Are you Taking Care of your Soul

It is a very busy time of year with the upcoming holiday season.  Everyone is trying to not only meet our normal daily obligations but in addition finish our shopping and preparations for the holiday season.  The holiday season is supposed to be a time of love, reflection, and happiness but every holiday season I notice the same thing...most people are cranky, impatient, and just generally in a foul mood (I myself am guilty of this from time to time).

But why at one of the happiest times of year are we in our worst moods?  I believe the cause comes from us becoming so busy we often forget one of our most important tasks; taking care of our soul.   I have spoken about this quite often in the past when discussing the importance of our personal sanctuaries and was reminded about it while working through my book last night.  I thought today I would share a passage from a past post as a friendly reminder.

Personal sanctuaries are an essential part of maintaining our well being.  Unfortunately there is no magic formula for finding out where your sanctuary might be.  Since we are all different and unique, our place that heals our soul will also be different and unique. In addition, what actually heals our soul will be different for many of us too.

 Toni Morrison spoke about how to find your own personal sanctuary or getaway.  "A getaway is a vision of a place you've had in your mind.  And, when you find yourself there, you recognize it."  This definition may be a little vague, but she's saying you already know what your personal sanctuary should be.  You just neet to reflect on what will do the best job of healing your soul.

For some, it is a getaway from their fast paced lives. For others, it may be getting lost in some relaxing music.  Whereas for others, in may be getting lost in creative endeavours (writing, painting, cooking, etc). 

Locating our personal sanctuaries is not enough though, it is critical to find the time to actually balance all the demands in our lives. These times of solitude are essential for maintaining a healthy mind and body, and are as important to us as eating, drinking, sleeping, and breathing.

By spending time in our personal sanctuaries we are able to renew our energy, so we need to use them often! We should all make a promise to ourselves to spend some time to find our own personal sanctuaries. I guarantee once you start spending time there, you won’t be able to wait to get back.

For me my soul enjoys itis moments of peace and solitude.  The experience for my soul is photographing sunrises.  There is just something magical about a sunrise that no other part of the day can duplicate.  It is tough to always feed your soul with sunrises, because lets face it they are really early in the morning and very cold these days. 

Sunrises aren't the only renewing source of energy for me.  Simply laying quietly and listening to music has the same renewing powers.  In fact this was one of the main techniques I used to get through some of the worst experiences of my life (the heavy chemotherapy treatments). 

I think the negative attitudes or feelings during the busy periods such as the holiday season is just our soul's yelling out to us asking to be taken care of as well.  During these times we often get so busy that taking care of ourselves is often the first thing to go which is a mistake.  So this holiday season remember to take a few moments each day to renew your soul.

If you are interested here is a little flavour of the music I am listening to right now when I recharging session. Click the link and you will taken to one of my playlists at youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrEOddQJ8Jg&feature=BFa&list=PLEA1634D846259AA2&lf=mh_lolz

Have a great day!

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