We all need more in this life than a warm home and three square meals a day. Humans crave, require and grow better in the presence of spiritual engagement and inspiration. Feeding your spirit is an important as feeding the body and the mind. Here are some ways you can nurture your soul in the spaces you live and work in: 1. Inspirational, energizing or calming music is one of the best ways to "short-circuit" the mind and go directly to the soul. When your head is full of worries or ill thoughts and you can't seem to get past them, filling the air with the sounds that suit you best can lift you up and pull you past the obstacles that bar your way. Whether you listen to forget, to uplift or simply to enjoy, music really does calm the savage breast. 2. Fill your space with inspirational quotes, sayings, words, images and other items. Paint them on the walls, if you dare, or hang them up on a nail if you prefer. Put them in frames and prop them up on top of your desk. Ring your computer monitor in snippets of brilliance and encouragement. Stitch or paint them into the coverings on your furniture or write them on strips of colored paper and festoon your ceiling with streamers of joy. However you do it, filling your sight with words of encouragement, enlightenment and love can keep you from straying into those bleak areas of the mind that are best left unmapped. 3. Books, books and more books. Books of love, books of joy, books of inspiration, books of practical knowledge, books with colored pictures from around the globe and books with studied prose from down the street. Books serve a two-fold purpose as both the holders of wisdom on the outside and the bestowers of beauty on the outside. Choose books with sumptuous contents and equally sumptuous coverings. Line them up according to color, topic or height. Enjoy them with your sight, your touch and your mind. Reflect on the fact that the average homeowner library holds far more knowledge on a single shelf than the ancients of the Golden Eras of Learning could have hoped to compile in their lifetimes. Look, learn and love. Books support it all. 4. Set up an altar (religious, spiritual, meditational or just reflective, it doesn't matter) and stock it with items that inspire you, that call to you and that give you great joy to behold. Add pieces of sentimental value - a favorite photo or a gifted piece of jewelry - and finish off the arrangement with a focal point, such as a fountain, a statue, a print or some other object that gives you something to contemplate while you ruminate. Let everyone know that it is off-limits - your private space - and use it whenever you need clarity, connection or just a few moment's peace. 5. Make your area a no-fire zone. Inform family members, friends, colleagues - whoever might enter there - that within this space only positive, supportive and loving behavior and speech is acceptable. Disallow jokes that play on someone else's weakness, snide and cutting "humor," gossip, idle speculation about things not your business and so on. Let no one or no thing bring in bad news or disturbing matters - keep any TV's or radios tuned to happier channels. Take yourself outside the area if you must receive unpleasant tidings, but keep the space sacred to the nurturing of your heart and soul. Supporting our hearts and our souls in a loving and strengthening environment is one of the best things we can do for ourselves. Give yourself permission to ask for what you need and to provide for yourself what others cannot. Only then will you be free to be who you really are - and who the world really needs you to be.
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