3 Tips for Heart-centered Living
What does it mean to be heart-centered anyway? Well, you have heard that your heart wants one thing, but your brain wants another before. So let’s take a moment to examine that. The ego, or psyche sometimes thinks first and understands later. I know that I have been guilty of that. However, let’s suppose for a moment that you start to really focus within and you see past the surface. It takes a while to get used to pausing without reacting or speaking first, and learning to express from your heart, but it really can be done.
As we start to move from fear-based thinking to love-based living, the world expands. Fear tends to shrink our environment and make us less likely to step out of that comfort zone, and love, well, love helps us do amazing things. I am not just talking about love for others though…this part is important. You definitely need to practice self-love and forgiveness of your own faults. It is not selfish to put self-care into place. So many times my clients have to step into their own beauty and realize that their oxygen mask has to be put on first. But no one can make another person do that…it is within them to see that they need to give themselves permission to be human and practice compassion for themselves. We don’t have to be last. It it is crucial to realize this. As you learn this truth, everything else falls into place.
3 tips for heart-centered living:
- Stop and breathe. Are you having a heart-centered reaction or are you so busy in your head that things have quickly gone from A to Z? Take three deep breaths, and if you are at a desk, sit up straight and tall elongating your spine and square your shoulders up and then gently bring the shoulder blades down your back. Place the hands in your lap palms facing upwards. Practice: Apana Vayu Mudra-The Mudra of the Heart by folding your middle and ring fingers towards the palm in such a way that they touch the tip of the thumb. Fold the index finger inward allowing it to touch the base of the thumb. The small finger should be stretched outward. Keep your eyes closed and hold the mudra as long as you want to. This mudra actually improves blood circulation to your heart.
- Practice compassion. As we start to focus inwards, we realize that we have to live with compassion for ourselves and others. We are all human going about our day in similar ways all around the world. While we live in different places, have different lifestyles, ultimately, we want the best human experience we can have on this planet and hopefully leave it a better place. So the struggles that involve the people we interact with on a daily basis do have some effect on us. Practice: How are you being with people? Look to the 4 A’s. Attention, appreciation, admiration, and affection. Are you open to whatever it is they have to say? Reflect on your body language as well. Tight jaw, tense shoulders. Relax and open up your heart.
- Live with passion. Picture what you love doing, who you love being with, what stirs up your passion and fulfills you. Practice: Get out your journal. Write about what you would do if you didn’t have to worry about money? If doubt creeps in write this instead: “I am enough, worthy, and deserving of following my passion. I am strengthened by doing the things I love to do. I am now living my heart-centered calling.”
Remind yourself throughout the day by touching your heart, practicing the mudra or even saying “Am I living through my heart right now or my head?” These pauses in what we act on truly do make a difference when we don’t react right away. Continue journaling about your passion and living through the heart. I actually use this one every night:
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