The other day, I was wandering around the local park early in the morning. The sky was uncharacteristically dark, and the light sprinkle of summer rain brought out the tangy, sweet, and earthy smell of the Australian eucalyptus trees and wildflowers.
It was one of those peacefully atmospheric walks that remind you that all of nature is thrummingly alive. I’m used to bleached and dulled landscapes from the harsh Australian sun, but this influx of rainclouds brought out the soul of nature without (and within) me.
As I was making my second lap around the park, my eyes caught sight of an empty bird’s nest hanging from a branch:
Suddenly, the thought struck me, “THIS is what I do. I help people in their cocoon stage of healing – to build a nest of safety within and without themselves. Then, take small baby steps into the world. I want to help them recover, nourish, and nurture their souls.”
This was one of those moments of ‘Divine intervention’ where clarity suddenly hit me like a lightning bolt. Because the truth is that I often struggle to pinpoint exactly what I’m helping people with these days in my work.
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I mean, I’ve been doing this for almost 14 years. I’m practically a centenarian on the internet, and there are very few people out there who have been running a website or online body of work for this long. Most fade away.
I feel like I’ve gone through so many deaths and rebirths and identity shifts that I’m often left wondering, “What now? What next? Who am I in all of this?” But something within me – within the two of us, Mateo can affirm this – has held on.
And it’s all to do with the soul. Soul loss. Soul searching. Soul purpose. Ensoulment.
Correct me if I’m wrong, butI believe the soul is something that humanity has lost touch with. Soul loss is something that ordinary people like you and me struggle with each and every day because society is built to sever, isolate, and dissociate us from ourselves (and each other + nature).
The more soul-starved we are, the easier we are to control.
That’s a big reason why we created the Soul Work Compass – to help you come home to yourself and find the core truths of who you are so that you can live an authentic, purpose-driven life. Check it out here if you’re interested in finding out more.
But soul recovery is also simple, humble, and mundane. I’m going to offer you some inspiration below.
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40+ Tiny Things That Help Me to Recover My Soul …
“…there are at least two ways to care for your soul: Discover moments in the past when your soul got stuck on a particular issue, and try to work it through. A second way is to find those activities and resources that will nourish your soul in the present: craft, art, play, friends, animals, travel, gardening, service…” – Thomas Moore
Soul recovery, as the brilliant psychotherapist and former monk, Thomas Moore, points out, has two sides. One is the more serious ‘soul work’ side (self-love, inner child work, shadow work, etc.). The other is more playful and embodied. I’ll be exploring the latter here.
The soul means many things – but here I’m referring to it as one’s life force energy, one’s divine spark.
When the soul is sick, starved, empty, or lost, you feel it as anxiety, depression, fatigue, illness, and all manner of ‘evils.’
When the soul is recovered, you feel alive, fresh, free, joyful, at peace, creative, expansive, and connected to yourself, others, and life.
Trauma cuts us off from our souls, and so does modern life. This is why soul recovery is so essential – we need it to reconnect with a sense of health, joy, and wholeness again within ourselves.
To inspire you, here’s a list of tiny things that help me recover my soul in hopes that it helps you to take steps towards recovering yours:
- Handwriting things (yep, old-fashioned pen to paper!)
