Soul Food

I am on a quest to identify those qualities/experiences that consistently nourish my soul, and build them into my daily life.

Thus far, I have been extraordinarily unsuccessful in my quest.  Fortunately, I do not give up easily.

But the even better news is that God does not give up - period.  So this morning, instead of being awakened by the sound of the alarm clock (which I hate, and therefore awaken minutes before it sounds so I can turn it off), I was greeted instead by the sound of an owl.  I almost fell out of bed trying to get to the window to see if I could see if - no sighting.  Just the call - the haunting call.  I haven't heard an owl since the winter of 2006 in Chapel of Garioch.  Owl medicine is very powerful in my life, and to hear that call absolutely made my day.  It took me back to many native myths, and to the beautiful story of Gwinna, which has been a personal metaphor throughout these last ten years.  Oh, to find my wings and fly...

Of all the places I've lived that left me feeling divorced from the natural world, this is the second hardest place (NYC being the first).  Living in a suburban subdivision has been my working definition of hell for most of my adult life.  Too much light clutter to see the stars; too much traffic noise to hear only bird song.  Even my resident red winged jazz band has to ramp it up to be heard over the cars.  But at 5 am, the owl had no competition - even in Meridian.

As experiences in nature are a main source of my soul food, I headed out tonight to spend some time with the moon.  I usually take these trips solo, but even Bill was intrigued by what he might find.  We drove east to the Stagecoach exit off I 84, and there was the moon climbing slowly above the horizon.  Bill played with the camera, and I just sat and drank it in.  Not quite the same as when I saw it rise over the great plains - as it inched up the horizon it was a size and color that took my breath away.  Tonight brought beauty on a smaller scale - but still lovely.  Beginning and ending my day in nature was a good step in my quest for healthy soul food.

I cannot live at the monastery, nor can I live in the first meadow of the East Inlet trail in the Kawuneeche Valley of Rocky Mountain National Park.  I cannot live up in Stanley gazing at the Sawtooths and I cannot live in silence and solitude in a cabin in the woods.  I have yet to figure out how to schedule my day so I can keep the Daily Office of prayer and reading (unless I'm on vacation or up at the Monastery).  I haven't woven since November.  My soul hungers for the experiences that sustain it, and not the over-processed and over-refined fast food that makes up most of its diet.

I am on a quest to see that my daily life contains those soul-feeding experiences that will bring much needed balance and health into my life.  And I am most grateful that in this kind of quest, past failure is not a predictor of future outcome.

What sustains you in a healthy and life-giving way?  Is your soul regularly nourished by such things, or is your soul diet deficient in some areas?

Blessings,
Kim