Feeling Nurturing: A Guide to Your Emotions

PUBLISHED Mar 15th, 2021 & UPDATED ON Jan 25th, 2023

What image comes to mind when someone tells you they’re feeling nurturing? You might picture them caring for their house plants…potting the little green babies, watering them, and making sure they get enough sunlight so that they can thrive and grow. We also tend to think of mothers as nurturing, since they bring us into the world and care for us before we can fully take care of ourselves. And when we get hurt, we nurture our wounds by putting a bandage on a cut, or getting a cast for a broken bone. We also nurture our body by giving it food, water and whatever else it needs to function. These are all great examples, and since you’re already feeling nurturing, let’s put that focus on your mental wellbeing! Yep, we said it. Your mental health needs nurturing too!

You’ve come to the right place. Let’s dive thru this emotion you’re feeling — wishing to nurture something — and see how you can channel it into your mental health!

A Deeper Look at Feeling Nurturing

Okay, so what does it really mean to feel nurturing? That’s a great question. Dictionary.com has a few definitions of nurture, but this one best reflects the feeling we wanna talk about: “verb. to support and encourage, as during the period of training or development; foster.” Cool cool cool. But what does this have to do with our mental health exactly? Let’s unpack that.

Sometimes, it’s easier to nurture other areas or other people in our lives first. We might focus all of our attention on nurturing our relationships to make sure that they stay strong. This can include our relationships with friends, family, coworkers and romantic relationships. When the people in our lives need our time and attention, we give it to them because we care. That’s not a bad thing, at all! Showing care and affection is important. It makes us feel bonded and connected to other people, but at times it can also be draining if we’re not looking after ourselves, too.

How Feeling Nurturing Shows Up Mentally

When you take that nurturing feeling and channel it towards yourself, it’s obviously going to improve your wellbeing quite a bit. For one, it just makes you feel cared for, like you’re your own priority. You can take on daily challenges, stress and anxiety with more ease because you’ve taken the time to look after yourself. This means less risk of burning out, dealing with chronic stress or neglecting our health. Here are some more great benefits to nurturing your mental wellbeing:

– Lifts your mood

– Reduces stress and anxiety

– Increases attentiveness and focus

– Boosts productivity

– Sparks creativity

– Promotes positivity

– Increases motivation

Sooo the message is pretty clear: nurture yourself, people! Think of yourself as one of your plants, if that helps! Your mental wellbeing can’t thrive without being nurtured. It’s time to look after YOU.

How Feeling Nurturing Shows Up Physically

Caring for our mental health also improves our physical health. What’s that saying about the birds and a rock or something? Whatever, you get the idea. The two are linked, so let’s look at allll the ways our body benefits when we nurture our mental health:

– Reduces cortisol levels

– Lowers blood pressure

– Strengthens immune system

– Provides better sleep

– Improves digestion

– Reduces pain

– Lengthens lifespan

When our mental wellbeing is thriving, we typically take better care of our physical health. We make sure to drink lots of water and nourish ourselves with food. We’re better at going out walks or finding other ways to move our bodies. We get fresh air and enjoy the sunshine. Basically, this is your sign to nurture your mental health! ‘Cause clearly the benefits are endless.

5 Ways to Embrace Feeling Nurturing

Feeling nurturing is a great emotion to experience, so if you’re looking for ways to embrace this feeling: look no further! That’s why we’re here. We’ve got some super helpful practices for you to try out. They’ll help you really get into your feels, ‘cause that’s what we’re all about here at DiveThru. The #feels.

1. Practice Meditation

If you wanna nurture your mind, this should do it. This practice allows us to slowww down and shift our mindset which is really important when dealing with stress and anxiety. If you’re not sure how to meditate, follow a guided practice to get you started. Trust us, it’s a game changer!

2. Journal

You wanna know the great thing about journaling? This practice allows you to explore your feelings and reframe any negative thoughts you might be experiencing. You get to put pen to paper and let the words just flow! Does it get any better than that?! We think not.

3. Engage in Something Creative

Getting creative can be suuuper relaxing. And the best thing about it is that there’s endless ways to be creative! There’s sketching, colouring, sculpting and painting. Playing an instrument, singing and dancing. Writing poetry, stories or blog posts. Knit yourself a sweater, if that’s what you’re into! Getting creative can be such a nurturing experience to help improve your wellbeing.

4. Engage in Compassionate Self Talk

When we nurture other people, how do we usually speak to them? Think about it. We say things like: You’re doing your best. You are not a failure. You will get through this. I’m always here for you. Take care of yourself. Perfect, you also have the right idea for engaging in compassionate self talk! Whenever you’re feeling down and could use some positive words, try speaking to yourself compassionately.

5. Practice Gratitude

Practicing gratitude allows us to show appreciation for all of the good things in life. That might include writing a list of things that bring you joy, volunteering in your community, or showing acts of kindness to the people who make your life better. It honestly feels great for everyone involved, so why not try it out for yourself!

Okay, that’s all from us for now. We hope this helped nurture you in some way, and that you try some of the nurturing practices! Take care of yourself, friend.