​Living from the Heart

Excerpts and articles
from 5 different sources
​on living from the heart

If there is one most essential principle to apply to my life for conscious evolution, it is 'Live from the heart.'

But, what does that mean? And how does one live from the heart?

The attraction to compose a daily reminder, and re-pattern myself to live from a higher, more whole frequency appears as the calendar year changes. I am still writing and experimenting with my own set of guidelines for living from the heart.

Below, five articles are reprinted. First you will find an excerpt from each, and then the full article, with a link to its source. May your 2017 be bright!

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Life That Matters: 6 Ways to Live From Your Heart
​by Sheila Zia
Lifehack.org

It is entirely possible to come to the end of your life and wonder how you could have lived so thoughtlessly. It is just as possible to live a life that matters – from the heart – in ways that echo the very song of the soul.

How do you know if you are heading in the right direction?

If you have based your worth on experiences that built a resume but not a life, most days you may feel you are living somebody else’s definition of success. If in spite of all your outward accomplishments you have a persistent, underlying sense of regret, this is often a sign of heart draining, soul sucking choices.
In contrast, to live from the heart is to let our soul lead us. It is to ask very different questions.

Questions like – What will my legacy be? Will the world be any different because I lived? Does my life matter? And with the questions, to heed the wise words of others who have let their soul be their life compass.

~
How to Live from the Heart
Teal Swan
Being In the Now

In order to move from the mind into the space of the heart, we need to make a place in our lives for quiet so that we can hear the voice of the heart. Meditation is the best way to quiet the mind. When we get the mind out of the way, the heart can have dominion.

Live from intuition, not logic. Intuition is the perspective of the higher self. It is the most objective perspective that there is. It is always in alignment with you highest good.

In order to live from the heart space, let your personal cup overflow with love, joy, kindness, and compassion. In addition, live in the present moment and cultivate detachment. Gratitude is also important. And, be honest with yourself and others.

Living from the heart is living your true essence. It is your truest and most natural state.

~
10 Love-Filled Ways to Live From Your Heart
Gail Brenner
gailbrenner.com

Living from the heart is incredibly relaxing. You stop using your mind to analyze, plan, organize, and figure everything out. What a relief! As you let go of all of that mind activity, you are able to relax into presence, where there is no trouble and no resistance.

When you live from the heart, you begin to touch into the universal experience of love. Love is the source of everything – the fabric which makes up our very existence.

Sure, there are many waves in the ocean, but they all are made up of the same thing. Play with letting go of your individual self and live from the eternal ocean of love.

~
Learn To Live With Your Heart, Not Your Mind
Finerminds.com

Could you imagine the chaos we’d experience if we didn’t have the aid of our minds to help us logically analyze the decisions we make throughout the day? Everything from crossing the street to choosing what to wear in the morning could lead to disaster!

However, when it comes to matters of the heart and following our dreams, it’s often these situations where our need to analyze gets in the way of what we really want.

Our mind only has what’s happened in the past as a point of reference – therefore when taking a chance, whether it be pursuing the person our heart is calling for, or moving countries, these decisions can get stifled by fear and the ego.

Although it’s during these moments that we need to let our hearts do the talking. After all, when it comes emotions such as a love, there’s no rhyme or reason.

So how can we live more with our hearts, and less with our minds?

~
How to Live from the Heart
Bodyenergyconnection.com

How do you live and think from the heart? The first and most important step is not to get there from your head. Activating and empowering your heart’s center begins with acknowledging that there is a brain and an emotional center that resides there.

....It has taken me nearly 5 years of constant and conscientious effort to try and get out of my head. It’s not enough when you read Eckart Tolle’s The Power of Now or try and stay present in the moment through Buddhist meditations when your mind is busier than a schizophrenic bee on cocaine. Alright, perhaps it’s not that uncontrollable. You get my drift though. Our thoughts are a reflection of our society.

So how do we quiet those thoughts down and be more in our hearts?
It takes time, effort, dedication, and the release of energy, memories, thoughts, feelings and events that we acquire throughout our lifetime. Did you get that? It’s a non-stop effort in cleaning, clearing, and claiming. What are you claiming? Peace of mind!!!!

