Sacred Beginnings – Nourish

Today Lori-Lyn has offered the prompt Nourish for our consideration.

I’m betting that we all want not just to live but to thrive.  And so I’ve been thinking in those more expansive terms about what nourishes me. 

It occurred to me I was really considering an ingredients list to make the most fabulous recipe of ME.  Or perhaps I was in a florist shop choosing from the flowers to create the most wondrous bouquet of ME.

And so here are the ingredients that nourish me.

• Good food and clean water, blessed in gratitude.  Every week I receive a box of CSA fruit and veggies and each week when I unpack it, and again when I put the things together into meals, I think of how lucky I am that this organic goodness is available to me.  And I imagine perhaps I might look as happy as these delightful veggies do.

• Flowers.  There cannot be too many flowers in my life.  Perhaps it’s the bee-nature of my Deborah-ness, but flowers are essential for my happiness.
• Poetry.  I can talk endlessly about how important poetry is, but I defer to Hafiz who said it most perfectly:   “A poet is someone who can pour light into a cup, then raise it to nourish your beautiful parched, holy mouth.”
• Vibrational essences.  I’m a flower essence practitioner precisely because vibrational magic is so nourishing.
• Color.  Vibrant or subtle, expected or unexpected, I love playing with color; I love drinking it in with my eyes; I love paying attention to its vibrations.
• Scent.  I studied aromatherapy and natural perfumery solely for the opportunity to surround myself with essential oils and dance in their magic.  You can likely count on one hand the number of days in the last decades when I haven’t anointed myself in natural fragrance.  It is as essential as air to me.
• Baths.  Salt baths, herbal-infused baths, scents, bubbles, colored-water – it’s all wonderful and a reminder of how watery I am.
• Meditation.  Emptying and connecting.  Focusing and letting go.  Meditation is a kind of rhythm re-set for me.
• Friendship.  While sometimes I harshly judge myself for being inept at the superficial connecting that seems so necessary in our society today, the truth is I have deep friendships that nourish me.  I am seen, I am heard, I am loved with great generosity of heart.
• Plenty of doses of solitude. 
• Dreamwork.  If I had nothing more than the remembered contents of my sleeping consciousness to work with I would still have plenty to entertain me and move me forward.
• Nature.  The trees, the crows, the sky, the moon, rocks and rain and my bare feet upon the ground – all of nature is a gift that fill me endlessly.
• Rituals.  I believe life is sacred and taking the time to honor what blesses us with focused attention is an important give back that helps me maintain balance.
• Connection with my Beloved Benefactors – my team in spirit that guides and inspires me.  I would truly be lost without this connection.
• Honoring my gifts by expressing them.  I think flow is a big part of nourishment, and holding on to something that wants to be expressed is draining.
• Laughter.  This literally lightens our vibration.
• Talismans and adornments.  What makes me feel good is the best definition of nourishment.
• Chocolate. 
• Curiosity.  I want to know things, understand things, be enchanted, fall down rabbit holes and hunt down my own treasures.
• Beauty all around me.   This actually may be the one thing that is summarizes it all for me.   

Perhaps once again Hafiz says it most perfectly:

“Stay close to any sounds that make you glad you are alive.” 

This is my mantra.  This is my definition of nourish.  This is how I wish to live out-loud.

So now you’ve seen my list.  What about you?  What nourishes you?  Are you staying close to what makes you glad you are alive?  Do tell – you know I love to hear.