What is self-love/self-care? I think we’re all familiar with the concept by now, but how do we actually DO that? I’m not speaking about moving your body, eating well, getting sleep, etc, *all that stuff is important, but on a deeper level the soul needs to be fed. The consequences of not doing so are pretty miserable.

Feeding your soul is not some big-huge-deal that requires a lot of money, time, or trip to India to “find yourself.” You’ll take whatever’s going on within you anywhere you may go. All to say, you don’t have to travel anywhere to find yourself, but you don’t have to stick around the same place either. Sometimes, you just need to get outta dodge, ya just need to get out, into the unknown! The juice of adventure is very sweet:)

I took the train from Chicago to LA as a romantic gesture to my soul. I needed some time to stare out the window and write. We all gotta take ourselves out from time to time. The soul yearns to be taken out, or so I think it does, *speaking on behalf of all souls.

Soul, (asking your own soul) what would you like to do today? What would make you happy? What would feel good right now? Listen for what the soul responds with…

If you haven’t heard of it, there’s a concept in the “Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron that I’d like to pass along — “The artist date”: A once-weekly, festive, solo expedition to explore. I’ve been doing it ever since, thank you Julia! With no particular destination in mind, I’ll find myself at some random shop that sells handmade elephant mobiles, speaking to the shop owner about his recent travels to Africa. I wonder how that guy is doing? Do I need to explain elephant mobiles? Or maybe I’m just eating a croissant at the farmers market, and stumble upon a band playing nice music on the street corner. I was actually just speaking to someone yesterday on the subject, and he said, “I have two bikes, both named after Balkan energy drinks, Gorshka Bear and Golden Eagle. I love a walk or a bike ride with no destination. I’ve sort of structured my life around that love.” There it is! Just going — and doing something for no particular reason — other than you want to! This is a great way to feed your soul:)

I think it’s important to know that you can feel this type of closeness within your own being. You can find it, you know, it’s there. I heard a quote by Alan Watts this morning, “The meaning of life is just to be alive. It’s so plain and so obvious and simple. And yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves.” Thank you, Alan!