How Is It With
Your Soul?
by Steve Goodier
How is it with your soul?
I meet regularly with a few friends and we ask one another
that question. How is it with your soul? In other words, at the core of your
being ... what is going on?
It's a bigger question than, "How are you feeling?" It
includes body, mind and spirit -- everything.
How would you answer that question today? How is it with
YOUR soul?
Are you caring for it? After all, you care for your body.
Do you care for your soul, too?
Do you FEED your soul?
I'm told that a hummingbird flaps its wings some 50-80
times a second. It must eat constantly to work that hard. It takes tremendous
energy simply to live.
We, too, must feed our spirits if we intend to be healthy.
It may include prayer or meditation or the practice of other spiritual
disciplines. Or taking classes and reading books that not only teach, but uplift
and inspire.
These are only a few of the ways we feed our souls, but
without constant nourishment, our spirits will grow weak and listless.
Do you REST your soul?
In our multi-tasking lives, sometimes the best thing we
can do is to do nothing at all. Just to sit quietly long enough to let our souls
catch up with our bodies.
Charles Darwin said, "If I had my life to live over again,
I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least
once a week."
What rests your soul? Poetry? Music? Enjoying the beauty
of nature? This is a wonderful world we live in -- a world full of wonder. Can
you find ways to rest your soul?
Do you CHEER your soul?
Use one of the greatest gifts you have been given is a
gift of laughter. And it is a gift we never use enough.
A woman diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis told me how
painful the disease had become. Debra said that no drugs would touch the
devastating pain. "At times I prayed to die because I did not think I could go
on this way," she said.
"In 1996 I began seeing a doctor who gave me the most
important prescription that I ever could have received. He excused himself from
the room. I watched him walking back and forth in the hall; he seemed to be in
deep thought."
The doctor came back in with this prescription. He told
Debra to get some funny movies and to begin laughing. If she didn't feel like
laughing, then she should smile. If she didn't feel like smiling, she should
smile anyway. He said that it would increase the endorphins in her brain to help
with her pain.
She did just as he suggested. She smiled constantly. Her
children teased her about the fake smile, but she told them that it was going to
get rid of her pain.
And it did. Of course, not all of her pain is gone, but
her newly acquired habit of laughing and smiling has made it manageable.
And now Debra says that she takes only a fraction of the
pills she used to consume, and that she would feel abnormal without a smile.
Someone beautifully said, "Life is not about waiting for
the storm to pass -- it's about learning how to dance in the rain."
How is it with your soul? That may be the best question
you can ever ask yourself.
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