10 Ways To Nourish Your Soul

It’s easy to lose track of time, health, and well-being because we’re so caught up in this seemingly never-ending rat maze. We don’t know how to slow down long enough to enjoy being alive.

 

Even relaxing weekends and leisurely getaways are becoming increasingly more difficult to achieve or just, well, blah.

 

The good news is that you’re not alone. Studies show that nearly 70% of employees feel disengaged in their workplace. And over 50% of young adults report a lack of motivation at work and in life.

 

While these numbers seem grim, the silver lining is that there are things you can do to bring that sense of inspiration and contentment back into your life.

 

If you’re looking for a good place to start, this is it!

 

To help increase your well-being and nourish your soul, we rounded up these 10 easy things you can do each day. Look through them and see which ones make you feel inspired to take that first step and get started.

 

Slowly, but surely, you’ll notice that everything on this checklist can make your life a little less complicated and make you enjoy living it a whole lot more!

 

Set Aside Time Each Day to Meditate

 

When seeking out nourishment for the soul, mind, and body, nothing beats meditation. This simple act of focusing on your breathing as you clear your mind has been proven to enhance memory, sleep, and creativity.

 

Start with just five minutes each day, then gradually increase. The more time you spend meditating, the more fulfilled and content you’ll feel in life.

 

Take a Bath

 

People have known the health benefits of baths for centuries, especially if you add certain ingredients to the water that make you feel rejuvenated and restored.

 

Medical experts often recommend adding salt, ginger, oatmeal, lavender, coconut oil, and more.

 

One recipe calls for mixing mustard seed powder, baking soda, Epsom salt, and essential oil. Then, add it to your bath water to replenish your body’s magnesium supply and help boost your overall well-being.

 

Read More

 

Nowadays, we have tons of reading options to choose from. You can buy, rent, or borrow books. They come in many forms: paperback, hardback, audio, and screen-friendly files.

Yet, no matter the type of book you’re reading, you can almost always guarantee that you’ll learn something new and engage your brain in some hypothetical situations. Plus, it’ll make you forget about the day’s troubles for a while, which is great for your mental and emotional health.

 

Volunteer

 

Volunteering is an amazing opportunity to see how other people are living their lives. By helping them, you get to feel a sense of gratitude for everything you have in your life. Plus, you feel good about yourself and help make their lives a little easier for a while.

 

Smile More Often

 

There are plenty of opportunities where you can sneak in a smile here or there during the day. You can smile at that stranger who holds the door for you at the supermarket or the neighbor you meet on your way to work.

 

The act of putting a smile on your face is enough to send some happy hormones coursing through your veins. So, make it a point to smile more.

 

Listen to Music

 

We tend to enjoy different kinds of music at different stages of our life.

 

You’ll notice that sometimes you’re in the mood for something upbeat and festive. Other times, you just want to enjoy the comfort and peace of listening to something calming and ethereal like classical music or soft jazz.

 

Whether you’re listening to it sitting down or dancing, music allows you to get rid of stress while spreading positive energy throughout your body.

 

Spend Time Outdoors

 

Do you live near a beach? Then, enjoy an hour or two feeling the sand on your feet and the spray of the crashing surf on your face.

 

You can also get the same effect by spending as little as 5–10 minutes outdoors. Take a walk, cycle, hike, or garden. Or just find a peaceful spot and enjoy the moment.

 

Not only does the air smell fresh and clean, which is a sure way to lift your mood. But studies show that exposure to adequate lighting each day is necessary to maintain physical and mental health.

 

Enjoy the Art Scene

 

It doesn’t matter if you visit local museums, view online collections, or paint something at home. According to one study by the University College London, art has a way of making you feel elated and giddy with excitement.

 

You can always tell when a piece of artwork appeals to your senses even if you’re not entirely sure exactly why.

 

Declutter

 

Seeing your dresser, kitchen counter, or desk in a state of utter disarray is enough to put a damper on anyone’s mood. It’s a constant reminder of yet one more thing that needs to be done and that we keep putting off.