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A Life That Matters: 6 Ways to Live From Your Heart
Sheila Zia

Lifehack.org

Ever had a near death experience?

I don’t mean a flat-line, CPR saved you and you were met by angels who led you toward the light kind of NDE; I mean a moment when you knew you were going to die. A moment that called into question every choice you have ever made and caused you to want to live differently from that point on.

It’s good to have a wake-up call of sorts, to remind us of why we are here and to ask ourselves whether we are headed in the direction we intended.

Life throws lots of choices our way. Sometimes in the frenzy we grab whichever one is easiest at the time. But when you think you are going to die, the life you actually intended to live becomes very clear to you.

You may find that you are living someone else life – not your own. Perhaps your choices were based on what would make a parent or partner happy. Maybe they were the most convenient at the time, or worse, maybe those choices had more to do with not making waves than with answering your life’s calling.

It is entirely possible to come to the end of your life and wonder how you could have lived so thoughtlessly. It is just as possible to live a life that matters – from the heart – in ways that echo the very song of the soul.

How do you know if you are heading in the right direction?

If you have based your worth on experiences that built a resume but not a life, most days you may feel you are living somebody else’s definition of success. If in spite of all your outward accomplishments you have a persistent, underlying sense of regret, this is often a sign of heart draining, soul sucking choices.

In contrast, to live from the heart is to let our soul lead us. It is to ask very different questions.

Questions like – What will my legacy be? Will the world be any different because I lived? Does my life matter? And with the questions, to heed the wise words of others who have let their soul be their life compass.

Here are 6 examples:
 
1. Focus on Small Things
The passion to make great changes in our world is commendable, but it is our small, often unnoticed actions that truly make a difference in the world. Mother Teresa said it best when she stated--

“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”

2. Change Your Yardstick
Every life has value and purpose. If we are here to heal and change each other, then living from your heart requires measuring achievement by how well you live and love each day; it defines success as bravely facing tomorrow in spite of the heartbreak of today. Because when you live from a heart that has been reborn, your life is based on soul work, not just a paycheck.  Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen, a physician who worked with the dying wrote in her bestseller Kitchen Table Wisdom –

“Every one of us matters. And we have the ability to befriend and strengthen the life in one another; to heal and change the world, one heart at a time.”

3. Risk Being Hurt
Don’t let fear guide your actions or choices. Instead of holding back, allow yourself to be vulnerable. Being “sensitive” is not a weakness but a strength, for it is empathy that enables our life’s most genuine experiences, authentic interactions and fulfilling relationships.

4. Live for Impact
Soulful living starts with the heart, even if it takes a more time and you may not always see the results. Productivity really doesn’t matter if what we do isn’t effective and work cannot be considered valuable if it does not make an impact. Living a life of value has very little to do with getting things done. Ask anyone who is dying. Yes, it is risky to care, but nothing withers the soul like indifference. A prayer is just words if we don’t live it, and our actions are a testimony to what we believe in. Sister Helen Prejean, the nun who wrote Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States, once said –

“I saw the suffering and I let myself feel it…I saw the injustice and let myself do something about it. I changed from being a nun who prayed for a suffering world to a nun with my sleeves rolled up, living my prayer…So I keep watching what I do to see what I actually believe.”

5. Change Your Words
Sometimes simply asking ourselves, “Have I spoken the words that matter today?” Words like, I love you. Thank You. I’m Sorry. Forgive me. In the end, that’s all that’s really left to say, and what we will regret not saying when, not if, we run out of time.

6. Let Life Change You
A big part of becoming who we were made to be, a soul choice, is making peace with what is, while being open to what will be. To be alive is to be exposed. It can hurt and it won’t always be fair. But the way we choose to respond to the hurt and unfairness will determine who we ultimately become. Martin Luther King Jr. knew the truth of this choice when he said –

“As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways in which I could respond to my situation — either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course.”

Our life may take several drafts and revisions to get it just right. Life can be messy, but if the end result is something beautiful, then the mess will be worth it.

There is no formal training in how to live a life well-loved. But a wise heart is a willing heart, for it knows that there are no guarantees of tomorrow, and that to live big and wide and love recklessly is — in the end — the only kind of life that will matter.

