How to Find What Your Soul Searching For.
When your soul is tired, sleep is not the best remedy to make you feel vibrant and alive. I have often read and heard quotes along the lines of ‘awake is the new sleep!’ This could not be more aptly phrased in a quote for most of us who are trying to balance work, life, time for family as well as friends and ourselves but when I wrote a list about what it takes to make someone feel awake, sleep was not on the list nor was coffee!
Reading my long list, I surprised myself with what I jotted down. I decided to group the list under headings to give it clarity in hope that this inspires me as well as encourages you to create a list and do it. If your soul is tired but sleep is not fixing it, I hope this helps you too.
1. Adventure
Adventure topped the list, as it’s always exciting, to plan, dream, look forward to and experience an adventure. My list included some simple activities such as: more yoga, a cooking class, the theatre, new hairstyle and a facial or the not so simple experience of learning a new language and travel to name just a few.
Adventures are personal and while some are expensive, others are free but all of them inspire and motivate us to feel alive. What adventures are you going to write on your list? Be adventurous and write the list without considering cost or other people. After all, it’s your adventure.
2 Nature
Nature is a beautiful word that sounds as good as it is for us. In Noosa, we are lucky to have national parks, 
mountains, lakes, rivers and the ocean with beautiful beaches that many of us embrace on a daily basis to exercise, relax or have fun in nature. Nature is nurturing, giving us a sense of connection to the land or sea as a great place to wake up our soul. Nature can be found in a back garden, a park, sitting under a tree and placing pot plants in your home or workspace. Sit outside to have breakfast or lunch or make the time to be energised by nature.
3 Stillness
Stillness is understood to be without movement or sound. However, we have come to know the term stillness also used to represent a ‘sense of being serene’. Stillness comes in many forms and doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be physically still. I love the stillness of a river even though it’s moving or the stillness of a morning as the world wakes up. Stillness is about being able to quieten a busy mind or pace of life amidst all of the stress and chaos that might surround us. You can gain stillness easily while having a soothing massage and stillness can also be found on a busy train or a long drive home, as it’s about allowing the mind to be still even though your world may be fast. Try to let thoughts come and go through your mind without mentally focusing on them and you will find your body starts to relax; your breathing slows as you feel the stillness within. It’s about letting things go when you can’t control them in that moment.
4 Giving and Helping
Helping others, giving to others or contributing to a community is well researched and know to help your happy hormones. Choosing a career in caring for others led me to realise that the continuation of caring is unconditional giving to others. I would rather give than receive, part of this is because it makes me feel good (there’s those happy hormones)or maybe it’s in my gene bank from a culture that loves to cook for others too.
Random acts of kindness, paying it forward, a smile, a compliment to a stranger, letting someone go in front of you in a line, holding a door open and just being aware of others needs are not difficult or costly but are rewarding for everyone. it makes the world a nicer place to live.
I like to connect people who are new to our community, in business, in need some help or local knowledge. I feel it’s particularly important to help young people gain experiences as others have done for my children, so I shall do for other young people by giving them opportunities and mentoring. Young people are our future and we need to invest in them from an early age.
5 Freedom
Freedom is a powerful word. It means so much to so many of us but what is freedom to you and what would you do with it? Freedom to most people would probably mean having endless time to do as you wish. It might mean not having responsibility for anything or anyone, a sense of being set free. If you ask someone who has a lot of freedom they often don’t know what to do with it and some who retire after having a busy working life feel they no longer have a sense of purpose with their newfound freedom.
Freedom was on my list because I believe it’s important to feel free or to have a choice, in order to have time for adventure, enjoying nature and finding stillness within.
Make a soul searching list for yourself, it’s a positive step to gaining an insight into what really helps you balance the stress, tiredness and feeling of being overwhelmed. Caring for your wellbeing is easier once you understand what soothes your soul. Keep your Soul Re-Searching list in a place you look at regularly, it will inspire you to look after yourself.
Happy Soul Searching,
Katrina – Owner ikatan Spa Noosa