 

Yet, decluttering doesn’t have to be exhaustive or anything too drastic. In fact, all you have to do is give yourself the illusion that everything is in order. The quickest way to do that is to straighten up things into neat piles, throw out a couple of items, and dust off the surfaces.

 

Indulge in Aromatherapy

 

Whether you opt to go outside and literally smell the roses or use a few drops from a bottle of your favorite essential oil, the end result is the same. Science tells us that our brain releases feel-good chemicals when we smell something we like.

 

Not only that, but we tend to take long, deep breaths when we like a certain scent or aroma. And just the act of breathing deeply is enough to lower stress levels. Thus, you start to feel relaxed and more in control.

 

Part 3: How To Combine The Two And Come Up With Creative Solutions That Work!

Last but not least, we come to the fun stuff. In this section, we take a look at how we can combine creative and critical thinking to come up with out of the box solutions to problems that work. By combining both critical and creative thinking, we can take advantage of the benefits of both while avoiding the downsides. 

 

Let’s go back to the silly weight loss example to show how this can work in action. Again the idea is to lose a fair amount of weight. Cutting off a limb is obviously not an option, but we can take a look at some of the reasons that make this an attractive consideration. We lose a set amount of weight, and we lose it in a set amount of time. That may spark a thought about tracking weight loss in interesting increments (like losing the equivalent of 3 packs of butter, or the equivalent of your arm’s weight). It may also inspire us to set a date for which we want to have x number of pounds gone. It may even get us to think about and consider surgical alternatives like liposuction or stomach stapling. While those may not end up being the right solutions for you, it’s good to include them and think about those options. You never know where they may lead you. 

 

Looking into weight loss surgery may have you considering alternatives like fasting. At the very least, it will serve as a motivator if you want to avoid surgery at all costs. 

 

In this case, we started out with creative thinking and then moved into critical thinking. We got a complete picture, collected a lot of data, and then analyzed it logically to come up with the best solution. That’s a great way to approach this process. 

 

Another option is to start with critical thinking, then switch to creative thoughts to come up with more alternatives and more data sources. Then go back to critical thinking to determine what will work in the end. 

 

By combining these two ways of thinking, we can come up with new and innovative solutions that will work. At other times we may find that the old tried and true way of doing things is popular for a reason. It may end up being the best possible solution. We won’t know that though until we’ve thought about it critically and creatively, working through all possible alternative options. 

 

That’s why combining aspects of both critical and creative thinking is such a powerful strategy. Give it a try the next time you face a complex problem. Since switching between thinking creatively and analytically can be a little tricky at first, it can be helpful to sit down and work on creative brainstorming first. Get out a notebook and spend some time thinking of as many ideas as you can and write them down. Walk away for a bit and then get to work on the critical thinking part of the process, collecting more data, organizing it, analyzing it, and finally coming up with a workable solution. Rinse and repeat as needed until you find something that works well for you.

 

The more you get in the habit of practicing those creative and critical thinking skills and combining them, the better you get at it. Before long the entire process will become an integral part of how you approach problem-solving. 

 

Part 2: What Is Critical Thinking?

Another problem-solving skill is critical thinking. It’s very different from creative thinking. Here the idea is to think logically and work from information and data collected. You start with the information gathering process and then sort and analyze it to find the best solution. You want to be as objective and unbiased as possible and come up with the best possible judgment based on the information you have. 

 

For example, if you are a project manager for a construction firm, you would gather information on what you need on the job site and then order the materials at the best price you can find. Another example a little closer to home would be the critical thinking you use when you’ve lost your car keys. You start to search the house room by room, possibly retracing your steps until you find them. That's a small-scale example, but it gives you an idea of what critical thinking is.

 

The significant advantage of critical thinking, as opposed to creative thinking, is that you usually come up with a workable solution. When you let your creativity run too wild, you end up with a fun potential solution but possibly not something that will work or even something you want to attempt to try.

