What Are You Feeding?
What are you feeding?
What are you not feeding
or ignoring?
I had a crazy dream last week.
I had a baby alligator in my bathroom, and I could not remember the last time I fed it.
I shared this story in yoga class the next day, and a friend who has done a lot of dreamwork asked me, "What are you not feeding?"
Hum... I had to pause...
This is actually a recurring theme I've had in many dreams over the years. Sometimes the protagonist is a baby or a dog, or cat, or a pet of some sort. But the framework is always the same. I am away on a trip or unexpectedly held up for hours or days or more, and I come back, fearful that the being in question will have starved. You get the gist. Not a very pretty picture to say the least.
This dream got me thinking a lot.
What are you feeding? Or not feeding? What are you starving?
And I don't mean in the literal sense of the word.
For example, do we take time to nurture our lives - our dreams - and our bodies? Do we take time to breathe? Do we take time off from our commitments and responsibilities when needed? Do we take a Sabbath day away from the incessant appetite of our many devices?
It seems like something so simple, or even insignificant, but how often do we find ourselves putting our own needs on hold so that we can attend to someone else's? The thing is, all those needs will come and go, but we can never recoup that time for ourselves.
Take a few moments to close your eyes and just breathe. Yes, right now!
Then ask yourself, what do you need right now in this moment? What do you need in the short term? And what about the long term? Sit with whatever comes up for a few minutes and then write down some of those impressions. Resolve to address at least one of them today. Decide how you can feed your soul, your body, and your heart.
Maybe it's turning your phone off and reading a good book. Or, you might decided to take the following weekend off. How about taking an afternoon off for a movie?
I remember reading a story about a woman who took time every day for a bubble bath. It seemed like an indulgence, but at the end of a year she emerged with a novel she had written during that daily half hour she took for herself. (Not that she stayed in that bathroom for a year!)
So, what are you feeding or not feeding? If you do not feed your essence, you might instead sow the seeds for despair, or sadness.
Take a moment for yourself. Take MORE than a moment. You are worth it. And if you don't feed yourself, who will?
Receive my Three Energy Saving Practices as my gift to you for joining my list!
Comments