Living From The Heart, Not The Mind
Ever since June, I’ve been making an effort to create space in my life for rest, fun and play.
I even read in a book that scientists did a study testing the effect of play. Two groups were given a puzzle to solve. One group was given something funny to observe and scientists discovered that those who laughed prior to the puzzle were able to solve the problems after. (I don’t remember which book I read this from.)
I wonder if it’s because when we laugh, we become light-hearted. Part of our mind actually moves into the heart. Our processing power, the center point of our electromagnetic field and our aura of awareness drops down to our chest and gut. We active these parts of our thinking center that we don’t often use in Western culture.
I must say, I could still use a lot of improvement including more fun and play into my life.
It's not just about changing what I do, to do more things that are fun, but about changing the quality of how I live my life.
I recently had to fill out a “Stress and Health Management Action Plan” as a part of the self-awareness component of my master's program. There are multiple things I could do to help me reduce the amount of stress I experience, but the goal I chose is to have two hours of downtime per day by the end of January.
I’m done cramming my days with “have-to-do’s.”
As I sat and simmered in this goal, I realized that this an effort to live more of my day from the heart.
Forcing vs. Living
One of my favourite uses of time is reading. However, reading because my mind tells me to, compared to reading because my heart yearns to is very different. When I'm reading from the mind, I feel like I'm forcing information into my brain and sometimes it's good to do this. Sometimes I need to interval-train to remember how fast I can really run and how to push new information into my mental faculties. I enjoy pushing my boundaries.
Yet, lately, this was the only way I read. Reading became a means to an end—a way to accomplish something. It left no space for me to just be. Alive, grateful and refreshed. It’s as if I am constantly washing my body. I can’t keep scrubbing my skin 3 hours a day. At some point, it’s best to stop and enjoy my newly cleansed body.
I've noticed that when I force-read too much, something in me it starts to revolt. The voice of my heart bubbles up with a thundering, “ when are you going to listen to me, instead of all these other people?!”
Staying Open
So my goal of having 2 hours a day completely free to do whatever I want, is ultimately a goal to live more of my day from the heart. Two hours in a day is 12% of my day. I don't want to close off my heart for the rest of the day. I want to let the rest, the play and the joy bleed into everything that I do. The point is to give my heart a chance to flower in those two hours, so that it can stay open the rest of the day.
I desire to live each day knowing that it is a gift. The blessing is here. Not just in the highlights when I board a plane or get a new project. There is fun, joy and comfort here.
These are the insights that blossom in an open heart.
Thank you so much for reading! 💛 Your presence here means a lot. Thank you for sharing in this journey with me.
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