 

Let me show you what I mean by an off the wall example that will illustrate my point. Let’s say you want to lose 25 pounds. When thinking creatively, you realize that the average human leg weighs about 26 pounds. Cutting one of yours off would instantly result in a 25+ pound weight loss. While creative, it’s also absolutely ridiculous. 

 

When you switch to critical thinking, you gather data and information on various weight loss programs as well as how the biological process of burning body fat works. As a result, you fast intermittently, eat more whole foods, and start to go for daily walks. It’s a much more workable solution, isn’t it? 

 

Think about some other times when you’ve used critical thinking to make important decisions. Maybe it was choosing the right health insurance or 401K plan. Maybe it was picking a house in a good neighborhood with great schools for your kids that fit within your budget. Maybe it was whether or not to make a big career move or relocate to a different area of the country. We use critical thinking skills all the time. They serve us well at home, school, and work. 

 

Part 1: What Is Creative Thinking?

In this short article, I want to introduce you to an innovative way of thinking and problem solving that combines creative and critical thinking. These two approaches are very different. Each of them has advantages and disadvantages. By combining the two, you can tap into the power of both. 

 

Let’s start by taking a look at creative thinking, what it is, and how we can start to think more creatively. The phrase most often used to describe creative thinking is “think outside the box.” I like to think about it as a way to think about something in a new and different way. Look for the not so obvious solutions not thought of by anyone else. Yes, it will be out of the box thinking, but it can be so much more. 

 

Let’s look at an example of creative thinking. Suppose you just bought a new house, and between the cost of the down payment and renovations you had to make, you’re broke. Your neighborhood association sends you a letter that your yard needs to be redone to fit in with the overall landscape. There’s no money in the budget for landscaping. What do you do? 

 

You have to get creative. The obvious answer is to do it yourself, but that takes time, money, and skill that you may not have. Some creative options may be to get in touch with an up-and-coming landscaping company to see if they are willing to redo your yard for free or at cost price in exchange for putting up a sign to advertise their business in your yard. If you have web design skills, you could barter those in exchange for the work. Think outside the box and come up with a creative solution. 

 

To get your creative thinking cap on, you can ask yourself some interesting questions: 

 

Start with what if. Keep it very open-ended. In this first brainstorming stage, no idea is too ridiculous or impossible to throw out. While the idea itself may turn out to be unusable, it may spark a creative thought that will lead you to the perfect solution. 

 

Another great question to ask is “What else.” It encourages brainstorming and expanding on existing ideas. Last but not least, you can spark creativity by introducing an off the wall concept. For example, you could pretend that you have no income for the following year. How would you live and how would you pay for your home and renovations, including the yard? The solution may be to work on a side hustle like graphic and web design for small businesses in your area. That, in turn, will help you realize that you can pay for the landscaping by spending a few weekends on freelance projects. 

 

The Impact That Feeling Fulfilled Has On Your Life

Many people confuse fulfillment with happiness. While the two share many common traits, they’re quite different.

 

The biggest difference is that you can be happy because of something that happened at the moment. But, overall, you still feel like you’re leading a life without meaning or purpose, and, hence, no fulfillment.

 

Today, we’re exploring the impact that feeling fulfilled has on your life. Yet, before we can do that, we have to understand what it is and where it comes from.

 

So, let’s dive in.

 

What Is Fulfillment?

 

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, fulfillment is when you feel like you’re ‘getting everything you want from life.’

 

It’s also sometimes described as having a purpose and a sense of satisfaction with how your life is turning out.

 

This means that fulfillment comes from within. It’s not proportional to how much money you have in the bank or how big your house is.

 

In other words, you can still lead a fulfilling life even though you’re living paycheck to paycheck. How? By doing things that give your life purpose and a sense of achievement.

 

On the flip side, you can be one of the richest people in the country, but still not be content with your life. You may not even feel happy with everything you’ve amassed.

 

Here’s an example that will clarify fulfillment more. Think of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Do you think he had an easy life? No.

 

But do you think his life was fulfilling? Definitely!

 

Despite all of his struggles, Dr. King found ways to fill his life with a sense of purpose and accomplishment, which made him feel satisfied with all the efforts he’d put in.