- Gazing at the stars at night
- Soft words of kindness to myself
- Micro meditations of 5-10 minutes
- Small cat naps
- Going for leisurely walks in nature
- Old things: old books, old music, old objects
- Appreciating tiny beautiful moments like a dew drop on a pine needle, the sun illuminating a leaf, someone’s laugh, or a child’s smile
- Handbaking food like pizza or pancakes
- Smelling freshly baked bread
- Micro rituals like hot tea after dinner or reading after breakfast
- Orienting to whimsy, magic, and mystery
- Reading second-hand books
- Resting on the earth or ground
- Going outside and letting the sun shine on my face
- Watching the trees sway and leaves quiver in the wind
- Pausing and just breathing
- Walking barefoot on the earth
- Deeply inhaling freshly ground coffee beans
- Taking slow, indulgent sips of herbal tea
- Silly dancing to music alone or with a loved one
- Pulling tarot or oracle cards
- Soft things: blankets, wool, pillows
- Cloud and bird watching
- Smiling at strangers
- Saying kind words to myself in the mirror
- Strolling through the public library
- Watching crackling fireplaces
- Flowers of any kind, especially wildflowers
- Appreciating objects of beauty: stained glass, vintage wallpapers, ornate lampposts
- Lighting a candle before journaling
- Compassionate self-hugs during meditation
- Slowing down and tuning into the body
- Writing in the early hours of the morning
- Warm showers or baths with scented oils
- Raindrops rolling down windows
- Inhaling the beauty of rainbows
- Watching the moon at night
- Whimsical and atmospheric music
- Cuddles on the couch with a pet or loved one
- Humming or chanting ancient mantras
- Quiet prayers to higher powers
- Hikes and walks in wild places
Obviously, this list isn’t exhaustive – it’s just a taste of the humble but beautiful art of soul recovery.
Connecting with your soul again and nervous system healing go hand in hand, so if you’re familiar with somatic healing, you’ll notice that many of these tiny practices help you stay in a parasympathetic ‘calm’ mode.
Next, notice that nearly everything I’ve shared here is free or mostly easy to access. You don’t have to be financially or emotionally privileged to benefit from most of these practices.
I’ve also excluded things like “gazing into my child’s eyes” or “smelling my toddler’s hair,” as they likely won’t be relevant to most people reading this (though they are true for me at this point in life).
Finally, take note of what isn’t on this list, namely, technology. Spending time in various ways with ‘loved ones’ also appears on this list, but for those in the cocoon stage of healing (where you crave a lot of solitude), it’s not always desirable or accessible. Healing alone is still valid at this point, so I hope you still find plenty of ideas here.
Tell me, what helps you to build a healing nest for yourself and recover your soul? In other words, what tiny experiences or practices put you back in touch with your energy, vitality, and inner self? I’d love to hear below. You never know who you may help or inspire by sharing!
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🪺 Building Your Healing Nest 💜
Soul recovery is both simple and profound – it's the art of reconnecting with your life force when trauma, loss, or the chaos of modern life has severed you from yourself. If the practices in this post resonated with you and you're craving deeper guidance on your healing journey, I want to introduce you to our Supporter Membership.
For over a decade, the two of us have been creating a sanctuary for souls navigating their own Dark Night – offering practical wisdom on shadow work, inner child healing, and soul recovery without the spiritual bypassing. By becoming a supporter (starting at $9.99/month), you receive weekly soul guidance, shadow archetype insights, and direct access to ask questions as you build your own healing nest.
And here's the beautiful part: your support keeps LonerWolf free for the thousands searching for hope in their darkest hour. It's healing that ‘pays it forward,’ creating a circle of support that flows from you, to us, and out into the world. Learn more here.
If you need more help, we offer 2 powerful ways to guide you on your inner journey:
1. The Soul Work Compass Course: Break free from feeling lost and disconnected. The Soul Work Compass is a practical 12-step course that transforms soul loss into soul clarity. Discover your core values, heal core wounds, and create a personalized compass to guide every decision you make.
2. The Inner Work Journal Bundle: Heal at the root. This Inner Work Journal Bundle guides you through self-love, inner child healing, and shadow integration with 150+ prompts and activities. You get editable digital files to use on any device or print unlimited times. Not for lukewarm seekers, these journals are for those ready to transform.
I’d like to add that for those of us who don’t like handwriting (because it’s too slow, we won’t build the habit, etc) I have found success with keeping a personal, privated blog where I can upload pictures. I find myself being very introspective there.
Yes, online writing is brilliant for this. Long before lonerwolf I had a small personal blog as well where I shared what was on my mind and heart. Great suggestion :)
Thanks for the list, I already do a lots of these. One I enjoy is listening to high vibrational music for healing while meditating. Love your articles and emails. You inspire me.