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How to Live from the Heart
by Teal Swan

Beinginthenow.org

In this outstanding video, Teal Scott explains how to move from mind space into the heart space in order to live from the heart.

The heart is the first organ to appear when we come into physical form. It is the first organ which develops in a human fetus. It is often called “the seat of the soul” because the human heart is the first interface between our non physical soul and our physical body. Its electromagnetic field is unparalleled.

If we are able to get in touch with our hearts, we will be able to get in touch with our higher selves (the eternal, benevolent essence that we truly are) which is the true goal of spirituality. Spiritual life is not about knowing much, it is about loving much. It is about getting in touch with our truest self. It is about opening out heart so wide, that “enemy” is not a concept which exists in our reality. And more than that, it is about opening the heart and living from the heart to such a degree that eventually there is also no such concept in our life as “other”.

Thoughts are contained in the body field, which is an energetic field that unites all of us.   Thoughts are communicated to the body though the heart first.  The heart then sends those signals to the brain, which acts as an interface to that which is non-physical and that which is physical. But, the heart is the very first feed from non-physical into physical reality.

Getting closer to the heart is your way to get closer to that which is eternal about you: non-physical energy, or source energy.  In order to move from the mind into the heart space, it is benefit to treat the heart as if it is its own entity.  We can let it speak its own truth; we can let it express its own wisdom.  And, we can have it help us make decisions in our day to day life, as if it is a mini-ally.

Your brain tells you that you are separate from everything else.  The heart does not buy into that illusion.  Treat the heart as a friend. When you have to make decisions in your life, you can run those decisions by your heart.  Your heart will always tell you what the right answer and the right direction is.

In order move from the mind into the space of the heart, we need to make a place in our lives for quiet so that we can hear the voice of the heart.  Meditation is the best way to quiet the mind.  When we get the mind out of the way, the heart can have dominion.

Live from intuition, not logic.  Intuition is the perspective of the higher self.  It is the most objective perspective that there is.  It is always in alignment with you highest good.

In order to live from the heart space, let your personal cup overflow with love, joy, kindness, and compassion. In addition, live in the present moment and cultivate detachment.  Gratitude is also important.  And,  be honest with yourself and others.

Living from the heart is living your true essence.  It is your truest and most natural state.

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10 Love-Filled Ways to Live From Your Heart
by Gail Brenner

Gailbrenner.com

I name it silence. Some people say self, or love, or fullness. It is actually life itself. - Gangaji

Living from the heart is incredibly relaxing. You stop using your mind to analyze, plan, organize, and figure everything out. What a relief! As you let go of all of that mind activity, you are able to relax into presence, where there is no trouble and no resistance.

When you live from the heart, you begin to touch into the universal experience of love. Love is the source of everything – the fabric which makes up our very existence.

Sure, there are many waves in the ocean, but they all are made up of the same thing. Play with letting go of your individual self and live from the eternal ocean of love.

Ask, “What would love do?” In any situation, look for the response that is peaceful and free of stress. Put aside your fears and conditioned habits, and let love guide you.

Let love pervade every conversation. Can you not take your relationships for granted and be more openly loving? Even when things get tense, drop away from your emotional reaction and melt back into love.

Treat yourself like gold. When it comes to love, you are included, too. Tune into what you need and let yourself have it. Live as stress-free a life as possible.

Be here now. Spinning stories in your mind about things that have happened in the past and what might happen in the future take you away from what is here right now. When you are stuck in your mind, it is impossible to be fully in touch with the love that is here. Let your attention explore this very moment. Open your senses, open your heart, and live from there.

Become aware of the oneness of love. Consider this: what is looking out of your eyes is the same as what is looking out of everyone else’s eyes. When you meet an “other,” you are actually meeting the essence of yourself. When you understand this, love is impossible to deny. Check it out with the next person you speak to.

Don’t obsessively plan. In fact, only plan when absolutely necessary. Planning is in the mind, and when you realize how little planning you actually need, there is space to recognize that you are alive right now. And in that aliveness, let your heart glow.