 

Where Does Fulfillment Come From?

 

At the basic level of human needs comes health and being provided with the chance to work and pursue your goals. You don’t have to be happy and giddy with laughter all the time. You just need to work toward a certain purpose and get a sense of satisfaction in the meantime.

 

So, because fulfillment is an internal process, you have to be willing to do the heavy lifting to achieve that sense of contentment.

 

In order to do that, you have to do certain things that get you closer each day to having more and more fulfillment in your life.

 

Here are just a few formulas that can help bring more fulfillment to your life:

 

• Count your blessings instead of your problems

• Do more of the things you’re fond of

• Establish healthy habits that bring you joy

• Give back to society by volunteering

• Surround yourself with family and friends

• Embrace a more positive mindset

• Be always ready to learn

 

How Does Fulfillment Impact Our Lives?

 

Now that you know how to find fulfillment, let’s talk about the impact it can have on your life.

 

Give Your Life Greater Meaning

 

Our most difficult moments are when we feel like we don’t matter.

 

When you find fulfillment, all that fades away. You understand the value and meaning of your life and that what you’re doing makes a big difference in other people’s lives, even on a small scale.

 

Remember, fulfillment doesn’t come from what you own or get, it comes from what you give.

 

Focus on What’s Truly Important

 

When you have a sense of purpose, you gain a higher level of clarity. You know what you want, and you have a plan for how you’re going to get there.

 

Focusing on what’s important to you will also help you make better decisions. Thus, you’re able to move towards what you want with more deliberation and persistence.

 

Boost Your Self-Confidence

 

We often let society dictate how we should look, talk, and feel. Yet, when you let other people’s opinions dominate your life, this causes a major dive in confidence and self-esteem.

 

Luckily, once you begin feeling fulfilled, you’ll come to love and accept yourself. You’ll also begin to be more confident, which will help you stay resolute and determined when working to achieve your ambitions.

 

Experience More Joy

 

More fulfillment brings more joy and overall satisfaction. And when you’re contented, you send out positive energy into the universe, which comes back to you tenfold.

 

This allows you to focus on doing more of the things that bring you joy. Plus, somewhere along the line, you stop worrying about what other people think or comparing yourself to others, which is one of the most effective ways to reach fulfillment.

 

Challenge Yourself

 

Because life is about growth and progress, it pays to challenge yourself. Then, you can improve and develop your skill set, expand your wealth of knowledge, and reach new goals.

 

It’s important to keep in mind that fulfillment is independent of external circumstances. It’s a simple balance in everything you do to eliminate disorder from your life and forge a path of gratitude and harmony.

Mental Toughness - The Ability to Self-Monitor

Self-monitoring is a valuable personality trait that helps people inform their behaviors and actions appropriately in any given environment. While this trait can help people “fit in” to the current surroundings more naturally, it can also be an excellent way to fortify your mental toughness. 

 

What Is Mental Toughness?

 

According to Mental Toughness Inc., “Mental toughness is the ability to resist, manage and overcome doubts, worries, concerns and circumstances that prevent you from succeeding, or excelling at a task or towards an objective or a performance outcome that you set out to achieve."

 

Self-monitoring and then acting in a way that may go against your natural instincts is challenging and requires notable mental toughness to achieve.

 

What is self-monitoring?

 

According to the psychology experts at VeryWellMind, “self-monitoring is a personality trait that involves the ability to monitor and regulate self-presentations, emotions, and behaviors in response to social environments and situations.” 

 

When you are self-monitoring, you are paying close attention to how you are behaving and responding to what is happening around you in a socially appropriate way.

 

Sometimes, self-monitoring can feel easy and natural. For example, when you are in a quiet, fine dining restaurant, you likely feel the urge to keep your voice calm and low. On the contrary, if you’re in an amusement park with friends, you probably feel the urge to laugh and talk loudly. In each of these very different scenarios, you are gathering environmental information to inform your actions – and then using that information to make personal decisions about how you’re going to speak, act, and behave.

