A Year to Do What is Good for the Soul

A Year to Do What is Good for the Soul

2026 feels like a year to pause and remember something essential — to do what is good for the soul. It’s something many of us forget in the hurried rhythm of modern life, as we earn a living, care for our families and friends, pets, and navigate a world that feels increasingly complex, noisy, and at times, aggressive. Enjoy these thoughtful ways to nurture your soul, all year long. And please, add your ideas in comments. It would be great to share the love.

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We cannot solve everything. But we can choose how we live, how we show up, and what we quietly role model for our children and those around us. Each smile we give passes on to another, creating a better environment for all of us.

All of the ideas below can be done alone, or with your children or friends.

Often, the simplest and most fulfilling way forward is to return to what nourishes us — to do what is good for the soul.

A Place for Nurturing

It can be as simple as creating something lovely and living around you ~ growing herbs in clay pots. Watching them take root, watering them, placing them in the sunshine — and then using them to garnish a special meal, a weekend breakfast, or a dish made entirely from scratch can be fulfilling and it’s beautifully uncomplicated. A pot, a seedling, earth, water, and sunlight. These are ingredients not only for growth, but for grounding — small rituals that gently bring us back to ourselves.

Keep Growing

If you have a little more space, planting easy-to-grow flowers such as dahlias for summer or bulbs like daffodils for winter can be deeply rewarding. At our old shop garden, the flowers return each year stronger and more abundant than before. They require very little, yet give so much in return — to me and to everyone who passes by.

Discovering beauty in something as simple as a flower, or feeling gentle sunshine rest on your shoulder, has a way of restoring calm and allowing space to regroup, rejuvenate, and feel joy.

Feed your soul

Simple, rustic whole foods — the kind that are a pleasure to prepare and a joy to eat — are quietly good for the soul. A favourite of mine is a handful of vine-ripened tomatoes chopped, fresh basil picked just moments before and torn over the tomotes, golden virgin olive oil, a pinch of crusty seasalt, and warm toasted bread from a good baker can. Bruchetta becomes a small ritual of care.

It’s the sort of meal that suits a slow weekend morning or a weekday start where you need to feel grounded before the real day begins. Nothing complicated — just honest ingredients coming together to nourish body, mind, and soul. These moments remind us that feeding ourselves well doesn’t have to be elaborate. Sometimes, simplicity is the greatest luxury.

Nature ~ a Balm for the Soul

Our new space, Little French Studio in Woolloomooloo, sits close to Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens. I’ve begun walking there to recharge, to breathe deeply, to clear my thoughts, and to dream of what’s next for Little French Heart. These walks are good for my soul. They make me feel whole, a quiet sense of self that allows creativity to flow freely back into my life, my work, and the people around me. The walk gets my heart rate going, I breathe oxygen into my mind, it’s good.

Gifts and Clothing That are Good for the Soul

Choosing gifts and clothing that give back can also be deeply nourishing. Supporting makers and family businesses with a story, a face, and a philosophy you trust is a way of caring for the world we live in. At Little French Heart, we seek out toys and clothing that are made thoughtfully — pieces designed to last, to be handed down, treasured, or resold with value. These are items made with care and intention, and they carry that feeling with them.

You’ll find our beloved wooden toy boats, handmade since 1946 by the same family. Beautiful knits by Misha & Puff, created by a mother inspired by vintage crochet and hand-dyed yarns. Apolina, with its exquisitely embroidered clothing for babies and children designed by Caroline Ducket. Bonjour Diary, where Anne Millet revives antique French textiles and brings them back to life by creating beautiful children’s wear and women’s accessories from Provence.

Our Women’s wear by Ewa i Walla is artisan made, beautiful and created for a life’s wear. Our linens by Lazybones Australia are organic with vintage prints created. Many of our pieces from Konges Sløjd are crafted using sustainable materials, and our baby wraps from Atelier Choux Paris are made in France — organic, considered, and created by a small Parisian family.

Doing what is good for the soul in 2026 doesn’t end with the year. It flows gently into the next, and the one after that. Over time, you discover new ways to care for yourself and your children — small, meaningful moments that shape a beautiful life. And those moments are the ones we live by.

How do you nurture your soul – we’d love to know, to share, for us all to be more mindful of the moments we are doing things that are good for our soul.

With love

Kim x