Make hard choices. When you live from the heart, you begin to be very honest with yourself. You may realize that certain situations or people aren’t working for you. Likewise, you will see your own tendencies that don’t serve. Sometimes, the most loving response you can make is a kind but firm, “No.”
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Honor your personality quirks. A funny thing happens when you live from the heart. As conditioning falls away, your natural gifts and inclinations have space to be expressed. Let your creativity flow in whatever way it wants to. Go where you are guided, learn what you want to learn, enjoy yourself in all your activities.

Bring boundless acceptance to your moment-to-moment experience. Be a kind host to all the emotions and reactions that visit you. The more you resist, the more trouble you will have. Say, “Hello” and let it be.

Get to know the unconditioned, totally free you. When you relax away from all your conditioned habits, you will discover formless space that is clear, open, and inherently loving. Begin to become familiar with this space, as it is the essence of you. Listen, let it guide you. Live here.

In any moment you have a choice – the head or the heart, inauthenticity or truth, distraction or love. Play around with living more in your heart. Don’t be shy. Let love in, and life’s greatest treasures will be revealed.

What is your experience of living from the heart? Is it easy? Do you resist? I’d love to hear…

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Learn To Live With Your Heart, Not Your Mind

Finerminds.com

Could you imagine the chaos we’d experience if we didn’t have the aid of our minds to help us logically analyze the decisions we make throughout the day? Everything from crossing the street to choosing what to wear in the morning could lead to disaster!

However, when it comes to matters of the heart and following our dreams, it’s often these situations where our need to analyze gets in the way of what we really want.

Our mind only has what’s happened in the past as a point of reference – therefore when taking a chance, whether it be pursuing the person our heart is calling for, or moving countries, these decisions can get stifled by fear and the ego.

Although it’s during these moments that we need to let our hearts do the talking. After all, when it comes emotions such as a love, there’s no rhyme or reason.

So how can we live more with our hearts, and less with our minds?

Don’t Over-Think It

When you’re faced with a difficult emotional issue, we can often get stuck on the reasons why not to do something. The circling fear or argument in your head gets trapped – simply because the answer is not there. The Blueprint doesn’t exist in your mind. Sometimes you need to stop analyzing and turn to your heart for the answer.

Be Honest With Yourself

Living from your heart requires you to be honest with yourself. It takes courage to stand up and say that a situation or a certain person isn’t working for you. Sometimes the best response you can give, no matter how difficult or painful, is an honest no.

Turn To Love

When you’re at a crossroads or not feeling yourself, it’s difficult to make a decision clearly. However despite the little challenges or road bumps we encounter along the way, we all have a choice on how we’re going to feel each day, or how we’re going to react to a certain situation.

When you’re not sure of what to do, or if you’re feeling low, always turn to love and apply kindness to every situation. By living with the heart, you’re giving yourself permission to say farewell to negativity and to let love in.

Right Here, Right Now

When we’re living with our minds rather than our hearts, we often look to the past or to the future in an attempt to predict the answer. Stop yourself. Take a breath. Take a walk. Do whatever you need to do to relax your mind before telling yourself that you are present. Only this moment matters. Listen to what your heart is trying to tell you.

Honor Who You Really Are

Our minds really do have a split personality sometimes. It’s almost as if there is an angel sitting on one side, providing us with little pep talks when we’re unsure. While on the other side, the little devil with the red horns is firing up, playing on our insecurities and filling us with doubt.

Don’t listen to him and accept who you are. Our differences are what makes us beautiful. The quirky little traits we may dislike about ourselves, are often the most endearing to others.

Learning to live with the heart and less with the mind, can be a difficult to master as we look to our trusty minds to guide us through life. In many instances, it is our saving light, however when it comes to matters of the heart, or situations which your mind cannot reason, the answer needs to come from much deeper. Your heart.

Are you able to disconnect from the mind and live with the heart? Are there any tips you can share to help others do the same?

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How To Live From the Heart
by Anne Pizarro

Bodyenergyconnection.com

How do you live and think from the heart? The first and most important step is not to get there from your head. Activating and empowering your heart’s center begins with acknowledging that there is a brain and an emotional center that resides there.

In  a world that is highly visual and constantly bombarded with stimulation, we are exposed to a myriad of sensations that keep us in our heads.  From thinking about our daily activities to relationships, finances, jobs, social responsibilities, home, family….the list could go on and we could be stuck in our heads for ever.  That is not the point of this post though.