 

In other situations, self-monitoring can be difficult. If you are having an argument with a friend, you may feel tempted to immediately release your frustrations by yelling at them. However, your self-monitoring skills may remind you that yelling isn’t going to solve the problem – in this case, it is better to take some deep breaths, remain calm, and keep your voice steady.

 

When you exercise self-monitoring in this way, it is a true sign of mental toughness. Going against your natural instincts can be challenging! 

 

If you struggle with self-monitoring, what are some strategies you can use to get better at using it?

 

If self-monitoring doesn’t come easy for you, it is possible to improve these skills. Consider employing the following strategies to get started:

 

1. Practice using your observational skills. 

 

Spend more time listening and observing during interactions and conversations with others rather than trying to respond. You can learn a lot about your surroundings and the people around you this way. With this valuable information, you can begin self-monitoring your own behaviors and choices to match what is happening around you more closely.

 

2. Engage in stepping away from situations so you can process what is happening before reacting.

 

In many situations, particularly shocking or surprising ones, you may feel an immediate urge to react in a certain way. However, you can engage in some self-monitoring practice by choosing to step away from the situation momentarily. This gives you a few private moments to calm down, assess the situation, and then decide a plan of action.

 

3. Pay close attention to yourself, especially in different social situations. 

 

Whenever you find yourself in varying social situations, such as out with friends, in a meeting at work, hanging out at the community park, and anywhere else you find yourself on a regular basis, pay close attention to how you act when you’re there.

 

Taking note of specific patterns in your own behavior can help you improve your own self-monitoring. For example, you may notice that people seem surprised by the volume of your voice when you actually pay close attention – this can help you determine a course of action to modify this behavior in future situations.

8 Power-Ups for Reclaiming Confidence

There is nothing more crippling than losing your confidence.

 

Without confidence, everything gets harder. You struggle to concentrate. Tasks feel overwhelming. If you stay there, you’ll even find a more long-term emotional impact, where you might fall into depression or become bogged down in indecision. Without confidence, you lose all forward progress.

 

This is why it’s so important to reclaim your confidence after suffering a blow. For a fast boost, try these eight power-ups.

 

Do What Makes You Uncomfortable

 

When you take risks, you stretch yourself in surprising new ways. This is a powerful feeling. Why? It takes confidence to step outside your comfort zone. Trying something new forces you to act with confidence, whether you started out feeling it or not.

 

Find Your Purpose

 

Knowing what you’re destined to do is a fantastic feeling and fills a person with confidence. If you’re unsure why you’ve set a particular goal, or are questioning what you’re doing, you’re not likely to feel confident at all. Solidifying the goal in your mind is a rapid boost to confidence then. 

 

Keep Trying

 

It’s normal to experience failure from time to time. This kind of disaster can easily destroy confidence. You regain this confidence when you get up and try again. 

 

Learn Things

 

Knowledge truly is power. When you really understand something inside out, you tend to be very confident (at least in that area). Continually learning new things expands your knowledge base. As a result, your confidence extends in new directions as well. 

 

Drop the Idea Things Have to be Perfect

 

When nothing is ever good enough, confidence falters. How are you supposed to feel sure of yourself when you’re feeling things are always unfinished or lacking somehow? By accepting things as they are, warts and all, you’ll find you’re relax more and even become more confident in what you’re doing because you’re telling yourself that what you have or are doing is exactly what you need.

 

Dress for Success

 

How we present ourselves to the world really can affect our mental state. Wearing what makes you feel good about yourself will restore confidence. A change in attitude is only a change in outfit away.

 

Trust Yourself

 

When you doubt your instincts, you’re telling yourself you don’t really know what you’re doing. This is why it’s so important to ‘go with your gut’ when faced with a challenge. This kind of trust instills confidence in your ability to judge a situation or outcome.

 

Look Forward

 

Confidence has a hard time standing up to ghosts from the past. When you get caught up in your previous failures or uncertainties, confidence falters. Instead, look forward to positive emotions. When you recognize your potential, you start seeing just how amazing you are. 

