Soul Food : Seven Ways You Can Nourish The Hole In Your Soul

Peggie Kirkland  0:00  
Hey, you, thank you for tuning in again. I've been hearing from many of you of late, that you have a feeling of emptiness, a feeling that no matter what you eat, you still feel empty. In fact, I've asked some of you. So what did you eat. And what you shared is that you've had enough protein. For those of you on carbs, you've had enough carbs, you've had vegetables, fruit, and even a little dessert to top it off. And yet, there's that nagging sense of emptiness, almost like a hole in the soul. That's why today, you and I are going to have a conversation about nourishment for the soul. And I'm gonna give you several strategies that you can use to fill that emptiness, that hole in the soul. So stay tuned. Don't go anywhere. 

Peggie Kirkland  1:14  
Welcome to the Momma's motivational messages podcast, where women learn to stop putting themselves on the back burner, and start paying attention to caring for themselves first, so they can be better for everyone else in their lives. I know you've been inspired by the stories of resiliency and starting over of health and self healing, of gaining clarity through journaling, of showing self love, through world travel, and the list goes on. I encourage you to relax and enjoy. I'm your host Peggie Kirkland PK. 

Peggie Kirkland  1:55  
As I was saying to you before, many of you have been sharing with me, that feeling of emptiness. And to be quite honest, I too, have been feeling that sense of emptiness, almost like a hole in the soul. And so it got me to thinking, what could be responsible for this feeling? And so that got me to thinking, because I am a bit of a news junkie, I must confess. And I started wondering whether all of the disastrous events that have been taking place at home and abroad, whether it was I was beginning to internalize all of those events and whether it was having that negative effect on me. 

Peggie Kirkland  2:43  
I mean, when you hear about the chemical disaster in East palestino, Ohio, and the number of deaths that follow the earthquake in Syria, and Turkey, and the ongoing war in Ukraine, and then all of the things that are taking place, right here at home in our own backyard. And the fact that I had experienced three losses of people who were very close to me, near and dear. And that really rocked my world for a minute. And so I was talking to my daughter about that. And she said, you know, Mom, you know the daughter who likes to call me PK. In fact, she's my only daughter. And she said, you know, maybe you need to get out. I feel like you've been in for too many days. And it's beautiful outside.

Peggie Kirkland  3:40  
 Even though I had thought about it earlier. I got so caught up and bogged down with what I was doing indoors that I thought I would put it off for another day. But after talking to her, the idea sounded like a really good one. So I quickly dragged on some sweats and headed to my favorite local park. And to be honest with you, I started to look forward to it. I love walking in that park with all of the trees and the lake. And the geese; there were so many geese. They were there by the dozens. And I wondered whether they had not left for the winter or whether they had made an early return. But either way, they were all out there. The mothers were there with their young and the the swans were there. They were so elegant. And I just kept looking at them and thinking how wonderful life must be for you because you don't know anything that's going on in the world. And I began walking. I wasn't trying to do the jog, run kind of thing or jog walk that I do some times are even any kind of power walking, I was just putting one foot in front of the other, just stopping occasionally to take a snapshot of the geese. And the people who were feeding them, even though there's a big sign that says, Do not feed the wildlife. But I was not making that my issue.

Peggie Kirkland  5:23  
 I kept walking. And I started to feel this deep sense of joy, and a connection to nature. As I was walking, I couldn't help thinking about something that Hippocrates is credited with saying. As you may know, Hippocrates was a Greek physician. And he was one of the most outstanding people in the history of medicine. And he's credited with saying, if you're in a bad mood, go for a walk. And if you're still in a bad mood, go for another walk. So I continued walking. And frankly, I think it was in that moment, that it hit me that what I was lacking was nourishment for my soul. Not just my body, but for my soul. Yeah, I realized that I not only needed nourishment, but I deserved nourishment. And when I left the park that day, I had such a feeling of being full, not just from what I had eaten. But in my soul, my soul felt comforted from being out in nature.

Speaker 1  6:48  
You know, there are many times when we feel overtaken. And it's not just by what's going on in our lives. But sometimes, what's going on in the lives of others can take us over as well. Sometimes it can overwhelm us. And that's why during these times, we need to take care of our inner well being, I can tell you that being out in nature that day, really helped to restore my spirits. It helped me to feel so much better on the inside, deep down inside. And that's what I wanted to share with you, my own experience. I also want to give you several ways in which you can keep your soul nourished. 

