This morning, I was lazy. I woke up several times between 3:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. Three in the morning is not a good time to wake up. When I did wake up shortly after 9:00 a.m., I lingered in bed doing my puzzles–Wordle (in three attempts), a perfect run in Connections, and sixteen words in the NYTimes Spelling Bee. Then I read my email from Liz for the Five Things list: things that bring comfort. Today’s list included

• a cup of hot cinnamon spice tea
• a slice of warm homemade bread with butter
• the smell of bread baking
• chili simmering on the stove
• fuzzy socks
• John 14 (“Let not your heart be troubled. . . . “)
• the quilt my Granny pieced and my mother finished and quilted

These comforting things also feed my soul.

I started listening to The Fearless Writer podcast. In each episode, the speaker provides a ten-minute writing prompt at the end of the session. The first episode provided the prompt “Today.” I want to practice these prompts, so I’m doing a week’s worth of “Today” prompts. Throughout today’s writing, which extended into a more Julia Cameron-like “Morning Pages” entry instead of a ten-minute writing sprint, the theme of feeding my soul kept coming up. I thought about what I do to feed my soul. Here’s what emerged:

• Creating something–painting with my pastels, drawing, photographing something, knitting or crocheting, making a paper craft, writing a chapter in my novel
• Reading–a novel, a nonfiction book
• Bible study/devotions
• Music–listening and/or singing along. Perhaps one day I will clean off the piano bench and play again.
• Friendships

When I look at these things I do to nourish my soul, I wonder how I ever found time to teach well! But then again, putting my energy into teaching well did feed my soul, even the creative part because I was creating lessons and developing ideas for my students daily. Now that I am retired and no longer teaching, I can develop these other parts of myself.

The older I get, the more I see the need to fill the soul with things that are peronally meaningful. My journals are filled with things that I don’t imagine anyone else cares too much about. I wonder what my children will do with these notebooks and sketchbooks when I’m gone. I wonder if they will know what was in my soul when I created them.

I don’t usually ask for comments, but I would like to know what feeds and nourishes your soul.