 

Embrace Imperfection to Raise Self-Worth

Everywhere you look nowadays there is advice on how to strive, beat the competition, be happy, successful, wealthy, thin, married to your soul-mate, have perfect kids, balance work, and life, win the marathon and then come home and make the perfect dinner. In other words, how to be perfect or at least our early twenty-first-century concept of perfect. There are self-help books to improve every conceivable aspect of your life from your personality to your career.

 

But what if striving to be perfect is not the right goal? What if beating yourself up and scheduling and improving isn’t where you should be? Because becoming 'your best you' isn’t about being perfect (and is, in fact, a shortcut to disappointment at best and a breakdown at worst).  Perfection is an illusion, and making it your life’s aim is a damaging mistake. The bottom line is–you will never be perfect. Imperfection is not only inevitable, but it's also okay. And it’s the thing that keeps us moving forward.

 

Perfection is a mirage, and if it's your goal, you are very likely to fall into the trap of carping on yourself when you don’t achieve it. You will have a skewed view of yourself by having the wrong expectations. The more you try, and fail, the worse your self-esteem will become. That is not a recipe for a happy life.

 

Be kind to yourself – if you’re constantly striving for perfection and criticizing yourself for not meeting those impossibly high standards, you’re setting yourself up for a miserable life because you can’t achieve the impossible goal of perfection. 

 

Take a look around you – despite what you see on television and social media, no one is perfect. Ever. At no point in human history has anyone been perfect. People just do their best, most of the time.

 

Embrace your imperfection – it’s part of what makes you human and not a robot (and remember even robots can malfunction!) Imperfection makes you quirky and interesting and brave and admirable. What’s to admire in someone who gets a perfect score first time, compared to someone who worked hard, made mistakes, learned from them and got there in the end? Or didn’t, but gave it their best shot? 

 

Trying to be perfect is choosing to suffer when you don’t need to. Trying to be your best self is a very different proposition. That’s likely to lead you down all sorts of interesting and fulfilling paths if you’re prepared to make mistakes along the way.

 

5 Steps to Effectively Communicate Your Feelings in Relationships

In relationships, there’s communication, and then there’s effective communication. Communication is something that takes a lot of work, and once you’ve successfully positioned yourself as a communicator, the next step is to crack the code at being an effective communicator. If you’re at that step, try these 5 mini steps to help you along with effectively communicating your feelings. 

 

1. Allow Yourself to Feel 

 

Going into a conversation with guilt or apprehension about your feelings? That won’t help you or your partner. You’re completely allowed to feel whatever you’re feeling, and you’re also allowed to talk about those feelings. 

 

2. Label your Feelings

 

You’re experiencing these feelings, but are you reading more into them? Are you labeling them and trying to put into context the essence of your emotions? It’s not easy to do, but it’s a really important exercise for you to do on your own before opening up and sharing with someone else. 

 

3. Start with Yourself

 

If you’re extroverted or you like talking about your feelings a lot, your first inclination may be to talk it out with your significant other. That’s a great thing to do, but it begins with you. You’ll have a hard time processing everything if you’re influenced by someone else’s insight or advice. Start with yourself, and then work your way up to a discussion with your partner. 

 

4. Remember How Much You Matter

 

You matter to your significant other; your feelings matter to your significant other.  Keep this in mind and try to negate the potential fear or hesitation you may be experiencing. Swap those feelings for feelings of confidence and security in the strength of your relationship. 

 

5. Swap “You” for “I”

 

Whenever you get close to saying “You made me feel” or “You did this,” swap it for a personal statement. A conversation is helpful for you to share your perspective – not for you to point fingers at your loved one. Think about how you feel, why you feel that way, and what has happened to contribute to those feelings. 

 

Above all, when you’re entering into a conversation with your significant other, be happy that you’re taking this step. It’s excellent for you and even better for your relationship. Give yourself (and your partner) a pat on the back for working through something difficult, and keep yourself reminded of the light at the end of the communication tunnel – a happy, healthy dynamic between you and your partner.