[BGthaOG]

Humbly and in hopes it may be helpful in whatever way, I put forward a (translation of a) Quranic verse that came to mind when reading your post (since you are 44 years old). Happy to expand on my thoughts if you would like me to, but for now here is the verse:

[46:15] We enjoined the human being to honor his parents. His mother bore him arduously, gave birth to him arduously, and took intimate care of him for thirty months. When he reaches maturity, and reaches the age of forty, he should say, "My Lord, direct me to appreciate the blessings You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents, and to do the righteous works that please You. Let my children be righteous as well. I have repented to You; I am a submitter."

Edit: translation by Rashad Khalifa

[burned_out]

Please do expand on this.

[BGthaOG]

My take is that the nourishment of the soul takes a back seat to earthly nourishment most of the time: money, food, drink, sex, etc. And while we cant measure the profitability of a soul-nourishing transaction today, I do think they affect us here on earth. Same goes for neglecting our souls, I believe.

We should recalibrate at some point in order to, in earnest, make nourishing our souls a priority. And also my take is that through our years God not only matures our brains but also teaches us quite a bit, to the point that when we hit 40 we are properly equipped to make this important recalibration. I want to also add that I'm not saying the path is hermitism, in fact I really dont think that.

For example, charity to the family, the relatives, the orphans, the needy, the migrant, I believe nourishes our souls.

Happy to keep this conversation going anytime btw. Hope you have a Blessed evening.