Nourishing the Soul

I plan to welcome the new year with three posts inspired by the Irish poet, author, and Priest John O’Donohue. I begin today with, Nourishing the Soul.

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“There is a voice within you that no one, not even you, has ever heard. Give yourself the opportunity of silence and begin to develop your listening in order to hear deep within yourself the music of your own spirit. ”                 -John O’Donohue

The soul is the interior animating force of our lives. It is deeper than awareness or consciousness. Some people understand the soul in a religious context. Others understand it as their essence or being. I have no idea what it is. But like the roots of a tree that remain hidden, the soul requires nourishment. 

I am always on the lookout for books that will nourish my soul. I find them especially helpful when going through difficult stretches, when I have a heightened risk of falling into myself. 

Recently, I discovered John O’Donohue’s book, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom. I read most books like college texts, underlining important passages and copying them into my journal. It’s been quite a while since I’ve highlighted a book as extensively as Anam Cara, which incidentally is Gaelic for “soul-friend.”

In the prologue to the book, O’Donohue lays out one of the primary challenges of a life well-lived:

“In order to keep our balance, we need to hold the interior and the exterior, visible and invisible… together. No one else can undertake this task for you.”

I couldn’t agree more! Here are some more quotes:

-“We are always on a journey from darkness into light.“

-“Everything that happens to you has the potential to deepen you.”

-“Where there is a depth of awareness, there is a reverence for presence.“

-“When you cease to fear your solitude, a new creativity awakens in you.“

-“Now and again you should offer your love as a blessing for those who are damaged.“

O’Donohue writes of the beauty of presence, a way of being that has gone missing in our modern world. I was thankful to be reminded of this as we face new realities in the wake of our son’s stroke.

Unwanted change provides a valuable lesson for us on the importance of living in the moment. How many times have you wished you could go back to your life before an unexpected trauma? For instance, to have dinner one last time with a deceased parent or loved one. And yet, we routinely allow these moments to slip through our fingers. Our lives are preoccupied with the tyranny of the urgent. Most urgent things however, aren’t terribly important. 

At the beginning of a new year, or better yet, at the beginning of each new day, it’s important to reserve time to come into your presence and nourish your soul. 

Anam Cara helped me do this. Researching the author’s background, I learned O’Donohue studied the 14th-century Dominican Priest and mystic Meister Eckhart. I read a book of Eckhart’s sermons years ago*, and found them very impactful. Maybe that’s why I resonate with O’Donohue. Here’s a quote from Eckhart that appears in Anam Cara that nicely sets the stage for the beginning of the new year: 

“Many people wonder where they should be and what they should do when in fact they should be more concerned about how to be.” 

That was written 600 years ago.

The question of how to be is embodied in the way we experience our lives moment by moment. This is critically important. After all, how we experience our moments is, of course, how we experience our lives. 

Many people at this time of year make resolutions to improve their lives. Unfortunately, New Year’s resolutions often fail within the month. O’Donohue presents an alternative: “It is far more creative to work with the idea of mindfulness rather than the idea of will.”

Mindfulness is a practice of fully bringing oneself into the moment. In other words, to intimately connect with the direct experience of life.  New Year’s resolutions are typically about things we will stop doing or start doing. But rather than beating our lives into shape with a hammer, O’Donohue has a different suggestion: 

“Your soul alone has the map of your future…there are no general principles for this art of being…If you seek to come into your presence, you will find exactly the right rhythm for your life.”

Meister Eckhart expressed the same idea: “How does one grow in Youthfulness? By letting go of everyday time and entering into the eternal now.”

When I first encountered those words, I had no idea what they meant. Ultimately, mindfulness practices revealed the wisdom of Eckhart’s words, once again proving out an axiom from the Tao Te Ching, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears!” 

One’s innermost being should not be neglected. An indigenous wisdom inside us is always ready to guide us through the darkness. I used to set New Year’s resolutions. Some were accomplished, others were not. Time spent nourishing my soul has been far more impactful. I do this by reading wisdom literature and practicing awareness. Your way may differ. According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The riddle of life for each has a private solution.” 

Regardless of specific beliefs and methods employed, nourishing the soul is immensely beneficial. Simply find things that move you. 

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*Passion For Creation: The Earth-Honoring Spirituality of Miester Eckhart by Matthew Fox

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