What nourishes you?

[00:00:00] **Aurooba Ahmed:** Well, hello! This is The Daily Five with Aurooba, that's me, where we reflect on creating our best lives a little bit every day. Here we go!

[00:00:15] Today I'd like to ponder a question with you. One I've been thinking about all day today. The question is, what nourishes you? I mean, healthy food nourishes your body, but what nourishes your soul, your spirit, your mind, your inner life? When our lives feel full of obligation, we often look at rest as doing nothing.

[00:00:42] We vegetate in front of a screen, watching Netflix. We eat junk food. We order takeout. We think, my goodness, I am tired and exhausted and I just want to think nothing and do nothing. And you know what? Sometimes that's a valid form of rest. Especially if you were sick. But it's not a valid form of rest all the time.

[00:01:05] Or even most of the time. That form of rest, while important and necessary, shouldn't make up the bulk of your rest. Even trees need to go dormant and do no growing for a little while after all, but that's not all they do and that's not the only way they rest. The point of rest is to fill your fuel tank back up, to enable you to keep functioning and doing the things that you need to do in your life.

[00:01:33] And while doing nothing is one way to do that, there are other types of rest and nourishment you also need. Take your vitamins. But, you know, it's fun, actually. Not like vitamins that are not fun, I guess. I don't know why I used that in the metaphor, but anyway. A leisurely walk on a beautiful trail is rest.

[00:01:56] Pumping iron, if you feel restless, is also a rest. Painting is rest. Taking a pottery class is rest. Floating in a pool is rest. Talking away the night with your best friend is rest. Cleaning your desk is rest. Cooking a meal with bright flavors is rest. Dancing is rest. Hammering together a few shelves is rest.

[00:02:19] Throwing pillows at a wall to release emotions is rest. What is it that fills your soul with peace or even energy? I think they, some people think those are opposites, but I'm not so sure. I don't know why people think peace is not full of energy. I think it is. What are the things that make you smile?

[00:02:42] What renews you? Those things create peace, but they also create energy. So I'll tell you what was nourishing for me today. It was nourishing to sit down with my spouse and talk through all the things we've been feeling these days. All the stressors and the things we see the near future bringing. It was nourishing to finally put up that whiteboard in my office that has been languishing behind my office chair for five weeks since I bought it.

[00:03:15] It was nourishing to bake some chicken and have it with some homemade pasta. It was nourishing to spend an hour talking to my mom. It was nourishing to enthusiastically and violently break down all the Amazon boxes that have been piling up in the garage so they could be thrown away. It was nourishing to turn off my morning alarm and sleep for as long as I needed and wake up when I was ready.

[00:03:41] It was nourishing to whack a carpet against some rails to dust it out. As you can tell, I did a lot of cleaning today. And it was awesome. When your cup is empty. When your soul feels dry like soil that hasn't been watered in a few weeks. You cannot nourish others, you cannot help people grow. We have to take care of ourselves before we can take care of others, right?

[00:04:05] And for most of us, there is at least one person we take care of, support, and are pillars of strength for. And in order to remain all those things, for those people, we need to maintain ourselves. And that means nourishing not only our bodies with healthy food, but our souls and spirits and minds with the nourishment they need as well, right?

[00:04:37] Thanks for listening. Same time tomorrow?