We’ve spoken a bit about nourishing ourselves and how it is important in healing our energy, but also in creating a different, New Earth kind of way of living – but what does it mean? What does it mean to nourish myself?

What does it mean to nourish myself?

Nourish, verb –
– to sustain with food or nutriment; supply with what is necessary for life, health, and growth.

This is the dictionary definition of nourish. But the nourish we are talking about is more than this. It isn’t just supplying with what is necessary. It is also promoting a feeling of support and comfort. It is also sustaining us in order to thrive, not just survive.

Areas to Nourish.

We are multi-faceted beings. And thus nourishing ourselves needs to be multi-faceted too.

Nourishing our physical bodies. Nourishing our minds intellectually. Nourishing our emotional selves. Nourishing our energetic bodies. Nourishing our spirit.

And we nourish ourselves in so many ways!

Reading. Thinking. Meditations. Laughing. Being playful. Creating. Grounding. Journaling. Tapping. Napping. Resting. Lounging. Etc.

And we do so many of these things already! It’s just bringing them more into the conscious realm. And being intentional with them.

Ways to Nourish.

There are 3 primary ways I discuss nourishing ourselves – filling your needs, permission to do nothing, and meditation.

Filling your needs.

This not only refers to all the physiological things we need to survive, but also our emotional, intellectual, and spiritual needs.

Eating.
Sleeping.
Genuine connection.
Physical touch.
Feeling heard and understood.
Feeling safe.
And so much more.

If you like thinking of things in different ways, you may appreicate referencing Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs here. Or the original version from the Blackfoot Nation, which you can read more about in this article from Thomas Barrows, MD FACEP, at Tribal Health.

Permission to Do Nothing.

While technically we could include this under filling our needs – I have separated it out because I believe it is highly important.

In the US, and probably other societies, there is the pressure to perform, profit, and produce. Doing nothing is antithetical to these things. But doing nothing is an inherent need we have. To perform, profit, and produce all of the time is to burn ourselves out. Doing nothing gives us space to, well do nothing – but really it gives us space to just be, as we are.

Meditation.

Meditation is more of a tool than anything else. Meditation can feel like doing nothing, depending on how one meditates. But it can also fill our needs of spiritual and emotional connection. And depending on how we meditate, it can also fill intellectual needs.

Meditation is sort of the bridge between Nourish and Reprogram, which we will get into later. But you can see how important it is because of the overlapping space it occupies.

Of course, there are so many other ways to nourish ourselves – these are just groupings that I have used to help conceptualize and apply it. But you may have other ways of understanding nourishing yourself!

So, I’d like to hear from you – What do you do to nourish yourself?