What will help you feel nourished?

What will make you feel nourished and supported today?

This question has been loaded as a “reminder” in my phone for a couple of years.

There have been lots of days that I haven’t known how to answer this question

… perhaps because I don’t actually give myself the few moments it would take to really breathe into the question and give my body permission to speak

… perhaps because I am afraid of what the answer might be

… perhaps because I am already overextended

… perhaps because my nervous system is still trying to protect me.

I have been working with entrepreneurs in some capacity for 7ish years. Many of us create the thing that we need(ed). Not because we have all of the answers. But because we are trying to address a pain point that we are still solving for ourselves.

While our human stories are uniquely ours, the ways that our biological bodies need to be nourished are consistent (though they vary by degree, timing, etc.). We require food, water, movement, connection, and rest.

To survive. To heal. To repair. To grow. To thrive. To expand.

To step fully into our innate capacity–as individuals and as a collective.

And yet, so many of us move through the world with less nourishment than we really need. For lots of reasons, some of them more obvious than others.

I have been on this path for a while now. And still, I am finding new layers and deeply embedded ways of being in the world that do not support my capacity …

To move through this world feeling deeply nourished and supported (by myself or others) … to be anchored in my power, worthiness, and light … to hold the complexity of this human experience with curiosity, humility and grace … and to expand even more fully into my intrinsic capacity from a place of wholeness … even as I honor the pain of our collective past and present in the face of an uncertain future.

Before we can change, we have to be aware of the patterns that are playing out in our lives.

We have to consider that maybe the way we have “always done things” isn’t serving us.

We have to believe there are other options — that we actually have choices and the efficacy to carry out those choices.

We likely have to develop new knowledge.

To consider what we believe(d) that wasn’t actually true.

To open our minds to new information and new levels of understanding.

We have to practice new skills and habits …engaging new ways of responding to stimuli and developing new patterns with consistent practice (knowing that “consistent” and “constant” are not the same thing).

And sometimes we have to work with the nervous system …

Earlier this week, I did a nervous system healing session with my coach inside of Ana Kinkela’s Soma Soul Certification.

I had been simmering with the awareness that even though I have created a retreat called Nourish and have been working with a nutrition coach for more than two years (because I default to under-fueling when I am stressed, overwhelmed, anxious or busy), I still find it exceedingly difficult to “nourish” myself consistently with food.

I have leaned on the accountability of the nutrition coach to help me stay in the ballpark of eating enough. Not because I don’t know how much food I require to stay fueled. I have known that for years. But because I was having a hard time breaking this pattern on my own. (Side Note: Through this season of working with the coach, I learned that “compliance” is so so much easier when I am rested and resourced.)

“Maybe this is actually more difficult for me than it is for other people,” I thought to myself. Maybe there are nervous system patterns that make this “lift” feel so heavy and hard even as there is another part of me who really loves delicious, thoughtfully prepared food?

Through the nervous system session, we ended up working with a 2 year old “inner child” who learned to abdicate her preferences and needs to those of her caregivers. And we invited a deeper relationship with the version of me who is deeply nourished.

This session took place three days ago. I have been noticeably hungry for the last three days.

What will you claim for yourself this year?

I am not asking what you are going to “improve or fix” about yourself this year.

How will you tend more gently to the person you already are? For more on this idea, check out Episode #66 of the Freedom from Empty Podcast.

How might you nourish yourself more deeply or consistently?

How might you resource yourself so that you feel supported and held along the way?

I will be integrating nervous system healing work in the very near future.

In the meantime, if you could benefit from weekly prompts to breathe, be gentle and kind to yourself, I am offering a BUY ONE GIFT ONE Annual Phone Booth Subscription through December 31, 2023. Simply purchase one annual subscription and receive a code to gift one annual subscription to a someone you love.

If you have the Whole You: Nourish Retreat on your list for 2024, and want to receive a FREE coaching session (and/or to book a 2023 business expense), register by December 31, 2023.

May you be nourished. Not because you “earned” it, but because you are worthy of it. Just as you are.

Love,

Booth