What feeds your soul?

[RevCheesehead]

What nourishes your spirit? What things, ideas, spiritual practices, or whatever brings you closer to God?

And how often do you nourish your soul?

[BlackVelvet04]

1. Phillip Yancey books and nature

feed my soul. Phillip Yancey's book "What's so Amazing abour Grace" has been the biggest influence in my life except for the Bible. I spent years in fundamentalist churches and I just couldn't stomach any more. I went through some very bad times wondering what was wrong with me that as a Christian I saw things so very differently from fundamentalists. (At the time I lived in Pat Robertson country and now I live in Falwell country.) Yancey helped me find my liberal Christian roots again.

We recently moved into the country and I find that sitting on my porch watching the birds, squirrels, deer and other critters helps me to calm my spirit and feel close to God. Maybe that sounds silly, but for me it's true. My front porch is my favorite place to pray.

[supernova]

2. Nature, music, all the arts really

spending time with my family, which means, my sibling's families since I'm a singleton.

Nature and the arts especially are rewarding for me. I love my back yard and all the creatures that live there. I love seeing the change of seasons, year after year. I love seeing the rabbits, the deer, the insects, and so on.

I love the arts. I'm always listening to music. I find God also in creative pursuits. I can see God in a Picasso painting, in a Beethoven Symphony, in a play. So I'm always going to see some cultural event, because it's like praying to me.

[fishnfla]

3. Our children

nature, music, believe it or not, for some reason has a strong emotional attachment on me.

[boomboom]

4. Choir practice and prayer n/t

[AngryOldDem]

5. My work at a homeless shelter

I'm there on weekends, and sometimes during the week. What I receive from both the other employees as well as the guests themselves have blessed and enriched my life in more ways than I can begin to count.


EDITS: Stupid stuff that I keep missing, probably because I'm tired.

[Kat45]

6. Birds

My little parrotlet, who I named Grace because parrotlets are so sweet and adorable that you just KNOW that they're gifts from God. Just looking at her, or picturing her when I'm out, always brings a smile to my face.

And birds in general. I love watching the birds outside. I'm not talking about 'birdwatching,' it's more just looking at the birds outside, watching their behavior and interactions with each other. Sometimes when I see a bird flying overhead, it's like God is saying hello to me. :-)

[RevCheesehead]

11. Wow. your post reminded me of the music of Olivier Messiaen.

During WWII, he was held in a POW camp. One of the things he did to avoid going crazy was to transcribe bird-song. Not just the melodies, but the rhythms as well. He later used examples of bird-song in his organ compositions - all very spiritual.

(the music is hard as hell to play, but infinitely satisfying once you've mastered the complex rhythms!)

[Maat]

7. Putting on some nice Native American drumming music,

getting some incense going, and meditating and saying affirmations, with my kitty resting nearby.

[RevCheesehead]

12. I'm thinking of going to a workshop next month on NA Spirituality.

It's definately something I want to understand better.

My cats, too, are very spiritual beings. They bring me peace.

[elshiva]

8. Nice thread, thanks

Prayer esp. the Angelus and the 3 O'Clock Prayer of Mercy.
Praying with my ninty-four year old grandmother and my mother.
Reading the Bible daily.
Being with my spiritual friends Nikki, Julie and/or Sharon, talking about our relationships with God.
The ideals of the Democratic Party, such as universal health care and civil rights for GLBT people.
Blessings to Y'all.

[LDS Jock]

9. I have something I do.. might seem odd

but I like to turn off all the lights in my bedroom and just have candles burning. I play a CD I have of an Eastern Orthodox church service (which is all music) and burn frankincense. I relax and pray with this set up. For whatever reason I find this very calming, and I feel more in tune with my spirituality.

[realisticphish]

10. pink floyd

i put on DSOTM, and pray. it works, and calms me. i do the same thing with the softer phish, and gregorian chant sometimes.


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[RevCheesehead]

13. So, is spirituality inherently Internal, or External, or both?

Or is it unique to our own personality types?

Sometimes I think of withdrawing from the world, when I need to "recharge". But other times, the best thing I can do is to go out and visit the shut-ins in my church, or the seniors who come daily for lunch.

