It is extremely important to discover and to do what brings satisfaction to our soul. These are activities, people or things that give us life, spur us on to action and energize us.
For me, some of these things are: my relationship with God, my family, blogging and reading. These things truly energize me and give me life.
Unfortunately though, it is way too easy to allow our souls to become dissatisfied.
For me, this happens when I start to focus on earthly things instead of eternal things.
It happens when I am doing more than I need to be doing.
It happens when I begin to feel that what I am doing has no real purpose or meaning.
These things suck the life right out of me.
We can get along for a while with “more drain than fill,” but it will eventually catch up with us.
Having a dissatisfied soul can be very dangerous. It can lead to a lot of destructive and unhealthy behaviour (s).
2 reasons why it is important to discover what brings satisfaction to our souls:
1. It helps us to keep moving forward when things get tough.
Inevitably there will be activities and events in life that suck the life right out of us. There are going to be times when we want to quit or we want to give up.
It is impossible to completely avoid things that drain us. Knowing and doing what brings our soul satisfaction helps to keep us focused on what is most important. It will help remind us why we are doing what we are doing.
2. It helps us to avoid temptation.
When we are hungry, anything on the menu looks good. When our soul is dissatisfied, sin begins to look tempting. We become vulnerable to temptation when we are dissatisfied with our lives.
The deeper our dissatisfaction, the deeper our vulnerability becomes because we are made for soul satisfaction.
Knowing and doing what brings our soul satisfaction will help us to focus on the bigger picture rather than just the momentary pleasures. It will help us to say “no” to the temptations that seek to destroy us.
Break the vicious cycle
When we start to head down the road of soul dissatisfaction it is a vicious cycle (at least it is for me).
The more dissatisfied we become, the less we focus on and do the things that bring us satisfaction.
It can take a lot a lot of effort to break this vicious cycle but it is well worth it because we were created for soul satisfaction!
What brings your soul satisfaction? In what ways does doing these things help you?
For me, one of the greatest soul satisfies is praise and worship music. Being a musician, I almost swim in music. It carries me away as well as calgon.
That’s awesome Gerald!
I can totally relate Kevin. I started reading books a couple of years ago and now reading as become a very valuable tool in so many ways for me. It really makes me feel good and helps to move me forward any time I sit down to read a good book.
Music definitely inspires me too. Over the last few years I’ve made a point to only buy music with positive messages. Small things such as these keep me moving forward in life and I think that’s the key… always do something to keep moving forward. Thanks for the great post.
Kyle Quinlan
Music inspires me too in many ways. I love to listen to music that resonates with my soul. One of my favourite bands right now is a group called Gungor. They are awesome!
Thanks for sharing Kyle!
Hi Kevin, I think “soul satisfaction” is the same as having a “why” for doing things. If we don’t have a “why” – our vision, then working isn’t much fun. And, if our business or our work isn’t fun and interesting, we haven’t much soul satisfaction either.
Thanks for the thought provoking article Kevin!
Regards from Julieanne
You are absolutely right Julieanne.
Thanks for sharing!
It is important for me to discover what brings satisfaction to my souls because it is the reason why I live everyday. It is my driving force to survive the daily challenges that happens to me.
That is a great motivation to living out our passions!
Thanks for sharing Julie.
Great post! What brings me satisfaction is when I’m writing and leading. So I stay in those areas.
That’s awesome Dan!
Thanks for sharing.
Kevin,
Very true! I always know when my soul is out of line with my actions, because I just do not operate right.
Andy
Good point Andy!
Thanks for sharing.
Running restores my soul. It’s rhythmic, meditative, and connects me with nature. Also, being outside at the track and watching my son run with his cross country today brought me immense satisfaction and helped settle the panicky pace I was carrying on today.
That’s awesome Steve!
Keep doing what brings your soul satisfaction!