Sowing Seeds is a series on Revitaled that provides inspiration and practical tips for growth and self-improvement. Our goal through this series is to provide readers with ways that they can strive towards positive, healthy lives.
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For everything there is a season: salt.
Did you know that the human body contains many salts but the most common one, sodium chloride, makes up around 0.4% of a person’s body weight?
Weird, right?
A grain of salt is so small to notice, but it is very easy to spread all over the place if you spill it. If you add too much of it to one thing, it can be unhealthy, but without it, you cannot live. It’s interesting to think that something so small can be so valuable to our bodies.
Salt has a lot of purposes that go beyond adding a bit of flavour to your food. Salt can bind different food items together, and can even enhance the colour of many kinds of meat. If you live in a cold country, then you must also know that salt can even melt ice.
Beyond these things, salt is most commonly known for preserving items. Before refrigeration was a reliable option, people would keep meat from spoiling by salting it. In doing this, microbes that would create diseases in meat would be prevented from developing.
Like the salt that we use to clean and preserve our food and the salt that is within us biologically to add nutrients to our bodies, we have salt within us to nurture, clean and restore our lives. Like a tiny grain of salt, we have the power to make a mighty impact around us, preserve valuable things within our lives, and purge things that don’t benefit us out of our lives.
We all have salt within us, metaphorically and physically. We all have the power to make positive and powerful changes within the lives of others; however, like all meaningful events, powerful and longstanding change must begin within.
Here is a list of three things we can do to make a salt-like impact in our lives.
1. Preserve our power
Similar to the way that salt preserves meat, we must continue to preserve and cultivate the things in our lives that make us better people. This step first begins with assessing our priorities – what do we value? What brings us joy? What presents us with healthy challenges that round us out? Remember: positivity produces more positivity. If the things we value in life are positive, then we will cultivate positive power through positive preservatives.
Preservatives in this case are things that we use to support ourselves as we grow and develop ourselves and our power. These can be things including but not limited to:
- Actions
- Words
- Routines
- Media
Identifying our priorities and surrounding ourselves with positive things will help us to develop positive preservatives, such as spending more time with our family. Through doing these things, we will develop positive habits that will help us to be better versions of ourselves.
2. Remove things from our lives that aren’t good for us
After identifying our priorities, it should be easy to identify things in life that aren’t good for us – right?
This is where the process of setting boundaries comes into play. If we have something (or someone) in our life that we want to remove, we have to establish boundaries. Establishing boundaries means setting restrictions for ourselves about what we will and will not do. There is no right or wrong way to establish boundaries because look different for everyone. The boundaries we set will be reflective of the life we want to create.
Sometimes we find ourselves prioritizing things that aren’t good for us, so when the time comes for us to remove things from our lives that are bad, we feel conflicted. It is at this point that we should reflect upon the life that we want to lead. Where do you see yourself in five years? How about ten years? If you are struggling to pinpoint at least one goal for yourself, take some time to ask yourself some questions. What are you good at? What do you want to get better at? What is one positive thing that you look forward to? Take some time to write down your answers and see if you can find any patterns in your interests. This may help you to begin to identify your goals, and set a plan for yourself to grow.
Pro Tip: If you’re struggling to establish boundaries, it might be helpful to have an accountability buddy. Talk to someone that you trust to see if they’re willing to check in with you regularly to see how you’re doing, provide you with some emotional support, and celebrate your wins and milestones with you.
3. Routinely cleanse and nurture yourself
It is very easy to give ourselves over to others. In the hustle and bustle of life, it easily feels like there is always something that needs to be done.
Take a moment to pause and breathe. Consider the number of things that you are worrying about or stressing over today. How many of these things are priorities? Do any of these things add value to your life? How of many these things actually make you better?
When we take the time to consider what is important, it makes it a lot easier to stop paying attention to the things that don’t. Preserving what is important gives us the chance to nurture ourselves, adding enrichment and vibrancy to what is already in our lives.
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