What Are You Hungry For?

“Starve the Ego. Feed the Soul.”

We’re not just talking turkey. Why not use the long weekend to reset what you feed your soul. We all have resistance built into our beings at the very core.  Resistance to change. Resistance to discipline. Resistance to living beyond our daily distractions.  

But fueling yourself with the good and inspiring will help weaken the resistant, default-type energy that often pervades our lives.

Here are some bad things that feed the status quo, the stuck-ness, that keeps us from being our best selves:

• Habits that suck time - The uninspiring, late night television; the hours spent on Reddit, Facebook or falling down some odd BuzzFeed internet rabbit hole; the winding down or gearing up activities that lag on an extra hour. All these things are lulling you into complacency and robbing your soul blind.
• Addictions that steal joy -- There are the actual substances of course like alcohol, weed, or carbs, but there are more subtle addictions too like negativity, righteousness or fear. Realize that you’re paid out, in small and uninspiring ways, for these addictions. Once you’re aware, you can decide to change.
• Entitlement that kills gratitude -- Louis C.K. talks about entitlement with a hilarious story about experiencing wireless internet for the first time on airline flight. “There was high speed internet for the first time on the airplane . . . Then it breaks down and they apologize, and they guy next to me says, ‘This is bullshit.’ How quickly the world owes him something he knows existed only 10 seconds ago.”

Here are the alternatives.  The soul food, if you will, that can restore your energy for a better life and get you moving towards the things that matter:

• Habits of Learning - Replace mindless phone games and celebrity gossip with TED talks, Blogs, PodCasts and Books.  Listen to the wisdom and knowledge others have to share. Expand your world and your mind.
• Addictions to Creating - Rediscover the joy cultivating new ideas, of making things -- art, music, stories, businesses, clothes, crafts, videos, blogs, letters, journals.  The list goes on, but all that matters is that you create it with your experience, your genius and your soul.
• Connections that bring Gratitude - Making a genuine, heartfelt connection with nature, another human, your own body or God (if you believe in it), is why we were put on the planet. Use your senses, your will and your generosity out in the world where it matters.  Find your gift and then give it away to someone, or make it a part of something greater than yourself.

Having trouble envisioning how these activities might play out in day-to-day life?  We recommend this article, Fifty Ways to Nourish your Soul, as a great jumping off place for more specific, creative and unique activities that can jolt you out of the day-to-day complacency.