Thanks for sharing this Sandra :)
Hello Luna and Sol
Recently Im not having Soul loss anymore. I have done a lot of inner child work and as a result, actually I regret doing inner child work and wish I have soul loss again. With bodily issues, meditation isn’t something that I can achieve instantly anymore like I used to do. I experience many times of disowning my soul and it took a long time to got it back again. I wish I can focus on earning money. What is the best thing to do right now?
Hi Lupin,
If you regret doing inner child work, it shows me that you need more professional help. Working with your inner child can only be done from a place of groundedness, self-love, and relative internal maturity, otherwise you can hurt this vulnerable part of yourself more. If you “wish soul loss” upon yourself again, you need to seek out a therapist. If that’s not accessible to you, work on self-love for a minimum of 1-2 years. That’s all I can support you with via these comments I’m afraid. I am not a therapist and I’m not equipped to coach you through these comments.
I love your list. Thank you. I can only add the minute details – listening to the bird songs, to the wind and then enjoying the silence. Walking on the beach and picking up a pebble – imagining how it came to be here. Standing beside a tree – maybe resting my head gently on him/her and feeling….Watching the sunrise and the sunset – how many times have I seen this over how many lives.
Ah, what wonderful suggestions! Sometimes the smallest details make the biggest healing impact in our lives. Thank you for this refreshment 💜
I heal by Journaling to those I have lost, creative writing all hand written, walking through woodlands , wishing upon a full moon, star watching , tree hugging, walking by the sea listening to the waves , lighting candles with meaning , laughing at silly things , the sun coming up over the sea , hugging my dog and telling him my fears , having Reiki treatments , having cake without guilt 🙃 calling in my guides Angels and Ancestors ❤️
So beautiful, I love this decadent list of soul recovery practices 🥰 Thank you for sharing this inspiration, Helen!
Since I’ve been scheduled less at my job, I find myself unable to be upset about it. Maybe it’s something I need to let go of instead of fighting for it, since I am olderI have social supplements to my income. When I’m in my creative cocoon, I’m happy and focused on my purpose,
making cats happy with my toys. The toys aren’t going to make themselves!
What lucky kitties 😸
“But soul recovery is also simple, humble, and mundane.”
I love this statement! I experienced this last year. Some things can be so hard that they seem impossible. Fighting between the old, the condiotioning, the well known, the comfortable, what you have been used to. And the choice to break the old patterns, condiotioning, to face possible blaming and shaming and choosing a new direction anyway.
Turned out it was incredible liberating!
After the first difficult choice the rest was just handed to me. Or so it seemed. Some choices where incredibly easy, some of them i didnt even know upfront how healing they where gonna be.
Last summer I litterly build myself a cocooning nest. My new uncovered/recovered feminine energy needed to change the living room. From green, black and wood.(quite cold and harsh) To apperently pink, beige and wood. (More soft, warm and gentle) That pink turned out to be another struggle where i needed to do some internal deepdive. And although i am not done yet, physical energy is not allowing me to finish everything in 1go. I did realize somewhere along the line it was not just a materialistic thing. Although the materialistic topic is also a survival/scarcity condiotioning, i was able to break that pattern and stop feeling guilty about wanting to buy things that made my appartment feel warm and cozy. It was also the simplicity of being allowed to feel cozy and comfy in my own home. The home that feels beautyfull and homey to me! I was raised with the forced up “being content with what you have”. Wondering for other options, wanting something different or make a change was often being shamed and criticized with the question, do you really need that?? (for your basic survival) But now that I am on the other side. How your interior looks and feels has such a BIG impact on your well being! How you feel, the ability to rest, the way you come home, how you wake up….