Peggie Kirkland  7:25  
So my first suggestion is that you spend time with family members. And I mean family members, whom you like, and who like you, people that you can laugh with people that you can laugh until you cry with, you know that thigh-slapping laughter and it makes you double up and double over. You know what they say about laughter, it's the best medicine. 

Peggie Kirkland  8:07  
Another thing that you can do is to start placing video calls, instead of just talking without seeing faces, or just texting place video calls. So you can see expressions, and you can see smiles.  Like laughter, smiling is infectious. And when you see people smiling, you too, want to smile. And that's really good for your inside. 

Speaker 1  8:32  
The third thing that you could do is to have your go-to stash of books, and magazines. For me, I love reading Brene Brown, and her talks about vulnerability and self acceptance. I also love Oprah's magazines, because there's so many things, a plethora of topics that you can delve into. And of course, I have to admit, I love a good romance movie, or a good romance novel, The romantic in me, still believes that romance and love can overcome the challenges of life. 

Speaker 1  9:13  
Number four, surround yourself with positive people, this is really critical. You really have to take stock of the people that you surround yourself with. I can't stress this enough. You know, we all have moments of negative thoughts. But you need to examine those people who are around you the most often and think about whether or not they have a positive or a negative vibe. You know, there are those who no matter what the situation is. There's always something to complain about. If you see something positive and you talk about it, they can tell you what the negative side of that is. You want to stay away from those people, unless you're just looking for a challenge that particular day. 

Speaker 1  10:05  
Number five, it is critical that you minimize stress in your life. You may want to really take note of the things that actually create stress in your life. If you have children who are overscheduled, that keep you going from dawn to dusk, then you might want to think about ways in which you can give yourself a break, whether it's by collaborating with other parents so that, you know, you're not the only one who is doing all of the dropping off and picking up or some other solution that you may be able to work out. But if this is a stressor for you, then you need to find a solution for that. For me, right now, I'm feeling stressed out about going food shopping. And so I'm thinking that what I am going to do is to restart my membership in one of the online shopping services. And I'm going to use that, to give me some more time in my day, and not stress me out. I deserve that, and you deserve that. If grocery shopping is a problem for you, too. If you don't want to pay the cost of the online shopping services, then you may just want to schedule your trips to the grocery store early in the morning before it fills up or the end of the day, when everybody else has left. If you're able to do that. The point is, find some alternative solutions, and have them in your toolkit so that when you need them, you don't have to think about about it in a moment of stress; you can just go ahead and do what you know works. 

Speaker 1  11:54  
The sixth strategy I'm going to share with you is journaling, I can begin to tell you how beneficial journaling is; the ability to document your thoughts so that you can look at patterns in your life. And ways in which those patterns may be creating negative issues for you is something that can be really, really helpful. And also just the ability to go back in time and look and see where you were, and compare it to where you are at some point in the future. It really is a wonderful thing to see the growth that you've made over time.

Speaker 1  12:45  
 Finally, I'm going to say get some professional help. If you feel like you can't resolve negative feelings on your own. Get some professional help. And just know that you are not alone. And that asking for help is actually something that's very courageous; everybody is not able to do that. Even though it's becoming more and more a part of the norm of our society. Many people still feel embarrassed to ask for help. Whether it's based on their culture or the way in which they were brought up, people can still feel embarrassed about asking for help, and would prefer to suffer in silence. And that can just be very harmful. So when you're in doubt, get some mental health from a health professional so that you can get back on track. Okay, those are all the suggestions I have for you right now. 

Speaker 1  13:46  
So to recap, the first thing that you can do to nourish your soul is to spend time with family members. Another thing that you can do is to start placing video calls instead of just texting or just talking on the phone. Then have a stash a go to stash of books and magazines that make you happy and make you feel warm and comfy. Also, you can surround yourself with positive people, keep the negative people out of your hair. Number five, minimize the stress in your life. Stress is not good for anybody. Number six, you can start journaling that's going to help you to see the patterns in your life and see if there are things that you really need to change. And finally, and maybe most importantly, seek professional hel if you feel like you can't do this on your own. 

Speaker 1  14:52  
Alright guys, that's it for today. Thank you so much for listening. I hope this is helpful as you focus  on nourishing your soul. Remember, you deserve it. 

Speaker 1  15:09  
If you've been inspired and encouraged by the positive messages in today's show, please take a moment to rate and review the show on Apple podcast. This will help to keep the show alive. And remember, sharing is caring. So don't forget to share these gems with friends and family, strangers too if you like, let them know it's available wherever they listen to their podcasts.  I'm counting on you to share the love. Until next time, this is PK sending you much light and a whole lot of love.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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