Hydration from Living Water
Oct 25, 2023
Have you every been really, really thirsty and experienced that exhilarating refreshment that comes from drinking deeply from fresh, cool water? I love that feeling.
True confession time. Even though I know and love that feeling, I have made a dismal effort to stay well hydrated this week.
This is how the brain justification has gone...There is water in grapes I had for a snack and the lettuce in my salad for lunch, right? My soup at dinner has water from the broth, right? I took a tiny sip of water to take my meds this morning, so I'm good. (Besides, I don't want to have to wake up in the middle of the night to pee!) No matter how good I try and make those justifications see, does that mean I am well hydrated now? Absolutely not.
I'll say it again and again. The human brain is NOT always smart.
My morning headache is my body's witness that I have been neglecting my fundamental need to be hydrated. No matter how healthy I am eating, I will not feel well if I am not also meeting my basic need to drink the needed supply of water. That's how needs work.
I'm facilitating an Emotional Resilience class right now, and one of the intentional commitments I made is to spend time daily in the scriptures. Other secondary sources of gospel study don't count for this, just like eating soup doesn't count as consuming water. Today as I connected with my accountability partner, I realized how the commitment to be in God's pure word uniquely quenches something in me that I was unaware I was deficient in filling. This is what I told her:
"It is feeding my soul these past two days to intentionally be in the scriptures themselves. Not just secondary sources. I didn't realize how nutrient deficient I was in the pure word of God."
I sense it in my intuition in a way that is just as real as hunger or thirst cues are in the body. I feel it now that my awareness is there, but I didn't realize it two weeks ago. Even though this is the month of awareness and I'm leading this effort to increase the Light in our lives, I wasn't aware of that.
Humility moment.
Humility moments are great for growth. No shame. I am sharing this so openly for two reasons. First, there will be ways that your awareness grows that are humbling. Your human brain may even feel embarrassed or like you failed. Just remember that errors are necessary for optimal growth. (Read about "error augmentation" here.) Celebrate those realizations!
Second, I want you to have an awareness trigger and potentially learn from my realization. That's a huge benefit of being part of the collective! Growth can come by watching and learning from others.
Are you feeling nourished spiritually? Are you in tune with your own intuition? If not, maybe a commitment to return to some daily hydration from pure Living Water in the scriptures is something your soul needs.
Tune in. Be aware of your body, heart, mind, AND spirit!
