Self-Care for the Spirit
Some of you may know that I recently moved to be closer to the NC coast. When you look up ‘coastal grandma’ — it’s me they’re talking about. I’m that eclectic middle-aged woman who likes clean lines, monochrome grayge aesthetic, and long flowy hippie skirts. You’ll catch me staring out over the ocean as if it’s whispering directly to me — like a happy spirit that’s one with the rolls of sand and water.
That’s what we’re talking about today. Soulful joy.
What makes your inner spirit happy? Sing with joy — feeling safe, secure, and loved? If you don’t know, then it’s time to listen to your own spirit. It's time to work on your spiritual self-care just as you would care for your body or your mind.
The Human Spirit
I’m a big fan of tending to my inner spirit; that boldly human, fiercely strong, and earthy feminine spirit that rests just beneath my skin and runs within me, deep like a vein of unmined gold. We all have this part of ourselves. Whether we are spiritual, religious, or not at all either. You see, the human spirit isn't only a religious concept.
How do I know this? I learned this in collegiate ecology and animal studies, some of my favorite courses. While there was no course that dealt directly with the concept of humans having a spiritual energy, there were others that demonstrated how humans are very, very different from other animals.
Take a few things as examples:
Curiosity – Humans often lead with curiosity.
An instinct that goes beyond fight-or-flight – We follow our gut. In more than dangerous situations. We follow hunches and chase down knowledge, unlike any other species.
The need for purpose in our lives – Other than simply cleaning ourselves, finding sustenance, and aligning ourselves with a mate.
Deeply-felt dreams — like walking on the moon or visiting Machu Picchu, we humans dream and we dream big! Think of one other species that will skip food, shelter, comfort, safety — all those survival instincts, tested or pushed to their limits—because we, a human, have a dream to realize. Reaching the summit, finishing the race, birthing our first baby in our late 40s (or as a transgender person,) or competing in a mud run event, no matter our age or fitness levels. Humans chase dreams like runaway butterflies, oblivious of the wind.
Humans have a self-awareness that many other beings do not seem to possess. An advanced form of cognition that is aware of self, but also of the larger equation – the self fitting into a larger collective community of beings – and feeling a sense of purpose that’s connected to these awarenesses.
These are just a few examples.
We dream big and aim high and do some pretty cool stuff — like climbing the Dawn Wall. Just ask climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson how it felt to be truly human, battered yet triumphant in January 2015 as they finally crested the top of that bald-rockface climb.
If you have not seen the Dawn Wall, it is my favorite rock-climbing film, (to answer your question, YES I like this film more than Free Solo, but I highly recommend both) and it will challenge your human spirit to kick and scream for what it needs and wants from you.
Just ask Aliénor Le Gouvello, who stunned the world with her cross-trek of Australia in 2015, a 5,330-kilometre path along the National Trail in Australia, with a couple of wild horses. The trip took months. She rode and walked and sweated her way across unforgiving terrain to bring awareness to the importance of protecting the country's population of wild horses.
If you’re interested in reading Gouvello’s story, she’s featured in Tough Women Adventure Stories by Jenny Tough.
Practicing Spiritual Self-Care
As humans, there is something more we need above and beyond survival.
Read that again:
As humans, there is something more we need above and beyond survival.
So, if all you’ve been doing is surviving your own life — then your spirit’s in trouble. And no one can change this but you.
What Does it Mean to Practice Spiritual Self-Care?
A spiritual self-care practice means that you implement some type of spiritual practice, spend time with a higher power or with our own inner spirit – as a way to feel soulfully connected to a sense of purpose, guidance, or find connection to an instrument of peace.
This is thinking beyond the flesh and the needs of the flesh to a deeper need that we humans must nurture in order to feel complete.
It might be as simple as giving yourself a few minutes each day to daydream about something that gives us joy.
These small and intimate moments help satisfy something within ourselves that's deep inside our inner selves, beyond what can be measured in terms of flesh and bone.
With that…here are…
Thanks, as always for reading the Fiddleheads & Floss Newsletter, which, as you know, is a little of this and that — all wrapped up in a larger topic: Living well.
I thank you for being here, for opening up your journey to this artist, this writer, this human spirit that sees you.
Namaste.
Christina M. Ward
Author, professional freelancer, free-spirited human