builds confidence.
2.) Perfectionism will kill your soul.
If you want to be burn out and slowly kill your soul, feed your need to always be perfect. Many of us are asked to always perform at a certain level at work and at home, and perfectionism becomes a weird disease. Eventually, trying to keep the world perfect will drain your soul. Perfectionism is driven by our need for acceptance and validation. It is also driven by fear. When you live in fear, the soul becomes drained, tired, burned out, and neglected. You never feel good enough, smart enough, strong enough. Ditch perfectionism and give you soul some well needed love.
3.) Get off your Hamster Wheel
Repeating the same actions day in and day out leads to boredom, which will extinguish the light out of your soul. One of Tony Robbins lessons discusses the 6 Human Needs (structure, variety, community, individuality, growth, and contribution). Structure and routine is good for the soul, but when you are really caring for it, we also need variety. When was the last time you tried something new? Something that made you a little excited or even a little nervous? So much of our time is spent doing the same thing day in and day out. It is hard to get excited. Every so often jump off the hamster wheel. Test some of your limits. Live… and see how your soul responds.
Like I said, I am just starting to develop these ideas. But, perhaps they can give some guidance to how to feel more fulfilled. Soul Care… it’s the care that will lead down the brick road to happiness.