This was one of the things I have been working on, another thing was buying myself gifts. Although i have been doing that before in the past. It never had the healing impact as it did since last December. Created myself a december box, Like an advent calender. It was around mid december when i started realizing how healing it actually was to me. And i am not sure about the words, i connected the word “reparenting” to this situation. As a child i always had to understand why there where no gifts. Always thought i needed other people to recover from this trauma. But i dont.
We dont, we can heal ourselves!
Some things are indeed as simple as allowing yourself to enjoy this or that. Or giving yourself exactly that what was never allowed.
Yes, exactly. A hugely underrated part of healing to me is crafting a cozy and homely environment to unwind in — a house that feels like a hone, not just a space to exist in. Just like your move to paint more warm colors, I love filling space with plants and crochet blankets (that I thrift). Removing clutter also helps the psyche too. Thank you for opening a window into your healing journey, Evelien :)
The universe is so on top of what we need in each moment! I have recently recognized that it is time for me to start processing and releasing trauma from a past relationship. I have created a new life in a place I love (the US Pacific Northwest) and just yesterday realized that my joy of this place is still stunted from the trauma I left behind me.
I love how the universe knows exactly when to gently push us forward (kind of like a bop on the back of our heads 😄) to get our attention when we are missing the point. Your Soul Recovery list and suggestions include so many things I have been doing, but without any intent other than I knew it helped. I feel like acknowledging and honoring that I am walking in the woods or stopping to watch geese fly south, instead of just noticing in passing, I can consciously help my soul heal. Thank you for providing the gentle shake I needed to give specific intention to the things I have been doing. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge with and support of us!!
Shannon
Being conscious of the process is healing in and of itself —rather than just letting it be a passive experience. I’m so glad you got something out of this post, Shannon ☺️
Thank you, so much!!!!! beautiful ideas
Especially relevant to my healing journey right now- where I am working with grounding, working with my fears and mindfulness ❤️❤️❤️
Beautiful! Thank you so much for sharing this Aadya 💜✨
Wow, I’m truly impressed by these writings!
Luna, it seems that these 14 years have allowed you to dive deeply—and beautifully—into the realms of self-knowledge, psyche, and spirituality. It’s such a powerful gift to be able to transform our traumas into sources of wisdom and consciously decide what we will do with them, isn’t it?
It’s remarkable how the experiences you share in your texts have shaped your uniqueness and given you the ability to help others who find themselves in similar situations or who have gone through painful traumas and negative experiences—things that often impact our lives and prevent us from staying strong on our journeys. Yes, reclaiming our soul is not just necessary, it is essential.
Many times, we struggle or even fear looking back—or facing the present—and confronting our shadows with courage, because we’re afraid of suffering, and indeed those are deep wounds. I began to realize that the loss of my soul came from seeking validation, from insecurities, and from not believing I could truly be myself. The idea that we must blindly follow social conventions simply because the majority does and it’s considered “normal” is the greatest trap. Even more so in times of extreme individualism, where the notion of building ourselves without any prior foundation becomes the biggest challenge (and for those who are more sensitive, it’s an even greater one).
As you rightly said: “I believe the soul is something that humanity has lost touch with.” Humanity has indeed lost contact with its own soul—its meaning, purpose, and integrity—replaced by standardization, techniques, comparisons, consumerism, materialism, and status. All of this has turned human beings into automatons, alienated from themselves.
My healing nest is made up of classical music, nature sounds, indigenous flute, walking outdoors, journaling, good books, solitude, gardening, self-reflection, meditation, revisiting meaningful moments of my life, contemplation, and of course, reading inspiring texts like this one. But we must not become rigid, thinking we cannot continue to challenge ourselves and discover more about who we are, because often we might be neglecting other latent talents within us.
Thank you for these soulful reflections, Hans – and for being the first to comment! I cherish that. I greatly value your attentiveness to what I share in this space, it means a lot to me as a writer and creator 💜 You’ve inspired me to go listen to some indigenous flute music 😁 Ahhh yes, just what I need to soothe the soul after a very labor intensive week! Wishing you a restful weekend.