I guess I'd say that my most spiritual times come when I shut up and become aware of the world around me, instead of feeling the need to express myself (and exposing certain parts of my anatomy). But sometimes all I need is a piano and a hymnal. (even then, that's more of a dialogue than a performance. Music is prayer to me.)

[Selwynn]

15. It is a combination of "grasping" and being grasped by....

It is the beautiful though ambiguous combination of our reaching out towards and that which reaches towards us.

[Selwynn]

14. Process theology writers, relational/feminist theology writers --

Starting from the premise that God is best compared to love and that this truth sets parameters on the things that we can both affirm and deny about the nature and character of God. Seeing everything through this interpretive lens of love allows us to think about the ways in which God can not be and still be said to be appropriately related to love. Seeing everything through that lens also allows us to think deeply about all the things that God is if she is appropriately thought of as characterized by love.

This allows me to contemplate things like compassion.

This allows me to reject notions like a God of coercive control (love can not put a gun to someone's head and force their hand - cannot use "you will do what I want or I will punish you." That isn't love; that's coercive power.

This allow me to peace and trust in the nature of god's character even when things go horribly tragically wrong.

This gives me the opportunity to think joyously about the nature of my relationship to this divine life - and affirm that if this divine experience is appropriately thought of through the language of love, then there is nothing that god can do, that she isn't actively doing for me and for this world at every present moments. Certainly love, by the very nature of being love which is by definition non-coercive, has limits. But this is an encouraging, soul-feeding thought just the same.

This allows me to contemplate what really matters for my own life, and come to the conclusion that all that matters is the growth and amplification of love within my own heart - that deepening compassion is more important than deepening intellect. That empathy and a openness toward the suffering of the world is more important than material success or fame.

Meditating on the idea that love, and everything we know about the most deepest, purest intimate love we can imagine is the most appropriate imagery, feeling and experience to be connected with our understanding of the divine fills me with great joy, and gives me a wealth of exciting things to think about, as well as inspiring me daily to live my life in greater and greater accordance with the principles of loving action toward myself, others and the world around me.

Sel

[Lydia Leftcoast]

16. Meditation (Jesus Prayer), choral singing, reading

thought-provoking books, Taizé.

[Cheswick2.0]

17. music and nature

I love singing and listening to music and I love gardening and nature.

[kwassa]

18. Spiritual practices

The act of turning towards God.

Music, reading on spiritual topics, meditation and prayer, entering spirit-filled spaces, be it natural or in a church-type setting, sometimes in simple work, or working with people, and having my humanity mirrored back to me.

I often don't find it in traditional church settings, as the service feels empty of spirit rather than full. I think all spiritual practices are ultimately personal, but it is great to find a good communal setting to share the experience.

Today's spiritual practice is staring out the window at big, fat snowflakes coming down, our first snow of the season, and reading Elaine Pagels.

[CBHagman]

19. Walking through an art gallery helps..

I like to go to the National Gallery in D.C. and have a few moments here and there with my favorite paintings and sculptures, and perhaps discover something I hadn't seen before. It is surely one of the most peaceful places on Earth, and it does the heart good to hear a six-year-old art critic holding forth to her parents.

The Gallery recently acquired a Spanish statue of St. John of the Cross, and I like to go visit him in particular during my little trips to the gallery. His eyes are raised heavenward, and his face is just filled with emotion.

I also find you shouldn't underestimate the power of a good laugh, the more intense, the better. Even in times of grief I've badly needed something to laugh about, and so I look for ways to laugh.

There's a gift shop near my office called Chocolate Moose, and it has the most hilarious greeting cards and novelty gifts I've ever seen, including those "devotional" candles for things like Our Lady of Perpetual Litigation, Our Lady of Fair and Just Elections, etc. If I get a chance, I go in and wind up laughing until I'm out of breath.

[melnjones]

20. Singing, praying for loved ones, and playing with my hamsters...

And I don't do either one of those enough. Thanks for the reminder:-)

[pelagius]

21. Regular prayer and meditation...

...using the Daily Office (see www.missionstclare.com for details), my children who are my most instructive teachers, the great goodness of God's creation, and the sacrament of the Eucharist -- "strength for the journey".