It has taken me nearly 5 years of constant and conscientious effort to try and get out of my head.  It’s not enough when you read Eckart Tolle’s The Power of Now or try and stay present in the moment through Buddhist meditations when your mind is busier than a schizophrenic bee on cocaine.  Alright, perhaps it’s not that uncontrollable.  You get my drift though.  Our thoughts are a reflection of our society.

So how do we quiet those thoughts down and be more in our hearts?

It takes time, effort, dedication, and the release of energy, memories, thoughts, feelings and events that we acquire throughout our lifetime.  Did you get that?  It’s a non-stop effort in cleaning, clearing, and claiming.  What are you claiming?  Peace of mind!!!!!

Through the energy modalities that I have learned over the years and the energy work I’ve received from loving individuals and healers, I can honestly say that my thoughts are quieter, more stable, and less obtrusive.  Now my practice is not perfect and it does take discipline to detach yourself emotionally from the thoughts that come up.

As the thoughts appear in my spectrum, I begin to detach myself emotionally and mentally from the charge of that thought.  No longer do I allow a thought or memory to take me down a path and recreate the scenario, the feelings, the trauma, the reminders of what I could have done differently.  It doesn’t matter!!! It’s already in the past and it is DONE!  Anything else I could have done or should have done NEVER was intended to be that way.   That is the path of my life.  That is the path of your life.

Hands and Hearts

Living in the stories of the past is a painful reminder of who we were not who we are NOW.  In order to live in the heart, we must conscientiously choose to think and see the world from the heart.  We are emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical beings that have such depths of texture, emotions, and experiences.

To see the world from our hearts opens up a realm of possibilities.  To see the world from our minds opens up a palate of possible limitations of our experiences.

To see the world from our hearts is to be compassionate to ourselves and others – especially regarding our individual experiences.  To see the world from our minds sees the separation, devastation, challenges, and factions that keep us prisoners of our own experiences.

To live from our hearts is to fully stand in alignment with the Divine and trust that our life is unfolding according to Divine Plan.  To live from our minds is to be separate from the Divine and question the experiences and opportunities that may come up.

To live from our hearts is to grow as spiritual and evolved beings, symbiotically living with the Earth and her people.  To live from our minds is to feel the constant struggle of the ego and the heart.

I realize it’s not easy.  I don’t really believe it’s suppose to be.  This plane of existence is our school.  We signed up for the curriculum called LIFE and are experiencing the classes in a really close and intimate setting.  We have chances to reflect on what has occurred experientially  and to make the changes to have different experiences.

Electric Heart

So here is my very very very simple 5 step recipe for How to Live From the Heart.  If it resonates, GREAT!!!  Take it into your heart and live it!! If it doesn’t – well, then, give me a call and we can do some energy work on you so that you can begin the process of coming home to your birthright of peace, self-confidence, and empowerment.

#1.  Take the time to get to a quiet place, whether in meditation or prayer, and ask to be taken into your heart’s sacred space.  While you are there, practice seeing the world from that point of view.

#2.  Be compassionate to yourself and others.  Really listen to what people are saying to you and let that information filter through your heart before you respond.  You may find that not everything that happens in the world is a personal attack towards you.

#3.  Learn to detach yourself emotionally and mentally from thoughts, experiences, memories, triggers, and fears that come up.  Learn to watch the thoughts that flitter into your mind and see it flitter out once you have acknowledged that it has come up.  Do not allow yourself to spend more than 2 minutes on a thought or you are lost to the vibration and energetic charge of it once again.

#4.  Forgive yourself for your shortcomings and learn to forgive others for theirs.  By not judging people, circumstances, and the world – the Divine energy can come down to your heart and activate understanding.  By not giving in to your fears and sense of powerlessness – the energy of the Earth can come up to your Heart to create empowerment and action.

#5.  Give thanks!  Giving thanks and being in a state of gratitude softens your heart and opens up the possibilities of positive experiences coming in. Even if a situation occurs that seems difficult to give thanks for, just remember that you are on this Earthly plane to experience, remember, and master.  Mastering humility and gratitude puts you closer and more in touch with your heart thus placing you closer to your Divine Self.

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