Soul Needs Time

There’s a thing we do in our household that’s vital to our happiness.

It’s called “Soul Needs Time.”

It’s understood to be anytime you stake your claim that what you are doing for the next little bit, few hours, whole day or days, if that’s what your soul TRULY needs, it’s to put the time and effort in to nurture and tend to your soul.

It could be a bubble bath, napping, reading an entire book in one sitting, journaling, painting your nails, working on that novel, creating something—anything, or cooking jerk chicken while you groove to reggae music with a Red Stripe beer.

Or maybe that’s just me… WHAT NURTURES YOUR SOUL?

I wish I could tell you that Soul Needs Time is scheduled hallowed time on our calendars. It’s not. Life snags us as much as the next family. Though, we have tried our best for that ‘easy like a Sunday morning’ vibe all day long on Sundays.

Sunday has become a verb around here.

The point of Soul Needs Time is, on any given day, to take a moment to ask your soul what it needs, really listen, and then honor yourself enough to carve out a slice of time in your life to actually do that thing.

This is your life. You are the dot in the center of your world. Your soul is the pulsing sun in the center of you. Doesn’t it deserve to be penciled in?

“But there’s too much going on. People depend on me. My life’s too busy,” you say.

‘Busy’ is the drum we beat to make our lives sound meaningful.

What if meaning is measured by what we give to others as well as what we give to ourselves?

Those two things are so very intertwined. When we give to ourselves, fill our own cup, our offerings are richer.

Not the pale, weak tea of giving but the Guinness of giving; rich and deep and frothy.

The world needs the sumptuous repast of you, not your damn crumbs.

Soul Needs Time is a Sabbath of the spirit.

“Sabbath is more than the absence of work; it is not just a day off, when we catch up on television or errands. It is the presence of something that arises when we consecrate a period of time to listen to what is most deeply beautiful, nourishing, or true. It is time consecrated with our attention, our mindfulness, honoring those quiet forces of grace or spirit that sustain and heal us.”― Wayne Muller, Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives

Think of this gift to yourself as a holy endeavor. Turn your love and attention inward and tell yourself that you are worthy of being nourished and cared for. This nourishment and care can come in its most authentic form—whatever your unique, exquisite soul genuinely needs to feel less starved.

Ask it. It will tell you in the love language of YOU.

Then, fiercely and lovingly, give yourself some Soul Needs Time.