What does it mean to live in a heart-centred way?
To live from the heart means to care for what makes you feel balanced, peaceful, joyful and fully alive. To be in authentic connection with your inner self, and to act in integrity. And to live with love, kindness and compassion – for yourself and others.
This isn’t always easy to do. We live in a world that venerates competitiveness, toughness and gain at any cost. We’re often taught to prioritise thinking over feeling, ‘should’ over what feels good, and external demands over inner connection. As a result, we can become disconnected from a heart-centred way of living, to the detriment of our health and wellbeing.
Living with heart is essential for happiness. It infuses our lives with meaning, and brings us hope, even when we face huge challenges in ourselves and in the world around us. This powerful resource strengthens us from within, helping us to show up for those we love and our wider community in positive ways.
Heart-centre meditation
This meditation is a wonderful way to bring awareness to the heart centre.
- Sit comfortably and close your eyes.
- Begin to deepen and extend your breath.
- Place your hands over the centre of your chest, at the energetic heart centre.
- Feel the beat of your physical heart against your hands. Notice its rate and the accompanying sensation.
- With each inhale and exhale, visualise your breath as though it were flowing in and out of the heart centre.
- If you choose, as you breathe in this way you can also visualise a person, place or situation that you wish to send love to.
- When you are ready to close the meditation, release any visualisations and bring your awareness back to the beat of your heart.
- Take a few steady breaths, then slowly open your eyes.
A living practice
The following are useful points for self-inquiry into what it means for you to live with heart.
- When do you feel most joyful, peaceful and expansive?
- Who or what fills your heart with love?
- Who or what in your life could do with more kindness and compassion right now?
- What is your heart most longing for?
