Feed your soul…

I had the opportunity to hear Dylan McDermott speak the other night at the board meeting for McCarter Theatre in Princeton. McCarter is one of the three best regional theatres in the country. When we have had stars in the past cast in our plays, they very often visit with the board for a 15 minute talk. Dylan was our visitor this month.

Yes, he is gorgeous. He is more gorgeous in person than he ever was on The Practice (I can honestly say that is the only thing I ever saw him in). But even better looking than any picture I have seen. I was sitting next to the person I am closest to on the board, the past president, and he looked at me and joked that I should stop drooling. We both chuckled and I told him I thought Dylan was looking at me. Of course that wasn’t the case, but a girl can dream, can’t she?

The discussion started with him thanking us for what we do and publicly thanking our artistic director. She directed him in this play, Tennessee Williams’ Baby Doll as well Glass Menagerie 25 years ago. Someone a sked him why he took this opportunity back at McCarter. Regional theatres don’t pay a lot to artists. And his response really hit me. He said that he was floundering, not sure what to do next. He needed something to feed his soul. He repeated, he needed to feed his soul. You could see some pain on his face as he shared this.

Feed your soul. Are you ensuring that what you are doing is feeding your soul? Am I? As I thought about this a few things came to mind for me that truly do feed my soul.

Writing absolutely feeds my soul. It allows me to be free flowing and creative, instead of my role at work that fosters more structure and thoughtful planning. One isn’t better than the other, and I appreciate both. There are certain parts of my work that truly feed my soul; watching people change and grow. Mentoring and coaching are certainly passions and feed my soul.

There are some people in my life that truly feed my soul by being. I have friends and family who are fuel for me. I have those who drain me; I try to not let that fester.

The beach and the ocean feed my soul. I find such peace there, salt air, sun, breeze, any time of year. I gain strength from the beach; I find wisdom in the moon over the ocean.

Music feeds my soul. The emotion that music evokes connects me to so much. It is healing and can be cathartic.

He shared that this event, being in this show for a month did just that. Fed his soul. He was so authentic and down to earth, it was a beautiful moment. I am blessed for experiencing it and am inspired by the thought of feeding my soul. This could be the next chapter. I have done a lot of healing over the last year, continued that journey of Life’s cha-cha. Perhaps it is time to focus on what truly feeds my soul. My guess is there could be more and this list could be realized more. A bucket list of sorts except you don’t stop doing them! You do more. You do less of things that aren’t feeding your soul. You start to really consciously live your life.

Dylan did speak about focusing on being in the now; not lamenting over the past or worrying about the future, but be present now. He was emphatic. So if we focus on feeding our souls, we will probably spend more time in the now, which is the happy place for us.  I, for one, will be focused on feeding my soul more, I like how it feels.