Healing the Heart
6th January 2020
Healing the Heart by Dr Liz Sparkes
This is from my experience, I prefer not to tell others anything that I haven’t experienced myself. Also, don’t think for one minute that I have completed my healing journey. Once you start healing the heart, your life will change, I can promise you that. Relationships will shift, pain of all kinds will change, you will find the truth of who you are a little more, and also find yourself diving a bit deeper into what you love.
You have to hold your own space
As Rumi points out, this being human is a guest house, every morning a new arrival. The emotions, the thoughts, all experiences are there to be acknowledged. This doesn’t mean allowing thoughts and emotions to completely take over, but being able to see how they arrive and the patterns that we get stuck in to. Once you know how these patterns arise, you can stop them.
Welcoming an emotion, allowing it to be felt and then letting go, will bring much more peace compared to suppression or turning away from it. It takes practice.
Don’t rely on others
Nobody is responsible for your happiness or healing. In fact the more you rely on others for these things the worse you will feel. People will disappoint you (in the nicest possible way). What if you provided your happiness by gently healing yourself. This leaves you space for you to love others without attachments.
Remember that nobody can make you feel anything, the more you heal yourself, the easy it will be to let things go. You can't change anyone, but by being fully present in your own experiences you will respond differently.
Everything is an opportunity
Seeing all experiences as an opportunity to heal is easier said than done, but often this is where the magic begins. Becoming mindful and curious about the way you react to people, events, experiences is enough to trigger gentle change. Nothing needs to be forced, it is as though you start to observe rather than always participate. Watching your own reactions brings a whole new amount of wisdom.
Laugh, dance and sing
Awaken your heart by bringing more joy. Singing, listening to music and dancing is unbelievably powerful in terms of healing and opening your heart. I make time for at least 15 minutes of dancing every day. You can shake things off, and be present in the body instead of just the mind.
I learnt the hard way that allowing emotions to be stored in the body creates disharmony, pain and disturbance. It doesn’t always have to be hard work or painful when releasing emotions. Singing, mindfulness, dancing and laughing can shift so much.
Out of your head, and into your heart
Regular silent meditation retreats, breathing into the heart, breathing into areas that feel stuck or uncomfortable. Nothing complicated, the simplicity and subtleness of this practice triggers changes within the body, mind and being. You don’t need to try. You will find a whole host of change and beauty arriving into your heart by just breathing and resting your focus on the heart area. At the start it might feel as though nothing much is happening, be patient it will.
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