Nurture and Nourishment

I’ve spent much of 2011 so far offline - not blogging or podcasting, not tweeting, not Facebooking. To many who know me, this has come as a big surprise - I’m a social media fan, after all, and I’ve written a book on social media, no less! So, no, it’s not because I’ve suddenly had a change of heart about the benefits, advantages and joys of blogging. It’s part of reshaping how I want my life to flow this year.

All these online activities are about creating content, communicating, putting myself, my thoughts and ideas out there. I’ve been doing it every day or every other day for several years now and it’s about giving, sharing, connecting - an outflow of creativity and energy. Reviewing 2010 during the Xmas period and looking ahead to what I wanted in my life for this year and I realised that I needed an inflow of energy. Two words came into my meditations and they have now became my theme for 2011: Nurture and Nourishment.

They are just the right words for my coaching practice as I take on the role of nurturing and nourishing my clients. It feels like a privilege to be given this role by them as we work together towards the fulfillment that they want to bring into their lives and businesses.

Equally, they are important words for me to inhabit in my own life - as a coach here at ZenGuide, in my management role in the City and in my personal life. So I make a habit of asking myself often this year: what is nurturing and nourishing me? Or, how is this nurturing and nourishing me? Because, without nurture nourishment myself, how can I presume to nurture and nourish others?

Going offline for a few months has been part of this nourishment plan. I’ve also trimmed some of my obligations and commitments and prioritised how I spend my time. All this has given me the space - in both time and energy - to replenish my creativity, to stare into space, to redevelop my deep thinking, to enjoy time away from the computer - spending time outdoors, running, in my garden, with friends and family - and to enjoy being digitally silent while absorbing others’ creative content in the form of books, films, theatre, real life conversations. Books I’ve read and shows I’ve seen have prompted me to look at this world and my ordinary surroundings in a new way. Running has got me fitter again and reminded me how much I love that pain and exhiliration of pushing myself physically. Spending time with good friends, making new friends and hanging out with the people I love makes me feel connected and fulfilled. I’ll be sharing some of these moments and insights with you in upcoming blog posts.

So going forward, I’ll be blogging again but you may not find me so often on Twitter or Facebook. I hope that my posts will bring some of the fruits of this year of nurture and nourishment to share with you.

I hope that you’ll also share your Zen moments with me. What nurtures or nourishes you? Do leave a comment - I love learning from other people’s experience!

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Photo: thanks to pbev on flickr.com (CCL)

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