Often I come across amazing articles from other energy practitioners or spiritually oriented authors or organizations that really speak to me. I especially like those that give practical steps for accomplishing the goal. This article from heartmath.org is sensitive, informative, and timely. Enjoy!
Heart Qualities
For Re-Setting Our Lives
Increasing numbers of people are commenting about a heightened attunement in their hearts and minds, to the need for increasing their care, kindness and willingness to co-create peacefully. People are feeling that the timing for heart-based cooperation is in alignment with the changes Earth and humanity are experiencing. Many of us believe that the global waves of chaos and tension can be repurposed into expanding our collective awareness of the need for unconditional love to help resolve our differences.
Spiritual practices that explore the deeper benefits of unconditional love and compassion are increasing. There is also a rising interest in learning to connect more with our heart’s intuitive wisdom for higher choices and guidance. This is a giant step forward. Along with a little practice, people are finding it easier to sense their heart’s intelligent suggestions for navigating life’s situations with clearer discernment and much less stress.
The Increasing Collective Heart Awakening
Many are commenting that in the last few months, they have noticed themselves feeling kinder and much more accepting of others than usual. From different parts of the world people report they are feeling less desire to hold onto old hurts and distresses from the past. These and more are positive symptoms of the collective heart awakening to the need to get along with each other for the greater good – regardless of the ongoing resistances and separations taking place on the planet.
This growing momentum of increased heart awakening, many believe, will eventually become the baseline for a paradigm shift from separation to compassion and cooperation. It feels like an obvious time in our evolution to be kinder and more openhearted to each other, while working together to find solutions for global challenges to create a thriving world. Many of us feel that living from our heart is the "overlooked" yet most practical approach for increasing individual and global peace, being that we’ve tried most everything else already. The world picture may not reflect these possibilities in the present moment, but more people are sensing that it can be done.
Practicing kindness, unconditional love and heart-based interactions can increase our personal joy and fulfillment now, in the present, however long it takes for the whole of humanity to shift. Practicing heart qualities assists humanity by creating a supportive energy field that makes it easier for others to feel and respond from their heart. Some of the primary heart qualities are unconditional love, care, compassion, connection, kindness, forgiveness, gratitude, patience, acceptance, cooperation and many more we all know, yet they often slip from our awareness when needed the most. We own these heart qualities but it’s our job to awaken them and begin to show up as who we are.
Below are a few reliable practices for lifting your spiritual vibration and opening your heart more to others. Many of you are probably familiar with these exercises, but for these heart qualities to become instated, we have to remember to consciously re-boot these practices for a while. Rebooting is fundamentally important for establishing a new baseline.
Practicing Heart Qualities
- Commit to three or four days of looking for opportunities to practice genuine kindness to others, and sincerely connect with people, including some that you don’t usually connect with.
- During these days, also find a few minutes of quiet time to radiate genuine compassion to people suffering across the planet. Remember to radiate compassion to yourself when needed and don’t see it as selfish – see it as an intelligent choice.
- Next, consciously radiate genuine appreciation to friends, family, work associates, etc. Sometimes we adapt to and take for granted the people close to us and we forget to feel just how much we do appreciate them.
- Also, forgiving someone and releasing old hurt feelings can do wonders for lifting our vibration and taking a load off. This releases stuck energy in our heart, and helps to heal things we can see and things we cannot.
You can do these same exercises with other heart qualities, like patience, connection, acceptance, cooperation, and more. Genuine is the action word in all of these practices if you want to experience the deeper benefits.
Doing the practices a few days in a row creates a cumulative effect that encourages the increased use of these empowering qualities. If you go most of a day without practicing, then add on another day so as to dignify your commitment.
People report life changes in their interactions, and share how much they feel like their true self when doing these practices. Even if we already practice heart-based attitudes, it’s helpful to add a day or two each month of conscious exercises to refresh and strengthen our forward momentum.
Practicing the qualities of the heart can be viewed as advanced common sense, and it doesn’t require being religious or on any particular path – however this practice is included in many religions, cultures, self-help, self-care and other systems.
We appreciate you deeply and hope you experience happiness and wellbeing through 2017. Let’s remember to hold compassion in our hearts for the hardships people are experiencing through these transitional times. Much suffering across the planet can be reduced when more of humanity deeply understands that, Love matters.
Written by, Sara Childre, Pres. of HeartMath Institute and Doc Childre, HeartMath Founder